COVER STORY
Carnival a place where they feel they can grow in their career. It’s scheduled around the time of the annual shipboard leaders’ conference to ensure some of the men officers can take part.
‘Our goal is to grow in diversity overall, not just gender, but culture,’ Duffy says. ‘We’re very proud of our Italian officers,’ she adds, but there are simply too many ships now to rely on one nationality. Toward that end, Ljoen is cultivating cadets from other countries.
There’s an effort to give women more opportunities in hotel jobs, too, but that is less challenging thanks to a bigger pool of candidates.
Just having a woman president is encouraging to many. Thelma Moreki, a guest services manager from South Africa, has said of Duffy: ‘She’s one of the people you look at and say “I want to be just like her.”’
Mentors
It pleases the Carnival chief to be a role model. She wants to inspire people to know they can do whatever they dream, provided they work hard, have the skills and are committed.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Duffy and Jan Swartz, group president, Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia, have bonded.
‘Christine is an extraordinary leader who lives the Carnival brand of fun while encouraging her team and colleagues to consistently raise the bar on every dimension of the business,’ Swartz says. ‘I value both our strong collaboration and hearty laughs as “sister” companies.’
‘We have a great relationship,’ Duffy concurs. ‘We value each other’s opinions. We check in with each other.’
Duffy counts men as mentors, too. She admires Arnold Donald’s charisma, engagement and energy, and how he’s bringing the brands together with greater communication, collaboration and coordination and leveraging scale.
And Carnival Corp. chairman Micky Arison, who ‘knows more about the ships, shipbuilding and design than anybody,’ is ‘very engaged,’ frequently on the ships and providing feedback. ‘He is there to help and
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And former Carnival Corp. vice chairman Howard Frank, her CLIA chairman when she led the association through challenges like Costa Concordia, is someone she reveres. ‘Watching Howard as a steady hand during very difficult times, I learned so much,’ she says.
Assembling the team
After CLIA, the size and scale of Carnival was a dramatic change. Straight away Duffy realised she couldn’t have her finger on everything, so the key would be having the right leaders and building the right team that can deliver.
When she was hired, many Carnival veterans were transitioning out. Nearly the whole leadership team left in the first six months, which was ‘pretty overwhelming,’ but she looks back on that as a ‘great opportunity because I was able to build the team that has led us, a great, solid team.’
Executives she’s appointed include Ljoen; Seaworld and Disney Cruise Line veteran Jim Heaney, now cfo and evp professional services; Richard Morse, svp hotel operations, who came from managing some of Marriott’s largest properties; Sean Kenny, svp and chief information officer, formerly of Ernst & Young; Bettina Deynes, svp, chief HR officer; and Pete Callaro, svp marketing, from the Coca-Cola Co.
Promoting roller-coaster BOLT with Amari Cooper of the Dallas Cowboys
support and guide, and you can always go to him but he is not interfering. He is not telling you what to do,’ Duffy says.
Duffy and Stein Kruse, group ceo, Holland America Group and Carnival UK, go back to her time as president of Maritz Travel, before CLIA. ‘He’s such a statesman for the industry, so knowledgeable about the industry’s history, a great colleague and friend,’ she says.
In Cozumel with Arnold Donald and David Candib of Carnival Corp.
Some key people who were there when Duffy joined have advanced. Antorcha, who led guest operations, moved up to chief operating officer, and Ken Tate, who handled revenue management, is now evp and chief commercial officer responsible for revenue management, deployment, sales and marketing. Longtime Carnival veteran Adolfo Perez was promoted to svp global sales & trade marketing. Among others, Ben Clement moved up to svp newbuilds, refurbishments and product innovation, and Mark Jackson to svp technical operations.
Brand ‘names’ For the 2018 wave season Carnival broke out with its ‘Choose Fun’ branding and tapped NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal as chief fun officer.
‘Shaq embodies fun. It’s authentic. It’s real. He’s super-creative,’ Duffy says. ‘He’s very engaged with the brand. He’s got an idea a minute.’ The latest, Shaq’s new Big Chicken restaurant, will be aboard Carnival Radiance.
Other personalities associated with Carnival are also ‘real and authentic’ — like Food Network star Guy Fieri, who’s ‘laid back, fun, all about burgers and barbecue.’ When planning for Mardi Gras, Duffy thought New Orleans celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse would be perfect for a specialty venue. He had never been on a ship, and after experiencing Carnival Panorama, he, too is ‘excited and engaged. We have a ton of ideas,’ Duffy says.
Rounding out the culinary personalities is master chef Rudi Sodamin, who consults for sister brand Holland America. He’ll debut Rudi’s Seagrill, featuring his fanciful food faces, on Mardi Gras.
Sodamin considers Duffy ‘one of the most Seatrade Cruise Review 9
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