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Carnival Australia Names Marguerite Fitzgerald as President

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Carnival Australia, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) and the industry leader in the Australian and New Zealand cruise market, today announced that effective Jan. 10, 2022, global travel and tourism veteran Marguerite Fitzgerald will assume dual roles as president of P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Australia.

Australian-born Fitzgerald, most recently serving as the lead for Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) global lodging and leisure practice, as well as its global strategy business, brings deep expertise in all aspects of cruise operations to Carnival Corporation. She will be based in Sydney and report directly to Jan Swartz, group president, Holland America Group, who also has responsibility for Carnival Australia.

Fitzgerald replaces Sture Myrmell, who on Oct. 18 assumes a new role as president of Carnival UK, the UK’s largest cruise operator, overseeing the Cunard and P&O Cruises UK cruise line brands. Myrmell has been at Carnival Australia for the past 14 years, including the past five years serving as President of Carnival Australia and the home-grown cruise line, P&O Cruises Australia.

Fitzgerald brings two decades of strategy and operational experience in retail and leisure travel to her dual-role position with Carnival Australia. She has worked across global geographies developing international strategies for travel and tourism companies, including over 10 years working with cruise lines – including several Carnival Corporation brands – in virtually every area of operations, from commercial to hotel to maritime. Prior to her time at BCG, Fitzgerald worked for several years in the Australian power industry.

“Marguerite is a trusted global authority in the travel and tourism industry with extensive expertise in the worldwide cruise passenger market, including direct experience working in the Australian and New Zealand region,” said Swartz. “With the insight she brings from consulting with some of the world’s most well-known travel and tourism companies, including several of our brands, she is uniquely qualified to make a strong contribution to Carnival Australia’s continued success.

”With her global perspective and insight, Marguerite is joining the Australian team to continue Sture’s leadership in positioning Carnival Australia for the re-building of cruising in the region along with supporting the many small businesses and individuals who rely on cruising for their livelihoods,” she said.

Myrmell, who will be based in Southampton, England, will also serve temporarily as president of Cunard during the recruitment for that position. He will report directly to Josh Weinstein, chief operations officer for Carnival Corporation, who also has responsibility for Carnival UK.

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Major events in the Australasian cruise market

