P&O Princess Crusies Restructures North American Fleet Operations

The P&O Princess Cruises division of Carnival Corporation has restructured its North American fleet operations department to maximize synergies and best practices among the brands, according to CEO Peter Ratcliffe.

Fleet operations covers marine and technical operations of the ships as well as hotel operations, staffing, safety, security and public health, explained Dean Brown, executive vice president, who is heading up the new department. Rai Caluori, senior vice president of fleet operations, is reporting to Brown.

The department will be responsible to the presidents of Princess Cruises, Cunard Line/Seabourn Cruise Line and P&O Australia. Brown will also be responsible for the port operations of Cunard and Princess and will continue as CEO of Princess Tours.

David Brown, senior vice president of marine and technical, reports to Caluori and is responsible for the marine and technical operations of Princess, Cunard/Seabourn and P&O Australia. Brown is now based in Miami. Milt Gonzales, who was vice president of marine and technical services for Cunard, has left the company.

(At Princess, David Christie is vice president of marine operations, and John Gunner is vice president of technical.)

Steve Morton-Smith, vice president of fleet personal, is also reporting to Caluori, and is responsible for personnel for Princess, P&O Australia, P&O Cruises and Ocean Village in addition to Cunard. Frank Prowse, director of fleet personnel at Cunard, reports to Morton-Smith.

Larry Rapp, vice president of hotel operations for Cunard, also reports to Caluori.

John McGirl continues with his responsibilities for training and quality assurance for Cunard and Seabourn, reporting to Caluori.He also reports to Pam Conover, president of Cunard/Seabourn, in his capacity as vice president for U.S. shoreside human resources.

Rolf Hensche, director of purchasing for Cunard, reports to Tony Kaufman, senior vice president of corporate legal affairs, purchasing and logistics at Princess.

“Because of our scale in security, public health and information technology, for instance, we are able to bring our resources to support Cunard,” Brown explained. In other areas such as the integration of fleet regulations, there are instances where opportunities have been identified for each brand.

The port operations function, which also reports to Brown, is divided into three regions: Alaska, with Kirby Day, director of southeast Alaska operations based in Juneau; Caribbean and the East Coast, with Steve Nielsen, vice president of Caribbean and Atlantic shore operations, based in Fort Lauderdale; and the rest of the world, with Bruce Krumrine, director of shore operations, based in Los Angeles. Port operations covers passenger handling, shore excursions and community affairs among other things.

With bigger ships deployed on the West Coast, Brown said that emergency drydockings could be handled in Victoria, but with rotating ship deployments to the South Pacific, routine drydockings would be handled in the region.

Reflecting on the restructuring, Brown said: “Princess has had a very stable management while we have continued to evolve. Our organization has evolved adapting to how the business has developed. Now, we also have the added advantage of being part of a larger corporation. Princess will continue to evolve. We have not stood still ever. It has been a continuous dramatic evolution over the past 15 years.”  

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