6 KEYNOTE Carnival Corporation underwent a comprehensive restructure in June 2023, resulting in the dissolution of the Holland America Group and the creation of six new operating units. With the winding down of the Holland America Group, former president Jan Swartz has embarked on a new role as Carnival Corporation’s executive vice president of strategic operations, which sees her leading strategy and innovation, external affairs, corporate marketing, and destination development across all its brands. In addition, she is overseeing its global ports and destination development functions, as well as Alaska-Yukon land operations. As a result of the corporate shakeup, the AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises (Australia), P&O Cruises (UK), Princess Cruises and Seabourn brands are expected to gain greater autonomy regarding all operational matters. Specifically, responsibility for port and destination management has been handed back to the individual brands, with potential implications for fleet deployment, itinerary planning and port and destination management. “With the recent changes to our organisational and leadership structure, we removed layers between corporate and our brands,” says Swartz. “Our process to slowly unwind Holland America Group really began over a year ago, and we had been systematically shifting select shared services responsibilities from that group back to the brands to drive enhanced performance.” Brand leaders now report directly to Josh Weinstein, president and CEO and chief climate officer of Carnival Corporation, which Swartz says has given them “more autonomy, flexibility and speed”. The remaining shared service functions have been relocated to corporate, with the intention of generating further benefits for the brands from even greater scale. “By removing layers between corporate and the brands and including a direct line of reporting into Josh, the brands can operate with greater speed and responsiveness to market demands and opportunities,” explains Swartz. “It also gives them more control and accountability, which is vital to their success and their ability to own their space in the vacation market.” Beyond delivering greater agility around brand-specific ambitions, how does Swartz A new strategy Carnival Corporation’s Jan Swartz tells Michele Witthaus how the organisation’s recent restructure will empower its nine brands to create more distinct guest experiences
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