• P&O Cruises' TSS Strathaird made her first cruise from Sydney to Norfolk Island carrying 1100 passengers. (Srathaird is pictured in Brisbane in 1932 courtesy of the State Library of Queensland)
• More than one million United Kingdom migrants caught their very first glimpse of their new Australian homeland from P&O Cruises’ ships. Known as Ten Pound Poms, this mass arrival was a scheme devised by the Australian and British Governments to help populate Australia.
• During the 1950s, Holland America Line’s ss Volendam & ss Groote Beer also form part of the post-war fleet bringing European migrants to Australia.
• Princess Cruises bases its first seasonal ship in Australia, with the original ‘Loveboat’, the Pacific Princess, cruising from Sydney over the summer
• P&O Cruises acquires Sitmar cruises, consisting of the former Cunarders Fairwind and Fairsea (later Fair Princess), Fairstar and the Fairsky.
• Maiden Australian visit of P&O Cruises World Cruising’s Oriana, heralding a new age of superliners.
• P&O Cruises welcomes Pacific Sky to its fleet.
• P&O Cruises’ office consists of just over 150 employees.
• Maiden Australian visit of P&O Cruises World Cruising’s new Aurora, which at 76,000 tonnes is the largest ship to ever visit Australia.
• Princess Cruises bases the ‘new’ Pacific Princess in Sydney for six months, the first Princess ship with an onboard currency in Australian dollars and itineraries designed specifically for Australians.
• P&O Cruises bases Pacific Sky in Auckland for the brand’s first ever season cruising from New Zealand.
• Carnival Corporation announces merger with P&O Princess Cruises plc, creating the world’s first global cruise operator.
• Princess Cruises’ 108,000-tonne Star Princess makes her maiden visit to Australia – claiming the mantle of the largest ship ever to visit Down Under.
• Pacific Sky is joined by Pacific Sun (ex Jubilee from Carnival Cruise Lines) to be based year round in Sydney as part of P&O Cruises’ fleet.
• Pacific Sky becomes the first cruise ship to be based in Brisbane.
• Carnival Australia is formed.
• Princess Cruises’ new 116,000-tonne Sapphire Princess visits Australia, becoming the youngest and largest ship ever to call Down Under.
• P&O Cruises continue to dominate the cruising industry in Australia with the debut of Pacific Star (ex Costa Tropicale) to be based in Brisbane.
• Holland America Line’s maiden season from Australia begins
• Queen Mary 2's maiden visit Down Under sees the Cunard flagship claiming the title of the largest ship ever to visit Australia.  Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 have a memorable Royal Rendezvous in Sydney Harbour.
• Ann Sherry appointed Carnival Australia CEO.
• P&O Cruises’ first superliner, Pacific Dawn, debuts in Sydney.
• P&O Cruises celebrates its 75th anniversary of cruising, now carrying more than 400,000 passengers annually on scores of voyages to the Pacific Islands.
• Sun Princess becomes the first Princess Cruises’ ship to be deployed in Australia full time.
• Princess Cruises’ Dawn Princess is deployed in Australia full time, joining Sun Princess.
• Princess Cruises bases its first ship in Melbourne, becoming the first cruise line to offer a full summer season of cruises from the Victorian capital.
• Princess Cruises operates its first world cruise sailing roundtrip from Australia.
• P&O Cruises announces its partnership with Australian celebrity chef Luke Mangan – the first such offering in the Australian market.
• Queen Elizabeth 2 pays her final visit to Australia, while Queen Victoria makes her maiden visit Down Under. The two Cunard ships stage an historic Royal Rendezvous in Sydney Harbour 
• Pacific Jewel joins the P&O Cruises’ fleet.
• Carnival Australia receives the Outstanding Workplace Flexibility award from the Australian Government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).
• P&O Cruises World Cruising’s new Arcadia makes its maiden Australian visit.
• Pacific Pearl joins the P&O Cruises fleet in December 2010.
• Seabourn Odyssey makes her maiden visit to Australia – the first of three new ultra-luxury ships planned for the cruise line.
• Cunard’s newest ship, Queen Elizabeth, makes her maiden visit to Australia, meeting Queen Mary 2 in Sydney in another Royal Rendezvous.
• Holland America Line and Seabourn establish a full sales and marketing operation in Sydney at Carnival Australia’s head office at North Sydney.
• Holland America’s ms Oosterdam makes her maiden visit to Australia, commencing the first of three seasonal deployments Down Under
• The world’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Cruise Line announces it will enter the Australian market under the Carnival Australia umbrella in October 2012.
• Seabourn Sojourn makes her maiden visit to Australia.
• P&O Cruises celebrates 80 years of cruising out of Australia.
• Carnival Australia pioneers Mare in the Loyalty Islands as the latest destination for cruise passengers in the Pacific Islands.
• Queen Mary 2 undertakes her first circumnavigation of Australia.
• Carnival Spirit debuts in Australia in October.
• White Bay Cruise Terminal opens in Balmain to replace the temporary facility at Barangaroo.
• New cruise terminal at Queen's Wharf opens in Auckland, New Zealand.
• P&O Cruises makes maiden dedicated cruise to Papua New Guinea
• Seabourn Quest makes her maiden visit to Australia.
• Two P&O ships celebrate Australia Day in Sydney Harbour for the first time
• P&O Cruises World Cruising unveils new ‘Union Jack’ livery for its fleet
• Carnival Cruise Line and Sydney’s Lord Nelson Brewery unveil the region’s first cruise beer
• P&O announces a second ship is to be based in Brisbane reflecting Queensland’s growth as a source market
• Carnival Legend makes its maiden visit to Sydney for its first extended summer season of cruising from the city, joining Carnival Spirit which is based here year round
• Holland America Line deploys ms Noordam to Australia for the summer cruise season, replacing ms Oosterdam
• Golden Princess arrives in Australia for its maiden season of cruises from Melbourne
• A record three P&O ships berth in Sydney Harbour for Australia Day celebrations
• Carnival Australia ships carry out relief effort after Cyclone Pam’s devastation in Vanuatu
• Princess Cruises announces its new partnership with internationally renowned Australian chef Curtis Stone
• P&O Cruises’ ‘Five Ship Spectacular’ in Sydney Harbour welcomes Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden to the P&O Cruises’ fleet
• A record four Carnival Australia ships – three P&O and one Carnival Cruise Line – take 8000 passengers to the Melbourne Cup
• A record four P&O ships berth in Sydney Harbour for Australia Day celebrations
• P&O becomes the first cruise line to homeport a ship in Cairns, with Pacific Eden sailing from the city on nine cruises
• P&O makes 16 maiden visits to new ports around Australia and the Asia Pacific
• Princess Cruises’ Emerald Princess makes her maiden visit to Australia, and is based in Sydney for a five-month season of cruises
• Seabourn Encore makes her maiden visit to Australia, becoming the newest and most luxurious cruise ship to be seasonally based in Australia.
• Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 celebrates the 10 th anniversary of her first visit to Australia with a Royal Rendezvous with Queen Elizabeth
• P&O Cruises unveils new ‘Southern Cross’ livery
• P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn is refurbished and receives the cruise line’s first water slides and waterpark
• Princess Cruises announces its flagship Majestic Princess will be based in Australia for a summer season of cruising from September 2018
• P&O Cruises’ Pacific Explorer debuts in Sydney.
• P&O Cruises announces Golden Princess will join its fleet in 2020
• Carnival Cruise Line announces it will increase its Australian operation to two full-time ships in 2020
• Princess Cruises announces Ruby Princess will sail alongside Majestic Princess in Australian waters from 2020.
• P&O Cruises announces fleet transformation with Pacific Adventure to join in 2020 along with a second Grand Class ship in 2021
• Princess Cruises' flagship Majestic Princess arrives in Sydney Harbour along a spectacular 'runway of lights' ready for a six-month local cruise program
• Cunard announces Queen Elizabeth will be based in Australia for a record two-month deployment in 2019 with cruises from Sydney and Melbourne
• Bookings open for Carnival Splendor's homeporting in Australia
• P&O Cruises sponsors the Vanuatu women's beach volleyball team in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games where Vanuatu's first ever team medal is won
• Carnival Australia welcomes news that it is 'full steam ahead' for the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal
• Carnival Cruise Line announces that Carnival Spirit will cruise year round from Brisbane from October 2020
• Sun Princess to call Fremantle home as a record Princess Cruises' deployment in the west is announced
• P&O Cruises marks its 85th anniversary year by announcing drought-stricken farmers will sail as the cruise line's guests on two cruises in December
• P&O Cruises' Pacific Explorer is featured on a special Norfolk Island postage stamp
• Carnival Australia brands headed for a record 2018-19 Australian cruise season with 696 ship calls generating $500 million in economic activity
• Carnival Australia brands also set for a big New Zealand cruise season with ships making 405 calls generating $200 million in economic activity
• Carnival Australia is recognised for its contribution to sharing the economic value of cruising with communities in the Pacific Islands
• P&O Cruises prepared to farewell Pacific Eden and Pacific Jewel in March and April respectively in anticipation of fleet transformation with the arrival of Pacific Adventure in 2020 and a second Grand Class ship in 2021
• Cunard announced that Queen Elizabeth -- after 54 days deployment in Australia in 2019 -- would return for 101 days in 2019-20 and 118 days in 2020-21.
• Princess Cruises announced three major milestones for its three new ships currently under construction at the Fincantieri Shipyard in Italy
• Cunard revealed an Australian inspired new uniform for its iconic bellboys in partnership with R M Williams and Akubra for Queen Elizabeth's deployment in Australia
• Princess Cruises announced a second La Mer Restaurant by three-Michelin Star French chef Emmanuel Renaut would be on board the cruise line's new Ruby Princess.
• Princess Cruises announces a record breaking 2020-2021 cruise program including the local debut of the 3560-guest Regal Princess and the return of Sapphire Princess.
• Carnival Cruise Line celebrated a landmark achievement of one million passengers since the cruise line began operations in Australia in 2013 with the home porting of Carnival Spirit in Sydney.
• P&O guests helping to save newborns in Papue New Guinea in a partnership between UNICEF and the P&O Pacific Partnership enabling parents to have a baby alarm that activates if an infant's body temperature drops suddenly.
• Princess Cruises announces a new local oartnership in New Zealand with the initial focus on helping to protect native birdlife.
• Carnival Australia announces one of its biggest ever cruise seasons with more than 600 port calls around Australia and the spectacular debut of Ruby Princess and Carnival Splendor.
• P&O Cruises celebrates 50 years of cruising to the Melbourne Cup allowing guests to enjoy all the excitement of the race that stops a nation.
• Ruby Princess arrives in Sydney to begin a fabulous season of cruising.
• P&O Cruises announces features on the eagerly awaited Pacific Adventure including the exciting 'triple racer' waterslide.
• P&O Cruises' Pacific Eden is the first cruise ship to return to Eden on the NSW South Coast following disastrous summer bushfires on Australia's east coast.
• Cunard's Queen Elizabeth becomes the largest cruise ship to berth at the Cairns Cruise Terminal in the heart of the city following dredging of Trinity Inlet.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated much of 2020 and Carnival Australia's cruise lines responded to this public health emergency by suspending cruise operations as part of a worldwide pause in cruising.
• In July, Carnival Corporation and the World Travel and Tourism Council hosted a virtual Global Science Summit on COVID-19 to share the latest scientific knowledge and measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.
• Carnival Australia supports CLIA Australasia in its #wearecruise video campaign highlighting the economic impact of the pandemic on cruise tourism partners.
• Princess Cruises advances the transition of Golden Priness and Star Princess to P&O Cruises Australia's fleet in P&O's ongoing fleet transformation.
• P&O Cruises Australia farewells Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria, both much loved ships that played a big part in the development of Australia's home grown cruise line.
• Holland America Line changes the name of its newbuild to Rotterdam with the ship designated as the line's flagship.
• The first steel is cut for Seabourn's second ultra luxury expedition ship.
• Princess Cruises announces that guest favourites Sea Princess and Sun Princess are to be farewelled from the fleet.
• Sea Princess third officer Max Bingle receives a prestigious maritime award for his part in the rescue of three seafarers in the Caribbean earlier in the year.
• Carnival Australia President Sture Myrmell and colleagues visit Sydney area farms to highlight impact of thecruising suspension on suppliers of fresh produce.
• P&O Cruises announces Pacific Encounter ready to begin her 'Australian story" as the line's fleet transformation continues.
• Princess Cruises announces its 2022-23 cruise season including a new world voyage in 2023.
• Eden on the Sapphire Coast of NSW is the first port featured in a P&O Cruises' project to higlight popular Australian cruise destinations.
• The guest-funded P&O Pacific Partnership continues its support of the Vanuatu Women's Beach Volleyball team in their quest to represent their nation at the Tokyo Olympics.
• P&O Cruises establishes a partnership with the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation following the announcement of the line's inaugural Pride cruise.
• Carnival Australia hosts a delegation to Parliament House Canberra of fresh food producers, tour operators and entertainers to highlight the economic impact of the suspension of cruising.
• Golden Princess enters dry dock in Italy to emerge as Pacific Adventure to comprise P&O Cruises' three-ship fleet. 
• P&O Cruises, Princess and Carnival Cruise Line fleets resume cruising in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific following the pause in operations due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Guests were welcomed back by 56 communities for whom cruising is the key economic driver.
• History was made as Pacific Explorer became the first cruise ship to berth at the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal, which was underwritten by Carnival Australia through its long-term commitment. 
• Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess became the first ship to be homeported at the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal, later joined by P&O Cruises’ Pacific Encounter.
• P&O Cruises continued its support for Vanuatu communities, including the Women’s Beach Volleyball team which won a Bronze Commonwealth Games medal at , boat operator safety training and equipment for the Aneityum community and Christmas gifts for local children. 
• P&O Cruises launched its first Pride cruises in Australia from Sydney and Melbourne.
• Carnival Australia transports 7600 guests to the Melbourne Cup on three cruise ships from Sydney.
• P&O Cruises celebrates 90 years of cruising in Australia.

