SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- Carnival Corp.'s storied Cunard Line will
become a California-based cruise company by the end of the year
when it moves into Princess Cruises' headquarters here.
The coast-to-coast shift -- Cunard has been based in Miami for
the past eight years and alongside Seabourn for the past seven --
is part of a restructuring of Carnival Corp.'s P&O Princess
International division; the move would result in about $20 million
in annual savings.
The P&O Princess International division, which is headed by
Peter Ratcliffe, already has integrated Cunard's U.K. operations
with the company's other U.K.-based brands in its Southampton
offices.
Ratcliffe was given oversight of the former P&O Princess
brands, plus Cunard, when P&O Princess and Carnival merged last
year.
"Princess is an American company," Ratcliffe said. "But because
[Princess] deals internationally with our sister companies, we're a
very internationally-orientated company, which is exactly what
Cunard is."
Micky Arison, Carnival's CEO, told Travel Weekly that the
Carnival-Princess combo had been planned for some time but was put
on hold to concentrate on Princess' and Cunard's ship deliveries,
most notably the Queen Mary 2.
"We wanted everybody to focus on getting those ships delivered
properly," he said.
Cunard will retain the current sales and marketing forces it
shares with Seabourn Cruises, and it will maintain a separate
reservations staff from Princess, although it will share Princess'
back-office and fleet operations departments.
About 70 new positions will be created at Princess and many of
those slots probably will be taken by Cunard staff who today are
based in Miami.
Seabourn, the three-ship luxury fleet which relocated its sales
and operations from San Francisco in 1998 after Carnival combined
it with Cunard, will stay in Miami and become a "stand-alone"
brand.
Pamela Conover, Cunard's president and chief operating officer,
will accept an executive position in Carnival's Shared Services
division.
Cunard's move will result in changes at three other Carnival
companies. Deborah Natansohn, former Cunard senior vice president
of sales and marketing, was to take over as Seabourn's president
July 26.
Richard Meadows, Seabourn's senior vice president of sales and
marketing, has moved into the same position at Holland America
Line. David Giersdorf, HAL's current sales and marketing executive,
will resign this month (but stay on for several months in an
advisory position).
The movements also create a shakeup at the Cruise Lines
International Association (CLIA). Giersdorf will leave the chairman
post in November, and Andy Stuart, the executive vice president at
Norwegian Cruise Line and CLIA's current vice-chairman, will step
in.
To contact reporter Rebecca Tobin, send e-mail to [email protected].