FORT LAUDERDALE — Consumer attitudes toward Carnival Cruise Lines have brightened 60% since a nadir in May, Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald told an audience at Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld event on Wednesday.
“So we’ve got good brand recovery attitudinally, and behaviors follow, “ said Donald, who was the keynote speaker Wednesday at the conference.
Donald said travel agents are vital players in Carnival’s ongoing brand recovery.
“We need our travel professionals’ support,” he said.
Carnival has been wooing agents since July with its Carnival Conversations program. “To the extent those conversations helped more travel professionals engage with us, it is absolutely necessary,” he said.
In addition to weekly consumer surveys, Carnival also gauges travel agent attitudes toward the cruise line.
“We’ve seen good movement there,” Donald said. “We know we have more work to do.”
Donald’s down-home style and booming baritone drew plenty of interest in his debut appearance before a trade audience since starting his new work as CEO in July.
He told of his background growing up in a poor part of then-segregated New Orleans.
“I was rich in having a wonderful, caring set of parents who, although they did not have money, had determination, and they had determination to see me and my siblings succeed,” he said.
Donald also told a story about going undercover to a storefront agency to book a pretend alumni reunion cruise and having the agent recommend a brand other than Carnival.
Eventually, Donald revealed himself. “She had a great attitude in the conversation afterward, and I learned a lot,” he said.
Donald is transitioning from the listen-only mode he adopted after being elevated to CEO, to putting his stamp on things. Earlier this week, Carnival announced a series of executive changes that included aligning Princess Cruises and Holland America Line in a joint operating group.
In a 10-minute on-stage interview with Travel Weekly senior vice president and editor in chief Arnie Weissmann, Donald downplayed talk of centralization and consolidation between the two lines.
“That’s not what it’s about at all,” he said, adding that putting Holland America in the group name gets a brand mention every time it is referred to in the media. Although they have similar operations in Alaska, Princess and Holland America appeal to different psychologies, he said.
He characterized Princess as being like its Santa Clarita headquarters area near Los Angeles: upper-middle class, suburban, laid-back, epicurean. Holland America’s customer is older with a more Midwest or Pacific Northwest demeanor.
“If you were in a port where both ships disembarked, you could stand on the street and pretty much say, “[That one’s] Princess, [that one’s] Holland America. Because they are different,” Donald said.
Follow Tom Stieghorst on Twitter @tstravelweekly.