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| Laura Christian |
It's been a busy summer for personnel shifts in the cruise world, a trend that continued this week with three major executive announcements from various cruise lines.
Carnival Corporation announced that Michael Ungerer, currently president of Germany-based AIDA Cruises, has been appointed chief operations officer-shared services for Carnival Asia, effective September 1, 2015.
Ungerer will relocate to Shanghai, China, and directly support each of the Carnival Corporation brands operating in the region.
Ungerer will jointly report to Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group, which includes AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises, and to a China steering committee comprising the Carnival Corporation brands operating in the region.
In addition, longtime AIDA senior executive Felix Eichhorn has been named president of AIDA Cruises. He will also report to Thamm.
In Australasia, CLIA was making some changes of its own by appointing Neil Linwood to the position of managing director, CLIA Australasia. Linwood was promoted to this new role as the Australasia cruise industry continues to grow and the organization’s membership needs expand, CLIA said.
In his new role, Linwood will oversee strategic direction and government relations for the organization, as cruise lines continue to bolster their presence in the region and the number of Australian cruisers surges. Linwood will focus his efforts on regulation and infrastructure.
Linwood has held the position of executive director for CLIA Australasia since 2014. Prior to CLIA, he served as senior vice president, strategic development at Carnival Australia.
In addition, Brett Jardine has assumed the role of commercial director and will focus on CLIA Australasia’s role in training and liaising with travel agents. Jardine will oversee CLIA’s burgeoning membership ranks in Australia and New Zealand.
Finally, Silversea has named three new sales directors to its sales team for North America in preparation for the launch of the new Silver Muse in 2017.
Laura Christian and Margaret Daly are two new area sales directors with responsibility for partnering with the travel agent community to increase sales. A new corporate and incentive sales director, Ramon Santos, has responsibility for supporting and building relationships with meeting and incentive travel partners. The appointments take effect immediately.
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