Interview: Carnival CEO Arnold Donald on Turning the Ship Around
Photo Credit: Arnold Donald visits the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. Carnival Corporation
Skift Take
As Carnival goes, so does the rest of the cruise industry. Under Donald, Carnival has been going quickly into China, Cuba, and experiential travel in a way that others will likely be soon to follow.
Turning around a giant object isn't easy, whether it's a ship that holds 4,000 people or a one of the largest travel companies by market cap and the home of 10 brands.
But that's precisely what Arnold Donald was tasked with doing when he took over as CEO of Carnival Corp. in July 2013. The turnaround wasn't purely financial (although the stock has improved under Donald), the job was to deal with months of terrible publicity and poor communication by the cruise line during crises that included the infamous "poop cruise" as well as the fatal Costa Concordia sinking in Italy.
Carnival's most visible shift under Donald can be seen in its focus on getting cruisers to be the brands' best advocates, from asking them to help create advertising campaigns to creating onboard Internet plans that let them share their trips on social networks while still at sea. It has changed how it communicates with the public, too, as was seen most recently when it went proactive on Twitter and Faceb