Exclusive: New Carnival Corporation CEO talks with TPG about his vision for its 9 cruise lines

Josh Weinstein is walking into what may be the toughest job in corporate America.

The new president and CEO of cruise giant Carnival Corporation — he takes the reins today — is confronting a business that has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Once enormously profitable, the parent company of nine cruise brands has been hemorrhaging money for two straight years . It has had to take on an enormous amount of debt just to survive.

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. He talks about making people happy.

"What do I think about the company and where do I see it going? I think that we do have a purpose, and our purpose is to create happiness. And the way we do it is by delivering unforgettable and much-needed vacations," Weinstein says at the top of a one-on-one interview with TPG — his first with a media outlet since being appointed CEO.

For more cruise news, guides and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

There's a lot to do on the financial front to right the ship that is Carnival Corporation in the coming years. Weinstein admits as much. But the company will win or lose in the long term by how well it delivers wonderful vacations, he suggests. During the hour-long interview with TPG over Zoom, it's clear that that will be his focus at the highest level.

It's a philosophy that began forming in Weinstein's mind soon after he joined Carnival Corporation two decades ago as a corporate lawyer, having worked for one of the top New York law firms specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He'd never been on a cruise until that moment. But soon he was heading to ships regularly — not just for work but increasingly for fun. Weinstein, his wife and his three children became cruising enthusiasts early on in his tenure at Carnival Corporation and made it a regular thing.

"I have these memories of my family growing over time, and I can associate them with cruises," he says, pointing to pictures of his family on ships that he keeps near his desk. "They are unforgettable because not only are we just creating that happiness in the moment, but I can close my eyes and I can just start smiling when I think about the experiences that I've had, that we have provided."

It's that sort of feeling that Weinstein says he wants to make sure Carnival Corporation's customers continue to have. And if they do, he suggests, the company will thrive.

