The company announced on Tuesday (30 May) it had begun moving digital teams for both Scenic and Emerald Cruises as well as Emerald’s content creation department from Manchester to Sydney.
Speaking to TTG following Eclipse II’s christening in Malaga, Moroney said that relocating the digital side made more sense for both the company and employees.
“Even our people were saying it wasn’t working because the content was created in Australia and then it was sent to the UK,” he said. “We had all these people working four nights a week until 11 o’clock at night, it was just ludicrous.”
The shake-up – which has also led to the departure of David Winterton, Emerald’s global director of brand and marketing – will allow UK teams to focus on growing the local market.
“It’s all better [now] because people in Manchester don’t have global roles and are completely focused on one thing, and that is the local market,” the founder added.
David Winterton’s departure is not the only one to have taken place in the last couple of months as Scenic’s UK and Ireland MD, Richard Twynam, left abruptly in late April after just six months in the job.
Nevertheless, the company is not looking to replace either roles. “As far as David is concerned, when you take the department out and put it in Australia you’re definitely not going to recruit,” Moroney told TTG. “And Richard will not be replaced either.”
Moroney’s remarks were echoed by director of trade sales Andrea Stafford, who told TTG the restructuring will only improve the UK focus.
“We have lots of capability in Australia so they can take on that digital aspect and the Emerald Cruises content side of work,” she said. “And what that means is a great opportunity for the UK because we can really focus on driving the UK business.”
