Smooth Sailing for Carnival Cruise Lines First Black CEO

Carnival’s brands range from more affordable cruises like Carnival Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises to higher end, luxury brands like Seabourn Cruise Line and Cunard Line, which operates the grand Queen Elizabeth 2, (QE2) the flagship 70-ton, 963- foot- long oceanliner designed for transatlantic cruising.

“We have 9 brands, each brand caters to different guests,” Donald said. “What we have on the ship is an experience over multiple days, not a singular product, it’s an extended experience that becomes a community for the time the guests are onboard.”

Carnival recently announced plans to build a $700 million ship for its Princess line that is scheduled for delivery in 2017. The as-yet unnamed 143,000-ton vessel will carry 3,560 passengers and feature the successful design platform introduced by sister ships Royal Princess in 2013 and Regal Princess, which entered service this May.

“Cruising is the greatest vacation value there is,” Donald said. “You can’t get high-end restaurants, top-flight entertainment and the number of venues and match that on land. People bond and connect; they grow; they learn about other cultures, they get closer to their loved ones and children. They learn about marine life and the environment; it broadens people and it enriches them through the experiences they have on our ships.”

When he’s not working at Carnival and serving on corporate boards, Donald enjoys writing. He writes non-fiction, children’s stories and poetry. And he prefers to talk about important connections – like family. He’s a father of three and a grandfather of five. Donald’s mother and father raised their own five children as well as 27 foster kids. Fifteen years ago, Donald said he paid for 50 family members to take a cruise.

“To this day, the first thing they will talk about when we get together was that cruise,” Donald recalled. “It was that memorable and that life-transforming. Many of them had never even been out of the city where they lived before; it was the experiences on board, the way we came together as a family of 50. It was spiritual.”

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