Carnival Corporation just recently announced its plans for immediate capacity growth in China in 2015 to meet growing demand. With Costa Cruises adding the Costa Serena to its fleet in China in April of next year, Carnival Corporation will be the first global cruise company with four ships homeported in China, growing the company’s leading market presence by 140 percent from 2013 – 2015. Costa Serena joins Costa Atlantica, Costa Victoria and Sapphire Princess already homeported in China.
With its Costa and Princess brands homeporting ships in China, Carnival Corporation offers Chinese travelers a diversified cruising product with two brands targeting two different segments of travelers. Having multiple brands enables Carnival to meet and exceed guest expectations on the cruises it operates in China by closely matching passenger tastes with the right brand experience. In total, Carnival will have 220 port calls from five brands in China in 2014, which is 15 percent of the company’s total port calls in all of Asia – a region where Carnival doubled its market share over the past two years.
Reflecting the company’s belief and commitment in the growth potential of the Chinese cruise market, Carnival Corporation recently announced its Global Chief Operations Officer Alan Buckelew is relocating to China to oversee Carnival’s growing operations in the country while retaining his overall global responsibilities for the corporation. This is the first move of its kind by a major publicly traded Global 500 corporation not headquartered in China.
The MOU also includes the exploration of other possible joint venture opportunities with CSSC including the potential to form a domestic cruise company, port development, talent development and training as well as supply chain and logistics.
SOURCE: Carnival Corporation & plc