“We’ve been actively managing the portfolio and allocating ships differently, moving vessels and winding up a brand in the case of P&O Australia,” said Josh Weinstein, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation.
“I think it’s setting ourselves up to really put the assets where the highest returns are in the immediate term and the medium term, while we help all the brands who aren’t yet where I think they should be, get to those levels,” he continued, speaking on the company’s year-end and fourth-quarter earnings call.
“At a base level, it’s a continuation of all of those things in the commercial space and having those great brand leaders really lean in even further. We’re investing in our people. We’re investing in our tools, our revenue management tools, to make sure that we are utilizing the technology effectively to optimize the yields.”
Weinsten also pointed to strength in onboard spending.
“We’ve got a good amount of runway to continue the progress we’ve been making around pulling forward the spend, which as everybody knows, opens up the second wallet and the more people spend before they get on the cruise, the more they spend on the cruise. So our brands are again working hard to continue that and we’re nowhere near what the cap could be on those types of efforts.”
MSC’s fleet godmother, Italian actress Sophia Loren, named the vessel during the event, which took place on Nov. 10, 2019.
After offering a repositioning cruise to Southern Europe, the MSC Grandiosa kicked off its maiden season in the Western Mediterranean in late November 2019.
The deployment included a series of seven-night winter cruises to Italy, Malta, Spain and France that featured visits to Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo, Valletta, Barcelona and Marseille.
During its five-year sailing career, the vessel has also cruised in Northern Europe, the Atlantic and South America.
Debuting in the U.S., the vessel will offer a series of seven- to 14-night cruises to the Caribbean departing from the Central Florida homeport.
The year-round deployment also features short cruises to the Bahamas that sail to Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, the company’s private island destination near Bimini.
Following the MSC Meraviglia and the MSC Bellissima, the MSC Grandiosa entered service as the third ship in MSC’s Meraviglia series.
Slightly larger than its predecessors, the 4,888-guest vessel is considered part of a sub-class known as Meraviglia Plus.
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