This Week in Cruise - Management and Marketing Moves at Major Lines

Carnival Corporation hired Bob Dickinson, former president and CEO, Carnival Cruise Lines, as a consultant to examine relationships between the Carnival Corp. brands - Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line - and the travel distribution system. Dickinson will work directly with these brands to provide advice and research results, however it is unclear if ideas he develops be adopted by the individual brands, or if individual brands will make decisions based on his input. 

Howard Frank, vice chairman and chief operating officer, Carnival Corporation, told Travel Agent that the process and how the relationship will work has yet to be fully fleshed out, though Frank is supportive of what Dickinson brings to the table in marketing expertise and in his abilities to evaluate and initiate research

Royal Caribbean International appointed Carol Schuster to SVP of marketing. Schuster will oversee all aspects of marketing for Royal Caribbean including brand strategy and positioning; consumer and trade advertising; digital and social media; and one-to-one and loyalty marketing. Most recently, Schuster ran a global marketing and brand consultancy and spearheaded the launch of U.S. women's luxury apparel company, Lafayette 148 New York, in China. Prior to that, she held the position of worldwide managing director, Global Brand Management at the advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather.

MSC Cruises is expanding its social network offerings with the launch of a dedicated MSC True Partnerships Facebook page. The page will allow MSC travel partners to view photos and videos, view updates, enter contests, access sneak previews of major announcements and join discussions. In addition to the new Facebook page, agents can also visit MSC Cruises on Twitter @msccruiseusa.com, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr and Google Plus.