New Men at Top of Costa's US Operation

Last month Carnival Corp luminary Maurice Zarmati announced his retirement as president and CEO of Costa Cruises North America. Today, Costa said it's going to take two men to replace him.

Ruben Perez has assumed the new position of general manager of the North American office at Hollywood, Florida, reporting directly to Costa's Genoa headquarters.

Filling the other portion of Zarmati's job will be Scott Knutson who has become the VP of sales and marketing.

Knutson came to Costa three years ago after spending 20 years in sales and marketing with sister brand Carnival Cruise Lines. Perez has been with Costa for the past 28 years.

Zarmati has been retained as a consultant to Costa Cruises for its worldwide sales, marketing and passenger-traffic initiatives.


The complete story appeared in the December 1, 2011, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Revitalized Splendour Returns to Service

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas returned to service after undergoing the month-long revitalization process at Cadiz (Spain). During the process, features and venues from the newest ships are added to the line's older tonnage. Four of those new venues/features are shown below. Splendour returned to service last week and is now crossing the South Atlantic to its winter home in Brazil.

Izumi Restaurant

Diamond Lounge

R Bar

Dog House

The Life of an "Aqua Captain"

As cruise lines evolve and offer new features, new positions, never imagined a decade or two again, are created. I remember a few years back interviewing the gardener on the first ship to introduce live shrubbery and plants. Just a few years, I talked with professional ice skaters who told me when they were doing competitive skating, and they considered where their careers could take them, they never imagined they would be skating in an ice show on a cruise ship.

Just thee or four years ago, the position of "aqua captain" didn't even exist. Dance captains had been around for years, but there was no need for anyone to be in charge of the divers and swimmers until Oasis of the Seas came along.
Now Royal Caribbean has two of them, and this week, one of them was a guest blogger for Royal Caribbean.

Nicholas James Thomas McMahon is the Aqua Captain of the Aqua cast aboard Allure of the Seas, and his blog takes readers behind the scenes at the Aqua shows on the giant ships:

The three levels we have in our aqua shows, “Ocean Aria” and “Let You Entertain Me”, are a 3 meter springboard, and a 10 and 17 meter platform. All of the divers in our cast dive from the 3m springboard, and the 10m platform. However, only our two featured high divers can dive from the 17m high dive.

Before each Ocean Aria performance, we have a half hour warm up period where the lifts and boards are down so we can do a few dives. At 8 o’clock the stage staff presets the props underwater, so we have to get out of the pool. After this we have an hour to stretch and warm up until the show starts at 9:00 PM. In between shows we usually grab a bite to eat, and if necessary, fix any problems that occurred in the first show. During the course of a regular week, we have two “Ocean Aria” performances on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and two “Let You Entertain Me” shows on Saturday.
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Video: MSC Fantasia, MSC Poesia and MSC Melody in Genoa

MSC Fantasia, MSC Poesia and MSC Melody recently met in Genoa, making for some beautiful visuals of three ships, of three distinct sizes and designs, including the classic Melody.

Ports Increase in Importance to Carnival Corp

Ports have become more and more important to Carnival Corp's business over the years. The company has invested in and built (and operates) a number of ports. Some are high-profile and known to the customers of the company's brands, such as the Grand Turk Cruise Center, or Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. Others aren't quite as obvious, such as Cozumel or St. Maarten. Some are complete destinations, while others simply guarantee them space at a pier and some amenities for passengers as they leave the terminal.

Until now, the Caribbean ports have been developed and administered in Florida, and the European ports, in Italy. Carnival has now created a new Global Port and Destination Development Group which will have responsibility for port projects and operations worldwide. It will be headed by SVP of global port development, Giora Israel.

That doesn't mean everything will happen in Florida, however. An office will also be created in the UK for the development of strategic port projects in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The new division more or less elevates ports to the same stature within Carnival Corp as another cruise brand.

The complete story appeared in the November 30, 2011, edition of Cruise News Daily.