No big changes for now

Weinstein is taking over as president and CEO of Carnival Corporation from Arnold Donald, who is stepping down from the position after nine years on the job . Since 2020, Weinstein has reported directly to Donald as the chief operations officer for the company and also the head of its U.K.-based cruise lines. Before that, he ran the U.K.-based lines for three years.

It's a transition that is unlikely to bring major changes to the way the company operates — at least at first. Weinstein tells TPG that he is "on a bit of an exploration path" of understanding the company's various divisions and how they're delivering on the promise of happiness that he talks about — each in their own way.

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.

The brands include everything from big, mass-market lines such as Carnival, Princess Cruises and Holland America , which offer cabins starting at under $100 per day per person, to luxury line Seabourn , which sells rooms on its ships for more than $1,000 a day in some cases. Carnival Corporation also operates some of the world's biggest cruise brands based outside of North America, including U.K.-based P&O Cruises and Cunard; Italy-based Costa Cruises; Germany-based AIDA Cruises; and Australia-based P&O Cruises Australia.

It's a massive portfolio that makes Carnival Corporation not only the world's biggest cruise company — the company accounts for nearly half of all cruise vacations taken worldwide — but also one of the world's biggest leisure travel companies.

Weinstein is quick to point out that the "happiness" that he envisions each of the brands providing their customers will come in different forms.

"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."

Those differences are to be cherished and won't be changing under his leadership, Weinstein suggests. Indeed, if anything, the Carnival Corporation brands under his watch will become more distinct.

Related: The ultimate guide to Carnival Cruise Line

"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."

It's not just about honing the brand promise, he adds. It's about delivering on what's promised.

"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. "People are going to come back, and they're going to tell their friends."

To that point, Weinstein says his job in the coming years won't be to tell each individual brand what to do. It will be about "making sure that each of our brands is doing everything they do based on their guest and target market.

"I'm not coming to any brand to dictate that I expect you to have a steakhouse, [or to ask] 'why don't you have a hot stone massage?' ... because I don't know what their guests want. What my job is is to make sure they ... understand what their proposition is, why their guests should choose them, and that they can deliver on that. And so that's where my focus is."

Working back to normalcy

In the short term, of course, Weinstein will need to navigate the company through some major financial hurdles. No other segment of the travel industry has been hit as hard by the pandemic as cruise lines, which were forced to shut down operations completely in the early days of the pandemic and went many months without operating a single trip — or bringing in any revenue.

While most of Carnival Corporation's ships are now back in operation, bookings have only recently begun returning to something close to normal levels and occupancies on ships remain off their peaks. 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).

As a result, Carnival Corporation has continued to lose massive amounts of money in recent quarters — $1.83 billion in just the three months ending May 31, a magnitude of quarterly loss that once was unthinkable for the company.

Perhaps more troubling, Carnival Corporation is now saddled with a substantial pile of debt — $35.1 billion as of the end of May — that it mostly issued in the past three years to raise money to stay in business. That's up from less than $12 billion at the start of 2020. The interest on the debt alone is costing the company more than $120 million a month.

For context, in the company's last good year (2019) it made about $2.9 billion in profits.

Among the immediate concerns that Weinstein will need to address is that some of the abovementioned debt will need to be refinanced relatively soon in a market where interest rates are rising and borrowing is getting harder. And there's growing worry among Wall Street analysts that a potential severe recession in the coming year could further weaken the company's financial position.

In a research report issued in late June that made waves in the industry, Morgan Stanley analyst Jamie Rollo warned that, should the economy deteriorate greatly, a possible worst-case scenario would be for the value of the company's stock to drop to zero. He didn't use the word bankruptcy, but it was implied.

"If the high yield market [where Carnival Corporation could borrow money] closes, and/or if there is a demand shock that causes trip cancellations or weak bookings (and hence customer deposit outflows), liquidity could quickly shrink," Rollo wrote, meaning that in such a scenario, the cash the company had on hand to pay its bills could evaporate.

Investors on Wall Street are clearly worried about the company's future, as can be seen in the 58% plunge in the company's stock price this year. The stock is now trading below $10 a share, down nearly 90% from highs set four years ago and significantly below the level where it was trading when Donald took over as CEO nine years ago.

Weinstein says he won't comment on the Morgan Stanley report. What he might say "is probably not fit for print," he quips. But he says he has "extreme confidence" in the business long term, and he sounds upbeat about the company's ability to weather any coming storm.

Weinstein notes that he spent 10 years as Carnival Corporation's treasurer starting in 2007, "right before the wheels fell off the world economy and we went into the Great Recession." It was a role that had him in the thick of the effort to keep the company's financial position steady at a very stressful time — a "trial by fire," in his words, that he says has prepared him for the current moment.

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.

As he sees it, Carnival Corporation is in the midst of a "monumental" comeback. "As I think about the next year and a half, we've got great booking momentum ... the occupancies continue to build," he says.

As long as the company delivers on providing that happiness to customers that is his focus, the good times will return, and the company can start paying down the high levels of debt, he suggests.

"If we can deliver on that purpose, if we communicate it the right way, if we are real clear with our target audience about what they can expect and then deliver that, the financials fall into place because we're going to be generating the demand and the revenue that we know that we can achieve, and [that will] continue to improve the financial picture," he says.

Is it wise to book a cruise right now?

Still, there's that worse-case picture painted by Morgan Stanley's Rollo. What if we do get a severe recession that freezes up credit markets and prompts cruisers to shy away from bookings? Can a weakened Carnival Corporation survive that sort of event? Or, as we put it to Weinstein, echoing the worry of some of our readers: Is it wise to put down money for a future cruise right now knowing that more trouble for the industry could be brewing?

The question may seem extreme, given the way Carnival Corporation's brands have begun bouncing back. But cruisers already have been burned by the failures of several much smaller cruise companies since the pandemic began, most notably Crystal Cruises and its Asia-based sister brands Star Cruises and Dream Cruises, and the U.K.'s Cruise and Maritime Voyages. The latter was the second-biggest cruise operator in the U.K. after Carnival Corporation's P&O Cruises.

Many cruisers who paid in advance for cruises on these defunct brands have yet to get their money back.

