Fremantle cruise ship crew friendly

The special offers available under a City of Fremantle program targeting the crews of visiting cruise ships have been extended until the end of the year.

The City’s Crew Friendly program provides cruise ship crew with both a digital and hardcopy brochure about where to access essential supplies and services like groceries, clothes, pharmacies and health clinics, as well as a guide to local restaurants, bars, entertainment and visitor attractions.

The program also allows local businesses to offer discounts and deals to crew who show their Crew ID.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the special deals offered through the Crew Friendly program for this cruise season would now be available to the large number of cruise ships being diverted to Fremantle outside of the normal cruise season due to concerns about coronavirus.

“Making more of the opportunities associated with cruise ships is a key priority flagged within the Destination Marketing Strategic Plan we launched last year,” Mayor Pettitt said.

“While cruise ship passengers make an important contribution to the local Fremantle economy, it’s important not to overlook the crew.

“There are often a thousand or more crew on the larger ships, and most of them disembark in destinations to restock personal supplies, take some well-earned R&R or simply find Wi-Fi to connect with home.

“Crew are also much more independent and unlikely to be on pre-booked tours, so they are more likely to explore the city and spend in local businesses.

“Most of the special offers made available through the Crew Friendly program were due to expire at the end of the normal cruise ship season in April, but with so many more ships now coming to Fremantle it made sense to keep them in place until the end of the year.

“We’ll be reaching out to the operators of all of the additional ships to make them aware of the program and to give local traders more of an opportunity to grow their business.”

The Crew Friendly deals are listed on the visitfremantle.com.au website and participating businesses are provided with a ‘Crew Friendly’ poster to put up in their shop windows.

A special link is included in the brochure to direct crew to the deals website.

Businesses wishing to participate in the program can do so by contacting [email protected] with their offer or discount.

The City of Fremantle also provides cruise ship arrival alerts so businesses can stay up to date with what ships are arriving and when. Businesses can receive these alerts by simply subscribing to the City’s This is Business e-newsletter.