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When cruising does come back, it'll come back at a measured pace, Donald suggested. Not every ship will resume sailing right away, and not every itinerary will be available. If there is a social distancing requirement, it would affect areas like the theaters on ships, where capacity would be reduced, he said.
How did Arnold Donald arrive at Carnival Corp.?
Norwegian Cruise Line, for instance, recently said it would implement social distancing and temperature checks for passengers when it restarts cruising. But Donald said Carnival Corp. brands were waiting to see how the situation evolves before committing to specific measures. As the head of the world's largest cruise operator, Donald quickly became the face of the industry at the height of the pandemic when numerous ships with Covid-infected guests and crew were left stranded on board for days on end. Perhaps more significantly, cruise lines historically haven't seen as severe a downturn in business during recessions as other travel providers.
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To that end, Donald has prioritized building a team of people -- a community -- that offers a variety of backgrounds and ideas. As bookings rebound, Carnival has brought back nearly 75% of its ships, while also letting go of older, less fuel-efficient ships. "Demand for cruises is very strong in the back half of this year, and into 2023. Those who haven't cruised for two years, they are ready to go," Wieczynski said.
A slow return to cruising
Mardi Gras is scheduled to debut in November, but for the past few months, the first 19 departures of the vessel scheduled through March 20, 2021, have disappeared from Carnival's website. When asked in April about the disappearance of the sailings from the Carnival website, a spokesperson for the Carnival brand told TPG that all the sailings were still on. Carnival Corp's Princess brand already has announced a delay for the arrival of its next ship, Enchanted Princess. The 3,660-passenger vessel is under construction at a Fincantieri shipyard in Italy. It had been scheduled to debut this month but now won't arrive until at least August.
Leading the company through COVID-19
Ken Tate joined Carnival Cruise Line as vice president of revenue management in 2012 and was promoted to his current position, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, in 2018. In this capacity, Tate is responsible for revenue management and ship deployments, as well as trade and direct sales channels, including the pre-cruise contact center. Recently, Donald helped the company and its brands successfully navigate the global pandemic, well positioning the company for the future. The company expects each of its nine leading cruise line brand’s full fleets to operate guest cruises in 2022, following what has been an extended pause.
Future of the Company and Industry is Strong
"But I'm fairly certain we're not the only ones that didn't get this one right. I mean, from a modeling perspective and thinking about the impact, there's [only] so much you can do and plan for." Any ship orders that are to come are likely to be for delivery several years into the future, he suggests. "The onboard experience has to match what that promise is, and if we do that well, we are going to end up with [cruiser ratings] off the chart," he says.
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As president, she leads a company with a fleet of 24 ships, sailing nearly six million guests annually and employing more than 40,000 people who hail from 120 nations around the globe. Christine has served the company in this role since 2015 after a successful tenure as president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents the $120 billion global cruise industry. When Donald served as President, he spearheaded the operation of the largest leisure and travel company in the world.
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Steering the flagship brand of Miami-based Carnival Corp., and the world’s most popular cruise line, Duffy leads more than 48,000 Carnival Cruise Line team members who deliver fun and memorable cruises to more than 5.5 million guests each year. Duffy is at the helm of all operations across Carnival’s fleet of 27 ships sailing from 14 U.S. homeports and two homeports in Australia, where she also oversees the operations of three ships that sail for P&O Cruises Australia. Global travel industry champion and Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy’s significant contributions to cruise travel are being recognized with the Cruise Lines International Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024. Duffy was honored at the 2024 CLIA Hall of Fame Cruise Industry Awards, where she was inducted into CLIA’s Hall of Fame and introduced by Josh Weinstein, president, chief executive officer and chief climate officer of Carnival Corporation & plc. He's also taken a front-and-center role in the company's comeback from the pandemic shutdown in his most recent positions as chief operations officer and head of the company's two U.K.-based brands.
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"We went out and got additional financing to ensure that we had a runway that we could weather if there was no revenue for an extended period of time," he said, referencing the more than $6 billion the company raised in stock and bond sales in April. "As we've publicly stated that runway takes us into November and potentially beyond that, and we're working hard to lengthen that." "You may have to have a certification from a physician saying that you are medically okay to cruise. We aren't trying to predetermine all those things." Similarly, in ship buffets, Donald said passengers could be looking at social distancing rules for the lines where passengers wait to collect food. Ship staff would serve the food instead of allowing passengers to touch serving utensils.
