Carnival Cruise Line reveals how it has conquered pandemic challenges to hit drydock goals
Despite facing challenges from the pandemic, Carnival Cruise Line’s drydock goals have been completed – and include some large refits and fleet standardisation.
Carnival Cruise Line vice president hotel refurbishment Lisa McCabe tells Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review, “The pandemic certainly has had an impact on all aspects of our business and that, of course, applies to our drydock scheduling. Thankfully we have a great team here at Carnival as well as wonderful partners at our shipyards and we have been able to accomplish our drydock goals – with additional planning and a huge amount of patience on everyone’s part. The results speak for themselves.”
The pandemic has led to a “variety of challenges in every aspect of our business and that includes refurbishments”, says Ms McCabe. She highlights the challenges the operator has faced in drydock, “From staffing and supply chain to shipyard regulations and onboard protocols, we had to work toward solutions in a wide range of areas – often at a moment’s notice. We have a great team here at Carnival who are not only talented but able to quickly adapt to new environments and that has allowed our projects to proceed with positive results.”
She adds that “patience, flexibility and perseverance” have been key over the past 18 months.
But despite the challenges the pandemic has thrown up, Carnival Cruise Line has achieved some large transformations – both on individual vessels and on the roll out of features across the fleet. Indeed, Ms McCabe notes that 2021 has been quite a busy year for refurbishments and several ships have gone into drydock.
She singles out that one of the main themes of these refurbishments has been the standardisation of the fleet’s hull designs to match the red, white and blue livery that debuted on Mardi Gras.
Ms McCabe says it is one of the most “noticeable and well-received changes” to the ships during these renovations which “underscores our distinction as America’s Cruise Line”.
On top of this, Carnival Cruise Line has been co-ordinating technical and cosmetic enhancements to keep its vessels in “top condition for our guests and crew”.
Ms McCabe says, “Hats off to our employees, both on board and ashore, as well as the contractors and subcontractors who have kept these projects on track as our ships return to service.”
Moving on to the refit of individual ships, a large upcoming project is the drydock of Costa Magica, which will involve renaming and converting the ship to a Carnival-branded cruise ship. Ms McCabe comments, “Transforming a ship from one brand to another – like incorporating Carnival Cruise Line favourites into Costa Magica – is a complex process and one that takes an incredible amount of co-operation and teamwork. Right now, we are still in the evaluation and planning stages for this massive makeover which will essentially affect every part of the ship, including adding our signature winged funnel.”
She adds, “We don’t have a lot of information we can share at this time, but the result will be spectacular. Stay tuned.”
Carnival Cruise Line is currently putting the finishing touches on the transformation from Carnival Victory to Carnival Radiance which is scheduled to debut from Long Beach in December.
Ms McCabe says, “The third in our Sunshine-class, Carnival Radiance has been a labour of love and we’re very proud of the incredible work that our teams have done in getting this ship ready for service.”
Carnival Radiance’s transformation includes the addition of a wide range of new entertainment features and dining options. The layout of Carnival Radiance has also been changed – relocating the Guy Fieri BBQ to enhance visibility and drive more traffic.
New dining options for Carnival Radiance include the new Big Chicken restaurant and RedFrog Pub, a Caribbean-style pub that has a variety of rums and beers.
Another new feature on Carnival Radiance will be the exclusive deck, Serenity Adult Only Retreat.
Aside from this huge refit, Ms McCabe adds, “We are continuing our projects over the next several months involving numerous ships and shipyards in The Bahamas, Europe and Asia. There is never a dull moment when it comes to refurbishments.”
Explaining Carnival Cruise Line’s drydock strategy, she says, “All of our ships undergo a regularly scheduled drydock every two years and we take the opportunity to add new guest-facing spaces when possible while at the same time performing routine maintenance and technical upgrades that we can’t do while the ship is in service.”
Lisa McCabe (Carnival Cruise Line)
Lisa McCabe joined Carnival Corp in 2009 and moved to Carnival Cruise Line to build the refurbishment department in 2012.
She leads a team of project managers responsible for most of the cruise line’s large-scale drydock projects throughout the fleet that include adding new branded food and beverage venues, stateroom renovations and additions, water parks and upgrades to crew spaces. During her time at Carnival Cruise Line, Ms McCabe has been responsible for more than 500 refurbishment projects in shipyards throughout the US, the Bahamas and Singapore.
Ms McCabe studied interior design at Florida International University and has focused her career on refurbishing ships.
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