Related: Crystal Cruises shuts down after parent company runs out of money

In answering the survival question, Weinstein talks a lot about the nature of recessions, noting that we don't even know for sure that a recession is coming; that if one does come, it might not be severe; and even if it's severe, it likely wouldn't occur in all of the places the company operates at the same time.

Perhaps more significantly, cruise lines historically haven't seen as severe a downturn in business during recessions as other travel providers. Weinstein notes that's because cruises tend to be perceived as value options in the travel space. During recessions, people don't necessarily give up vacationing. Instead, they cut back on how much they'll pay for vacations. And in doing so, they sometimes end up switching from a land-based trip to a cruise.

"I'm not trying to downplay [the risk of a severe recession]," he says. "But we do know that we are recession resilient."

Weinstein also points to strong pent-up demand for vacations in the wake of the pandemic lockdowns and also the boost in demand that cruise companies should get from the relaxation of COVID-19-related vaccine and testing rules for cruising that is starting to occur. Both factors should keep bookings coming in, he says.

Plus, the company had $7.5 billion in liquidity on its books as of May 31, a cushion against further losses.

"Business momentum is pretty fantastic," Weinstein says. "We are sitting in a pretty good place right now when it comes to our liquidity position, and all of that bodes well."

Are the days of rapid growth over?

Even if the economy proves to be stronger than some expect in the next year or two, Weinstein is facing some tough decisions, including whether and how extensively to begin ordering new ships again.

Up until the pandemic, Carnival Corporation and its major rivals such as Royal Caribbean Group had long pursued a strategy of ambitious growth that involved ordering new ships almost as fast as they could be built. The arrival of new ships at major brands, often with new features, seemed to be always around the corner, and it drove both excitement and bookings among cruising fans. It was at the core of the rapid expansion of the industry.

But since the pandemic began, such orders have been on pause, and restarting them at Carnival Corporation carries new risks given the company's high debt level.

When asked whether ship orders could soon resume, Weinstein is noncommittal. He notes that the company is determined to get its debt level down and rebuild the "fortress balance sheet" that it once had. To do that, the company will have to divert a significant chunk of any profits it generates in the coming years to paying down debt, not buying more ships.

Any ship orders that are to come are likely to be for delivery several years into the future, he suggests.

"I will say that our order book is set for the next few years ... [If] everything works out the way we hope, we'll have the opportunity to pay down debt in a meaningful way [in the coming years]," he says. "That doesn't preclude us from doing what we think is appropriate in the growth profile ... [But] we'd be looking at ships [scheduled to arrive] in four, five, six, seven years down the line."

Related: The ultimate guide to picking a cruise line

The good news for cruising fans who love new ships is that several of Carnival Corporation's biggest brands including Carnival and Princess still have new ships on the way — vessels that were ordered before the pandemic began. But the pipeline of new ships on order for Carnival Corporation brands is quickly running dry. The company has just seven ships on order across its nine brands, all but two of which will arrive by the end of next year.

Four of the brands, including Holland America and Costa, do not have a single ship on order.

The order drought, moreover, comes on top of the early retirement of 23 vessels across Carnival Corporation's nine brands during the pandemic as the company slashed costs to survive. The company went into the pandemic with 105 vessels in all. Even after several new ship additions in the past two years (ships that already were in the pipeline), it's down to just 92 vessels.

Weinstein suggests that new ships aren't as key to the health of the cruise industry as some might think.

While "a lot of our guests love the new ships," some of the highest ratings Carnival Corporation brands get from customers is from sailing on older ships, he says.

"New builds are awesome, but it's the whole fleet that drives the business, the profitability," he says.

Contemplating a 'weird' world of black swans

TPG ended its conversation with Weinstein with a broad question about how the pandemic has changed the way he and the rest of the leadership team at Carnival Corporation think about long-term planning.

Specifically, how are they now modeling the possibility of a business-halting event such as the pandemic? Do they see the pandemic-caused shutdown of cruising as a one-off "black swan" event so rare that something like it is likely never to happen again? Or is their view of what the world could possibly throw at them forever changed? And, if so, will we see a new conservatism in how they run the business?

Weinstein won't predict the future, but he did say that Carnival Corporation had modeled the possibility of a global pandemic into the company's business planning — though he suggests it hadn't conceived of the magnitude of the effects something like the COVID-19 outbreak could have.

"Did anybody predict a pandemic? Did we build that into the models? Yeah, we've looked at that in the past as (a possible) 'black swan' event, along with other 'black swan' events," he says. "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."

Weinstein suggests it's a challenge to build a day-to-day business model that factors in the possibility of another pandemic that would have the worldwide effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, or a similar phenomenon that would shut down cruising for months on end.

"I think it'd be very difficult to live our lives planning around something that looks like the impact of what just happened," he says.

That said, the remote possibility that something else as unexpected and damaging to the company as the COVID-19 pandemic could happen is one reason Carnival Corporation's leaders want to restore the company's balance sheet as soon as they can.

"Our ability to, over time, rebuild the balance sheet, get back to that fortress [balance sheet], that's the path that we want to get on," he says. "I think we can do that in a way that still allows us to grow and to order more ships over time. I don't look at them as mutually exclusive. But we absolutely have a priority that we're going to use our cash to ... reduce financial leverage."

His basic message: You never know what's going to happen, so it's best to be in a strong position at all times.

Or as he puts it at the end of our conversation: "The world's a weird place."

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Exclusive: Carnival’s global CEO says Australia may be among the first to relaunch

The australian cruise market can’t reopen soon enough for the ceo of carnival corporation, the leisure travel giant with a nine-cruise line portfolio that includes carnival, p&o and princess..

“Australia is one of the most thriving cruise markets in the world,” said Arnold Donald by phone in a rare one-on-one print media interview from his St. Louis residence. “It’s had double-digit growth in cruise for something like 10 years in a row – I’ve lost count. It’s a great market for cruise, certainly with our P&O and Princess brands.”

When cruising returns from the months-long suspension of operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “we’ll be back and elated to sail all our ships that come into Australia because, like with every other market in the world, there’s a large population of people who are underpenetrated for cruise,” Mr Donald said.