"Each [of the brands] have their own ethos, their own way of creating that happiness," Weinstein says. "I think the more focused each brand can be in clarity around what its proposition is, the better we'll be." "There are very, very different target audiences for each of those brands," Weinstein notes. "Somebody who goes on a Carnival cruise, which I do with my family, loves the waterslides and the boisterous nature of [the trips]. The idea of what it means to create happiness in that environment is completely different than [what it is on] a world cruise on Cunard." But ask Weinstein, 48, for a big-picture overview of the task that lies ahead of him and his vision for the company, and he doesn't even mention its current financial troubles. The former CEO joined Carnival while it was dealing with the fallout of a fire that knocked out power on the Carnival Triumph’s sanitation system, stranding more than 4,000 passengers and crew members at sea for days in miserable and unsanitary conditions.
Authorities in many other countries from Canada to Australia also have put cruising on hold for the time being. He also declared his commitment to being "best in class for compliance," and since 2016 Carnival has invested more than $350 million in energy-efficiency improvements and announced the goal of being net carbon-neutral by 2050. It was the first company to launch cruise ships powered by liquefied natural gas, which is considered more environmentally friendly than traditional bunker fuel.
Donald's first message to travel advisors in 2013 was that the nine brands had "some work to do" to rebuild credibility with them. Carnival Corp. brand leadership became more agent-friendly and more diverse under Donald, who is Black. Under Donald's leadership, the company achieved record profits and tripled its corporate earnings between 2013 and 2019. In 2017, after Carnival beat an earnings estimate, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," said that Donald was "the man who may be the best turnaround artist of our time."
Donald will be succeeded by Carnival’s operations chief, Josh Weinstein, who has also served as its treasurer in his 20 years at the company. But in a sign that investors might not be so keen on a changing of the guard, Carnival’s shares fell 6% in afternoon trading. "I can't just run around having fun all the time, but the bottom line is, I'll be able to spend a little bit more time onboard ships." Weinstein also was an integral part of the company's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, proving he can pull people together even under the most intense of circumstances.
In a conference call for Wall Street analysts, Donald listed his priorities as consistently delivering on the promise of an exceptional vacation, expanding the appeal of Carnival brands globally and driving returns on invested capital higher over time. Donald, 58, joined the board in 2001 and is said to have taken an active interest in Carnival's various brands. He had a 20-year career running divisions of the chemical giant Monsanto Co. and became CEO of Merisant, a sweetener company that was spun off from Monsanto in 2000. But only "when it's the right time and when we can do it confidently from a public health standpoint."
Josh Weinstein, Carnival CEO: China exit, debt reduction, bright outlook - Marketscreener.com
Josh Weinstein, Carnival CEO: China exit, debt reduction, bright outlook.
Posted: Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Carnival Corporation's ships sailed just 69% full during the three-month period ending on May 31, well below the 100% or more that is typical for the company (reported occupancy on ships can surpass 100% when more than two people stay in some cabins). Carnival Corporation is perhaps best known as the company behind Carnival Cruise Line — the world's second-largest cruise brand. But it also operates eight other major cruise brands, each offering something a little different. A 20-year veteran of Carnival Corporation & plc, Weinstein has a long history of success in critical senior-level roles for the company. In his most recent assignment for the past two years as Carnival Corporation & plc’s Chief Operations Officer, Weinstein oversaw all major operational functions including global maritime, global ports and destinations, global sourcing, global IT and global auditing.
Donald said he believes this kind of achievement -- happy, fulfilled employees -- ultimately is what leads to company success, from creating joyful vacation experiences to exceeding guest expectations and delivering for shareholders. Perhaps the best-known is Princess's Medallion, a concept Donald himself introduced to the world as keynote speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2017. Along with then-Princess President Jan Swartz (now head of Holland America Group) and the man largely behind the technology, John Padgett, now president of Princess, Donald talked about how Medallion would change the industry. Donald's approach has paid off with a number of innovations for the brands under Carnival Corp.
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