- Carnival Australia and P&O Australia once attracted the cream of Australian business leaders.
- The closure of P&O and the merger of its ships with Carnival Cruise Line was presented as creating a stronger entity.
- This week, its leader was made redundant, leaving a sales executive reporting directly to Miami.
Just six years ago, Carnival Australia was headed by top executives like Ann Sherry, who chaired a board of the good and the great.
The company, which included storied lines P&O Australia, Princess, Cunard, Holland America, and more, was led by Sture Myrmell, who went on to head up Cunard in the United Kingdom and is now CEO of a top Australian travel brand.
Today, it appears that a Carnival sales executive reports directly to the line’s American owners. Its leader in Australia, Vice President Australia, New Zealand, Kara Glamore, was made redundant, just a few short weeks after she oversaw the merger of two of P&O’s ships with Carnival’s fleet.
The 92-year-old venerable P&O Australia brand was “sunsetted” – a phrase created in the line’s US PR department – six weeks ago in favour of the US-based Carnival Fun Ships, with their red funnels and emphasis on families.
Senior Director Sales & Marketing Anton Loeb now reports directly to Janet Wygert, head of Global Sales and Trade Marketing in Miami.
Wygert has dedicated her career to being an advocate for Carnival’s travel partners, holding positions across sales and business development, among others, and most recently leading the line’s strategic partnership sales team.
Was it always the plan by Miami-based Carnival, the world’s largest cruise line, to run operations out of America, strip out the Australian brands, and eventually make Sydney a local station?
After all the list of those who have left is long: Sture Myrmell, Head of Corporate Affairs Sandy Olsen and now her replacement, Stuart Allison, Tony Archbold and Ryan Taibel, who headed up Seabourn and Holland America.
In a surprisingly forthright interview with the trade publication Travel Weekly, Glamore wasn’t saying. But she did reveal her redundancy was “a surprise”.
“The business is trying to be more efficient. The merging of P&O and sunsetting of that brand and putting it into the Carnival brand is an indication of how they want to streamline,” she told Travel Weekly.
She also revealed just how deeply P&O customers had been hurt by the closure. “You’re dealing with an excellent brand with 92 years of Australian history, and a lot of people were very affected by that,” she said in the Travel Weekly interview.
She made it clear she disagreed with the decision to “sunset” an Australian head of the brand. “I think the importance of having a regional head in Australia is that they’re able to have more of a bird’s eye view of how to build the business. If you’re only focused on a vertical, such as sales and marketing, you can’t see the bigger picture.”
Australian cruisers have been voicing their own concerns about the changes to Cruise Passenger for months.
We asked Carnival if anyone would comment on the changes. The response was: “No one will talk” – and that there were no major changes to the running of the line.
Six weeks ago, Cruise Passenger interviewed Carnival’s President Christine Duffy as she sailed the re-badged Carnival Adventure into Sydney to mark the line’s takeover of the P&O ships.
She told us, “This is an expensive place to operate, and so leveraging the scale that we bring as Carnival Cruise Line with a fleet of 29 ships, is allowing us to keep and operate the four ships that we’ll have here, including in the winter.”
She adds: “It’s been a huge commitment, including just time and effort, capital and investment. At the end of the day, for us, it’s all about demand, and cruise ships are movable assets. The ships will go where we believe we can support the demand.
“It’s always sad to see that a brand that people grow up with and have memories of is sunsetted, but nothing is forever. I think, at least what I hope is that the guests who love POA (P&O Australia) and sailing in Australia will appreciate that doing this really is what will enable us to have four ships sailing year-round in Australia.
“Keeping a brand with three ships, given the cost of operations in this part of the world and the regulatory environment that exists here, was not sustainable.
“And so this move, while I know is bitter, sweet and comes with some level of sadness to see the POA brand go away, the alternative would not have been as good for Australia.”
The changes leave the most senior member of the world’s biggest cruise line in Australia as Country Manager and Vice President, Peter Little who formerly headed up guest experiences, is an Australian citizen and was on Ann Sherry’s board.
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This comment “At the end of the day, for us, it’s all about demand, and cruise ships are movable assets. The ships will go where we believe we can support the demand.”
Is what Australia needs to worry about!
I can see that in a few years time, that Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter will go to the USA, where Carnival can make more money from those ships! or that Carnival will sell those two ships off.
So if cruisers want to go to anywhere other than NZ or Pacific Islands with Carnival, they will hop on a plane and go to Europe or Asia to cruise.
Even Princess is hamstrung with costs of berthing in Melbourne or Adelaide.
P&O lost its way. Even the rusted on cruisers abandoned ship long ago.
Australia might not generate the volume of cruisers that the USA does, but our local community is passionate about the cruise industry and prepared to invest in longer sailings, more diverse itineraries, a wider variety of dining and entertainment options, multigenerational family groups, and, above all, we love to embrace the cruising experience. To have our regional voice silenced must surely be a mistake, not just for Australian cruisers, but for those who travel to the South Pacific to experience a different flavour of cruising culture. I think Carnival, in chasing a “quick buck” to reduce costs, are making a mistake that will take decades to recover from.
I see more Chinese and Japanese passengers making round trips via Australia if the price is right, with lots of ports in between.
Not buying what Carnival is selling.
They’re now talking from the perspective of a US domestic business, comparing their operation cost to operate remotely compared to their own costs in the primarily Florida market and broader US market. In that context, any international operations will be costly, which is why Carnival only have very limited operations outside the US.
Also, given the way they have gone about it is deceitful, not least the rapid termination of the Australian leader, but the sold transition to Carnival when the product onboard is not Carnival, with tricky hidden extras and e.g. pizzas restricted by time and then even by selection. They went to save money by combining lines, but went beyond that by cutting further from the Australian operation. All because of the apparent desire to bring costs down towards the US – an unrealistic goal when having the expenses of a different market, e.g. different power, provisions, time zone (service staff), website, regulations, and currency management, plus more.
Their actions are causing massive brand damage locally – but they don’t care as they own the asset and want to focus on highest returns from the US so we are not a core business any more. Unfortunately the bean counters in the US rule, and rather than accepting the business for what it is, their core business is now the US and decisions taken will only be viewed against that, causing the damage that is occurring in onboard food, ports visited and itineraries and overall service.
Interesting development. I cruised P&O because it was a way to escape the cold winter where I live and was one of the only lines with ships here in winter. I was happy with the offering – good food, aussie vibe and prices in AUD. I’ve been receiving many offers from Carnival but I’m not convinced yet. If they remove the AUD on board they will definitely lose me. I also cruise RCI, Celebrity, HAL and Princess and know the latter two are also Carnival brands. Not sure that Carnival (as rebadged and ”delocalised” P&O) will make my cut. In winter, I may just head north on land or OS to other cruise lines (Japan this year).