Reasons for Carnival’s corporate captain sounding upbeat are not without merit. For one, even under the lingering dark cloud of the fatal Ruby Princess calamity, the end of an industry-wide shutdown appears to be within sight. Cruise lines worldwide are now setting specific dates for resuming service, most in time to salvage the Australian winter.

“There’s possibilities that Australia will come back sooner than other regions because it’s had less impact from the pandemic than some other places in the world,” he said.

Echoing the big boss’ optimism is P&O, which on May 4 joined sister Carnival in announcing a return to operations in Australia and New Zealand after Aug. 31.

“Australia has to date been very successful in flattening the curve of COVID-19, and the nation is working hard to maintain this positive momentum to help achieve economic recovery,” P&O told Cruise Passenger , citing the $5 billion annual contribution the industry makes to the national, state and regional economies. “Australia is also in a beneficial position with an extremely long coastline and numerous cruise destinations that could support a resumption of domestic cruise itineraries as a prelude to a full restoration of cruise operations.”

As the cruise industry gears up for a grand reopening, Carnival’s CEO acknowledges the added challenge of its Princess brand, which during the COVID-19 pandemic has seen its name splashed more in the news section than travel section. In addition to the Ruby Princess, which has been linked to more than 20 coronavirus deaths and 600 infections across Australia, passengers on the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess have accounted for more than 800 total COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths.

“With Princess, despite some of the recent noise and investigations going on, we’ll get through all of that. We welcome the investigations, and we know our top priority and responsibility is compliance and environmental protection, health, safety and wellbeing, and we act in good faith in that regard. Coming out of that we’re expecting for Australia to be the robust cruise market it’s been and return to whatever the new normal is.”

Normal will surely have a different look after the current crisis passes, according to Donald, noting that changes to the cruise experience depend greatly on global alignment around the epidemiology of COVID-19.

“What will be different will be based on what we learn over the next several weeks about what really mitigates the spread of COVID-19,” he said. “Today, there’s controversy around everything – on testing, temperature scanning …. So, rather than rush to a bunch of optical things that look good, we’re going to let the medical and science communities determine what should be put into protocol or regimens that would really help mitigate the spread of this particular virus.”

When cruise ships return to passenger service after the expected five-month shutdown, at a minimum crew members will engage in deep cleaning, a medical professional will be on board and passengers will be reminded to sanitise their hands at stations placed in common areas. Those measures, along with expected good-hygiene practices, are standard operation and how the cruise industry has battled norovirus, Ebola, SARS, MERS and other outbreaks, some more successfully than others.

As a novel virus, COVID-19 is new territory for an industry that thrives on taking passengers to exotic places. The rapidly spreading disease found its way aboard roughly 50 more cruise ships between the first reported onboard case in early February and the mass shutdown.

“The industry voluntarily put a pause on cruising before anyone else did – before hotels, restaurants – before anything else,” Donald said. “There was very little knowledge in February and March. We aggressively addressed it.”

Navigating through the Fog

Inherent with precedent-setting times is the great unknown, a truism not lost on Donald. When asked what success will look like for the cruise industry post-pandemic and when can it be claimed, he answered with an implied asterisk.

“Success looks like happy, engaged, confident guests having the time of their lives filling phenomenal memories – that the crew is happy, engaged and honouring our highest responsibilities, which are compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, of the people and places we touch and, of course, our people shoreside and shipboard.”

Then came the “but.”

“But,” Donald continued, “the practical reality is this is a global pandemic. This is much, much bigger than cruise – bigger than even travel and tourism as an entire category. We have to fit into what works for society, so, clearly, when people are comfortable with social gathering, which a cruise is by definition, that creates the possibility for cruise.”

With the rebound of cruising being dependent on society’s attitude about social gathering, Donald is pleased to see strides toward a return to people assembling.

“You can see what’s happening around the world right now,” he said. “There are a number of places opening – like in Australia they’re opening up some beaches and talking about opening up schools, and other examples. You can see society starting to move to some level of social gathering.”

Although most of the world is in the infancy of ending social distancing, Donald said early efforts provide the cruise industry with learnings as approaches across the globe are compared.

“If people are willing to go to concerts or football stadiums or airport terminals or subway stations, then you have preconditions of them being willing to go on a cruise,” he said. “Cruising has to fit in with how society overall views social gathering.”

Harkening back to Carnival Corporation’s highest responsibility, the health and safety of its guests and crew across all its brands, Donald stressed the importance of the scientific and medical communities aligning on how best to move forward with the least amount of risk in spreading the virus.

“Using that as the basis, we’ll then be able to talk about cruise,” he said. “We’ll find the right balance as the world moves forward. It’s just going to be a little rocky road until we do.”

It’s a rocky road with shipping lanes not found on any nautical chart.

“This is a once in a several-hundred-year type of event that in many ways is devastating,” Donald said. “I don’t think anybody expected most of the world to go into shutdown. Stay at home, shelter in place, whatever you want to call it, the bottom line is it’s had a massive global impact in terms of reaction to this pandemic.

“Millions and millions and millions of people out of jobs, and governments writing unprecedented checks trying to support their citizenry as commerce comes to a screeching halt. There’s been nothing like that where the entire world goes on stand-down. It’s unprecedented.”

Despite so many question marks floating in the sea, the CEO said he is confident his industry will return like cruisers to a buffet line. He cited the large base of loyal supporters who made up the bulk of the 30 million who cruised last year, and he’s seeing strong demand for bookings through 2021. A comeback will not be without its challenges, however.

“I think in the early going there will be enough people who love cruising to fill the ships,” Donald said. “There’s no question that with the amount of media attention around cruising, there are people who have never done it having second thoughts at this point in time. But consistent delivery of experience and exceeding expectations has always been our formula. The industry was wildly successful before this and I’m quite confident we will return to that level of success over time.”

