The US travel giant, parent to P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, and Cunard, on Thursday (14 May) set out its latest cost-saving measures, just two days after Carnival UK confirmed it was consulting with its staff over potential job cuts.
It also comes despite Carnival Corp sourcing an additional $6.4 billion liquidity last month. The group paused operations in March, and has since announced this will continue into the summer season.
"To further strengthen liquidity, Carnival Corporation and its brands are announcing a combination of layoffs, furloughs, reduced work weeks and salary reductions across the company, including senior management," said the firm in a stock exchange note on Thursday.
"These moves will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in cash conservation on an annualised basis. Since the company paused its guest cruise operations in early March, workforce changes were largely placed on hold, even in the face of no meaningful revenue, to forestall the financial impact on its employees while still meeting its fiscal responsibilities – deferring employee actions beyond that of many others in similar situations during this pandemic."
President and chief executive Arnold Donald said: "Taking these extremely difficult employee actions involving our highly dedicated workforce is a very tough thing to do. Unfortunately, it’s necessary, given the current low level of guest operations and to further endure this pause.
"We care deeply about all our employees and understanding the impact this is having on so many strengthens our resolve to do everything we can to return to operations when the time is right. We look forward to the day when many of those impacted are returning to work with us."
Carnival Corp has confirmed it will continue to pay agents commission on cancelled cruises, and on rebookings using future cruise credit. Donald, meanwhile, revealed only just over a third of guests (38%) with cancelled bookings had, to date, requested refunds, which he said showed there was "tremendous anticipation for a return to cruising".
"Our booking trends for the first half of 2021, which remain within historical ranges, demonstrate the resilience of our brands and the strength of our loyal recurring customer base, of which 66% are repeat cruisers," said Donald. "In addition, we plan to stagger fleet reentry to optimise demand and operating performance over time."
The group added it was continuing to repatriate the "many thousands" of crew members still onboard Carnival brand ships, and working with governments, regulatory agencies, and health and disease experts around the world to develop best practice around Covid-19 for when cruising resumes.
