February 2008

Terry L. Thornton has been promoted to senior vice president of marketing planning for Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator.  In this capacity, Thornton oversees the revenue management and strategic marketing departments for the brand.  In addition, Thornton is responsible for overseeing ship deployment and itinerary planning for the cruise line’s existing 22-ship fleet, in addition to vessels under construction, which currently includes three scheduled for delivery over the next three years. 

THORNTON PROMOTED TO SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT – MARKETING PLANNING FOR CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES              MIAMI (February 28, 2008) – Terry L. Thornton has been promoted to senior vice president of marketing planning for Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator. 

It’s easy to make friends on a Fun Ship cruise with tons of activities and opportunities to chat up a fellow cruiser.  But a group of people from across the country are proving it’s just as easy to make strong friendships online. John Heald, Carnival’s senior cruise director and travel blogger, launched his blog in March 2007.  Since then the blog has spurred a large fan base of guests eager to connect with John and other bloggers.  When the group was finally able to meet onboard at the first ever bloggers cruise held January 19-26, 2008 they quickly moved from friendship to “family”. Harry Shattuck, from the Houston Chronicle was one of many members of the media onboard to experience…

Carnival Cruise Lines will roll out its first-ever “Funtennial” celebration offering a variety of special offers and giveaways throughout the month of March, commemorating the anniversary of the cruise line’s inaugural voyage in March 1972. The month-long promotion will feature a different booking incentive each week during March, including free stateroom upgrades, shipboard credits, special savings and more.  The special offers are available in conjunction with a wide variety of “Fun Ship” departures, including select three- to five-day getaways to the Caribbean or Mexico, seven-day voyages to the Caribbean or Mexican Riviera, or longer length sailings to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and South America.

CARNIVAL’S ‘FUNTENNIAL’ CELEBRATION OFFERS SPECIAL BOOKING INCENTIVES AND GIVEAWAYS THROUGHOUT MARCH              MIAMI (February 26, 2008) – Carnival Cruise Lines will roll out its first-ever “Funtennial” celebration offering a variety of special offers and giveaways throughout the month of March, commemorating the anniversary of the cruise line’s inaugural voyage in March 1972.

Tournament To Be Hosted On Various ‘Fun Ships’ With Grand Final Event Hosted on Carnival Fantasy Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator, is hosting its 2008 Carnival PokerPro Challenge, a series of No Limit Texas Hold’em poker satellite tournaments taking place on dozens of “Fun Ship” voyages.  The tournaments will occur on select cruises now through June 30, 2008 with winners of the preliminary tournaments facing off for a cash prize of $45,000 in the “Grand Final Playoff” during the Carnival Fantasy’s October 4, 2008 voyage. Tournaments will be played on recently installed state-of-the-art PokerPro tables, which clearly and quickly display players’ commitments and table stakes, pot amount and community cards. PokerPro tables also identify the winners at…

CARNIVAL POKERPRO CHALLENGE 2008 TO OFFER $250,000 IN CASH PRIZES  Tournament To Be Hosted On Various ‘Fun Ships’ With Grand Final Event Hosted on Carnival Fantasy          MIAMI (February 20, 2008) – Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator, is hosting its 2008 Carnival PokerPro Challenge, a series of No Limit Texas Hold’em poker satellite tournaments taking place on dozens of “Fun Ship” voyages.

Last week we announced the addition of new onboard programming for tweens.  The program, “Circle C”, promises fun activities for youth ages 12-14. With a  facility  fit for a dancing queen (or king), the new area will feature a dance floor with high-tech sound and lighting system, along with 42-inch plasma-screen TVs displaying movies and music videos, and a touch-screen jukebox stocked with the latest hits. Also featured are gaming pods with the latest video games and consoles, with 20-inch plasma-screens positioned throughout the room and used exclusively for video gaming.   The “Circle C” program complements our other youth-oriented programming, including “Camp Carnival” for younger kids and “Club O2” for 15- to 17-year-olds, ensuring there are  activities  tailored to each of these unique…

Carnival Cruise Lines sets sail for exotic Hawaii during 2008 with four cruises that showcase the unique island chain. Calling at four of Hawaii’s diverse tropical islands — Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the big island of Hawaii — the 2,124-passenger Carnival Spirit transports guests to spectacular Hawaiian landscapes for a once–in-a-lifetime “Fun Ship” experience. Guests will have the opportunity to discover and enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Hawaiian Islands at five extraordinary ports of call as each of the 12-day itineraries provides a comprehensive overview of the Pacific island chain. The 2008 cruises offer three varied departure and arrival points: Ensenada, Mexico; Honolulu, Hawaii, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Carnival Cruise Lines has enhanced its “Fun Pass” on-line embarkation portal to allow guests the ability to register for the line’s shipboard credit card system and to electronically accept the Terms and Conditions of Passage prior to their cruise, thus further expediting the embarkation process. Through the enhanced system, guests sailing with Carnival are now able to submit credit card information for their on-board “Sail & Sign” accounts via a secure encryption method and review/acknowledge the line’s ticket contract, both of which previously had to be completed manually during the check-in process at the cruise terminal. Another new feature enables Carnival’s guests to designate a responsible party and pre-register up to three cabins at the same time in one session.