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Carnival announces lay-offs and salary cuts
Carnival Corporation has confirmed layoffs, furloughs, reduced work weeks and salary reductions across the company, including senior management.
It said this will help it save ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ on top of its financing effort last month when it secured $6.4 billion of additional liquidity.
It did not disclose how many of its workforce would lose their jobs.
"Taking these extremely difficult employee actions involving our highly dedicated workforce is a very tough thing to do. Unfortunately, it’s necessary, given the current low level of guest operations and to further endure this pause," said Carnival Corporation & plc president & CEO Arnold Donald.
"We care deeply about all our employees and understanding the impact this is having on so many strengthens our resolve to do everything we can to return to operations when the time is right. We look forward to the day when many of those impacted are returning to work with us and we look forward to the day, when appropriate, that once again our ships and crew are delighting millions of people at sea and we can be there for the many nations and millions of people who depend on the cruise industry for their livelihood."
Carnival said it continues to support its travel agent partners by paying commissions on cancelled cruises and on future cruise credits when guests rebook.
The cruise line said fewer than 38% of customers were requesting refunds to date.
It said booking trends for the first half of 2021, which remain within historical ranges, demonstrate the resilience of its brands and the strength of its loyal recurring customer base, of which 66% are repeat cruisers.
"In addition, we plan to stagger fleet reentry to optimise demand and operating performance over time," said Donald.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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