I think it’s great that cruise ships will come back, I have a cruise booked for Sept on splendor, we are supposed to pay the remaining amount at the end of June, my question is .. although the liners are ready to come, will the Australian government let them back in, my cruise is from Sydney to cairns, at this stage I can’t drive across the border into Queensland , how are the cruise ships going to get around this

I was a passenger on the Carnival Splendour which set sail from Sydney on March 11th. We were lucky to have the ABC news on the ship in which it was good to know what was going on with the coronavirus & the world. In the first couple of days Prime Minister Scott Morrison was looking forward to watch a game of football. I was very happy at the time upon hearing this which made me feel very comfortable travelling with a large crowd on the ship. Then 2 or 3 days later everything changed. No football & instead Scott Morrison ordered all international cruise ships to at first be out for 30 days at sea before they can return back to Australia. It then got changed again for obvious reasons that all cruise ships to return to Australia as soon as possible. Our trip was shortened by 2 nights & we were suppose to dock in Sydney on the morning March 19th in which the Ruby Princess took our place. It was to my personal opinion that cruise ships with the sick needed to disembark to get sick passengers to hospital as soon as possible. Because the cross infection in Australia at that time was low risk it seemed at the time safe to do what officials thought. The general public were completely unaware how serious this coronavirus is. If we did know the cruises would have all cancelled & all passengers would have cancelled. All passengers took the chance including myself. When I was on Carnival Splendour the staff had a new standard on Board. Guests were not allowed to touch serving food utensils. Only staff with gloves on were to serve. Cleaning & wiping were done very frequently. I was lucky I was on a clean ship. I feel it was the takeover from the Prime Minister to other senior authorities on every level with no warning on how, what & who is responsible. Infection control is something that cannot be learnt overnight.

We were on Costa Fortuna cruise out of Singapore on 3.3.20. This 14 day cruise should have been cancelled! Singapore was in lockdown when we arrived on 1.3.20. We left Singapore and floated for 8 days as we were rejected from all the ports that the captain tried to dock in. We were then treated like lepers, hoarded onto a bus directly from the ship, our luggage put onto a truck. We had NO correspondence from the cruise company that we booked with, to ascertain if we were ok, on arrival back in Australia. Our 14 day cruise was cut short and Costa advised the media that we were all medically checked whilst on the ship. That is incorrect. We never had a temperature check at any time. Only at the hotel in Singapore prior to boarding the ship. This cruise package we booked and paid for in May 2019! We have been offered a credit! When we could use this, nobody knows. We are not in a position to travel overseas anytime soon.

People need to stop blaming cruise lines for virus outbreaks, the infected got on the ships some people knowingly I’ll. More people were infected travelling through airports and on planes then cruise ships but no one seems to address that issue. Funny how only 3 ships out of a possible 600 had infections but but hundreds of thousand of infected people spread through out the globe by air travel , buses and trains.

I will cruise again as soon as possible, the industry will recover as ships have already taken masses of bookings.

stop blaming the cruise industry….if you don’t want to cruise that’s fine but there are a lot more that do…..no one forces you to do it…it’s your choice…..I would rather be on a cruise ship than flying half way around the world for 17 plus hours on an enclosed plane with people sitting on top of each other…..the cruise ships didn’t bring the virus here, people did….so blame the people that don’t feel the need to be hygienic….. but good luck in finding them as there are billions of them world wide and you will never know who they are. The government seems to be more concerned with the cruise ships than the nursing homes in our country which have killed more people…..they need to get their priorities in order first.

I can’t wait to go cruising again have a carnival cruise booked in January hope you guys start up again asap .

It will be a very long time before cruising would be attractive to me again. Not only the Coronavirus issues but people are becoming very aware of the environmental issues not being addressed. A lot of “sanitising” needs to be done. Those with cruise credits will want to use them and the current style of cruising on offer, more and more, caters for the budget traveller. The gloss is definitely off cruising.

This deserves a good Aussie expression. “Tell ’em their dreaming.”

The fact that we’ve done OK with CV19 is as good a reason to keep excluding cruise ships. Not a reason to let them back in. The one ship – Ruby Princess – was responsible for about 10% of Australia’s cases.

I don’t care who did or did not say what to who and when before The Ruby Princess docked. If Princess is so great at Customer Care (as they keep claiming) , then they would never have accepted NSW clearance given on their first submission as still OK for their amended / second submission. Having lodged a second report, they knew the significance of it. They should have imposed their OWN restrictions, etc and acted properly of their own accord. THAT’S what a quality cruise line would have done.

The fact that a ship may arrive virus free does not mean anything. Just takes one new passenger to come onboard, or one crew member not showing symptoms, with CV19 (innocently or knowingly or recovered and unaware still infectious, etc.) and no matter the best of intentions and practices, there can be an outbreak.

Will these cruises be exclusively for Australians? (Maybe and could be enforced.) Will their staff be only Australians? (Nup! Usually from 30-50 different countries) Will they only visit Australian ports or places proven to be CV19 free? (Nup – no-one knows how to prove that even if everyone is regularly tested. We don’t know who can remain infectious, etc. Just so many unknowns.) Will it only be Australian ports? (Nup – because then they will have to comply with Australian Labour laws, etc. Looks like one intended cruise will dock in one overseas port but may not let anyone off. So don’t breath that air that comes over the ship?) Will they screen all passengers who get off at a port as they come back on board? (Not in any of the new protocols I’ve seen so far.)

We’ve cruised with Cunard, Princess, RCL and NCL in many different places, on their flagships and other ships. Some wonderful memories (but not for QM2).

But until we can get CV19 travel insurance cover (which insurers won’t touch for many legitimate reasons) why should we take a risk the insurers won’t touch?

So here is the challenge to the cruise industry. If it’s so safe now, put your money where your mouth is and provide a CV19 add on travel insurance cover.

BTW Sheila – Princess Australia want 90 days to do a refund. Think that might only be to process / approve / calculate. Then add on extra to actually pay it. If you booked via an agent, add on some more time – months maybe? Despicable. In Europe RCL are doing refunds within a few weeks! And still,our European friend complained on how long it took!

First thing is making sure medical facilities are affordable…obviously if it’s $450 not a lot of people will go to the doctor on board so really who knows who is unwell…my family’ decided not to pay the balance of a cruise supposedly going in June so lost $900 for the three of them…I definitely think they should receive some credit on a future cruise…

If the government hadn’t chased of the Pacific Explorer a couple of weeks ago we would have had a cruise ship that was completely virus free ready to sail not the ships have to go through all the quarenteen again. How bright was that.

