From the Carnival delivers department:

As a project toward earning his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts, 14-year-old Alex Border of Miami wanted to provide football (soccer) uniforms to other kids who couldn't afford them.

What he was originally thinking about was used ones, solicited from area teams. As the drive grew, he found what was being donated was not used uniforms but surplus ones that had never been worn. He eventually ended up with about $6,000 worth of the clothing.



Of course Alex needed to find somewhere to donate the equipment, and he realized there were lots of teams in need in the Caribbean, so that's where Alex's dad came in. He works for Carnival, and asked them to use their contacts in the Caribbean to find teams that could use the uniforms.

Not only did they find the teams, but they also transported the boxes there on their ships.

Above, you see Alex and his dad delivering the boxes to Carnival's headquarters in Miami.



One of the recipients was the Dominica Football Assn,

In the lower photo you see the uniforms being dropped off by Carnival Destiny during a regular port call at the island.

Shown here are (from left): Carnival Destiny Hotel Director Andy Brown; Dominica Football Association President Dexter Francis; and Carnival Destiny Chief Purser Marcus Davies.

From the personnel department:

Carnival Cruise Lines has appointed Justin French director of sales and marketing for Canada.

French joined the company in 2003 as a business development manager for western Ontario, and last year was named Carnival's "Canadian Region Salesperson of the Year."

French will remain based in Georgetown, Ontario and be responsible for directing the efforts of the line's five Canadian business development managers.

From the with friends like this department:

Did you catch the somewhat uneven review of writer Jason Cochran's cruise to Bermuda aboard Azamara Journey in the New York Post? It starts off favorably enough, but the farther you read the less happy he seems to be with the experience.

To sum it up, he seems to like the hardware and the concept, but is anything but impressed with the onboard product.

Part of the problem may be that Mr. Cochran is confused about where Royal Caribbean is positioning the Azamara brand. (Maybe Royal Caribbean itself is sending mixed signals, or at least unclear ones to those who don't know much about the travel industry.) At one point he says that the rates of $1,500 to $2,500 for a 14-night cruise are "sane." Those certainly aren't luxury prices by any stretch of the imagination. ($175/night at the top end of the range for luxury?) When, in another place, he says, "When I spend this much for a cruise...." he starts to lose credibility with me for knowing about luxury cruising. (Seabourn Odyssey will debut with minimum accommodations starting at $645/night.) Then he chides Azamara by saying, "Let's not pretend that you're a true luxury brand." I'm not sure who is pretending and who is confused.

If Mr. Cochran had just stuck to talking about the things he liked and didn't like about the product, it would have been an excellent and credible review.

Note: Link is valid at time of posting.

From the personnel department:

Bo-Erik Blomqvist will replace the retiring Ian Gaunt heading up Carnival Corp's shipbuilding operations.

Blomqvist will become SVP corporate shipbuilding for Carnival Corp effective February 1, 2008, based in Southampton. He will report to Carnival chairman & CEO Micky Arison and vice-chairman and COO Howard Frank.

He has been deputy vice-president, cruises & ferries for Aker Yards, with his most recent assignment in France where he was responsible for the integration of Chantiers de l'Atlantique into the Aker Yards group. Prior to that he held several positions with Aker and before that with Kvaerner-Masa Yards for 14 years.

"We already know Bo-Erik well, having worked with him on several of our shipbuilding projects. He is a highly talented and respected professional whose wide-ranging experience in all aspects of new ship construction makes him the ideal candidate for this position," Frank said. "Carnival
Corporation & plc currently has 20 new ships on order or under construction with three different yards and Bo-Erik's strong management skills and keen attention to detail will enable our company's brands to continue to expand with these highly innovative new ship projects," he
added.

Of the retiring Gaunt, retiring after nearly 30 years with Carnival, Frank said, "Ian's contributions to Carnival Corporation & plc are immeasurable, as he's played a critical role in the continued growth of our company overseeing the construction of some of the most beautiful and technically advanced ships in the cruise industry." Gaunt will remain with Carnival as their outside legal counsel for shipbuilding contracts.

The change comes at a key time when the company has 20 ships are order for delivery between this December and June 2012. Carnival currently operates 84 ships with 156,000 lower berths.