The way things are at the moment I think Mr Donald’s thoughts may be wishful thinking. Even though Australia has an enormous coastline currently two of the states borders are closed and who knows when they may open. Just consider the length of the WA coast line (Half of Australia almost). Do people only want to sail from maybe Darwin to Melbourne? Currently our late September with the Sun is still going ahead but when will Australia allow us to travel overseas and when will we allow ships that have been to foreign ports back in? WHO KNOWS?

It would take a great deal of persuasion for me to ever cruise with Princess again and i have completed a lot of cruises from Australia with them .Iwas a passenger on the ruby princess and i got that virus. Iam still recovering and i never want it again i can tell you ,my husband and i are still waiting for our refund and i am assured that it will be sent ,we shall see.We will then make our minds up whether we give your cruise company another try.The medical facilities need to be improved with the appointment of a proper docter for starters!

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Time to have 'the next generation step in': Carnival Corp.'s Arnold Donald stepping down from CEO role

Arnold Donald , CEO and president of Carnival Corp. , the parent company to several cruise lines, stepped down Monday, after helming the company for nearly a decade.

Donald told USA TODAY the decision came as part of an ongoing planning and leadership development process at the company.

"I've been in the role for nine years," he said. "And I'm also, you know, getting to an age where it makes sense to have the next generation step in, and so that's how we got there."

Carnival Corp. announced  in April that Donald would transition to vice chair and a member of the company's board of directors after his tenure as CEO and president was completed.

Donald, who started in the role in 2013 and led Carnival through the COVID-19 pandemic, will be succeeded by Josh Weinstein, who previously served the company as its chief operations officer. 

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In a statement shared with USA TODAY, Weinstein said that he feels privileged to have been given the opportunity to take on the role, adding that succeeding Donald is "quite an honor."

Carnival Corp. is the parent company of flagship Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Cunard.

How did Arnold Donald arrive at Carnival Corp.?

When Donald started in the role in 2013, he anticipated taking it on for only around three years – he had actually already semi-retired after spending more than 20 years at Monsanto, and later forming the Merisant Company where he served as CEO and chairman.

Arnold then spent a semi-retired period in leadership positions at nonprofits and served on various boards including Carnival Corp. until he stepped into the president and CEO position at the cruise giant in 2013, which he said seemed like a good opportunity.

When he took the lead at Carnival, he had specific goals to meet. Donald wanted to bring the company's various brands together to behave like a federation – to share practices and strengthen the company as a whole. 

Donald implemented three practices: Communication, collaboration and coordination.

"If you look at the leadership team in the management team, how we work together, that has dramatically changed," he said. "The brands have extensive communication, collaboration and coordination, and they didn't have it before from a diversity standpoint. The majority of our fleet now, a commercially is led by women."

Leading the company through COVID-19

During his tenure, Donald led Carnival Corp. through the COVID-19 – and he said there actually has been some positive outcome of the pandemic that shut the cruise industry down for more than a year.

"(There) is nothing like a crisis to bring people together," he said, noting the communication, collaboration and coordination that they worked so hard to improve across brands pre-pandemic was brought to a new level thanks to the pandemic. 

The company is still recovering after having taken on debt during COVID-19, but Donald has confidence that things are moving in the right direction. 

And Donald believes the industry, as a whole, is on the up and up: "There's no question industry is on its way to an even better place."

What's next for Arnold Donald?

As vice chair and a member of the company's board of directors, Donald said his number one job is to "help make sure that Josh is wildly successful."

After that he's hoping to have a bit more "me time" which he said he plans to fill with commitments to several external boards throwing out several names including The National WWII Museum and Bank of America, among others.

And after that he said he'll consider what's next, noting he may consider other boards – or perhaps private equity, which Donald was involved with when he "retired the first time."

On the personal side, he's looking to his family legacy.

"I'm going to take some time and personal development and leave something for my grandkids and great grandkids," he explained. "So, I'm not looking to publish but I'm going to do some writing."

To pursue this goal, he's enrolled in a nonfiction writing course "so they will actually want to read it."

He'd also like to pick his saxophone back up, he said.

• Monday, April 22, 2024

CruiseToTravel

Josh weinstein takes over as ceo of carnival corporation.

Josh Weinstein has assumed the role of President and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. He takes over from Arnold Donald who takes on a new position as Vice Chair and member of the Boards of Directors.

From August 1 onwards Josh Weinstein is the new CEO of Carnival Corporation , the world’s largest cruise company.

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. During this time, he also oversaw Carnival UK, the operating company for P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard, which he previously managed directly for three years as president.

Prior to his role with Carnival UK, Weinstein was treasurer for Carnival Corporation & plc for 10 years from 2007 to 2017, overseeing the treasury, tax, insurance and financial planning & analysis functions over this time period. From 2002 to 2007, Weinstein served as an attorney in the corporate legal department.

Josh Weinstein is taking over from Arnold Donald as CEO of Carnival Corporation. Donald was named President and CEO for Carnival Corporation & plc in 2013. During his nine-year tenure as CEO, Donald led the company to record results, including achieving the company’s highest profits in its history.

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. He also helped reshape the company’s fleet profile with newer, more efficient and more environmentally advanced ships.

Talking about his new role Weinstein previously said he recognized what a privilege it is to become CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc.

“I am truly humbled to take up the role of CEO and am honored to lead such a talented team of over 100,000 ship and shoreside team members who do such an incredible job in delivering unforgettable, happy vacations to our guests, day in and day out,” Weinstein said. “I have benefitted tremendously from Arnold’s guidance and mentoring, and I would like to thank him, Micky Arison our Chairman and the entire Boards of Directors for their support. I look forward to building upon the company’s successes as we move forward.”

One of Weinsteins first priorities will be to complete the safe restart of the fleet and restore the company to health. The Carnival Corporation faces a mountain of debt (35 billion euros at the end of May).

Weinstein (48) is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the New York University School of Law. A native of New York, Weinstein and his wife have three children.

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One thought on “ Josh Weinstein takes over as CEO of Carnival Corporation ”

Need to work on customers holding time when call to book cruise 2 HR wait is not acceptable

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