At Cruise Operator Carnival, an Unlikely CEO Takes the Helm

Arnold Donald had been on the board of Carnival for 12 years when he got a call in June from the cruise company’s lead director, Stuart Subotnick. It was an offer to succeed Micky Arison as Carnival’s chief executive officer, and Donald was incredulous. “OK, what’s the call really about?” he asked.

Donald’s skepticism was understandable. Arison, the son of Carnival’s founder, had run the company for 34 years; Donald, a former Monsanto executive, had no prior cruise-operating experience. Carnival—the world’s largest cruise company with 10 brands ranging from the low-cost Carnival to the pricey 173-year-old British Cunard Line—had been in crisis since its Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. That was followed by more incidents this year, including a fire aboard the Carnival Triumph in February that further tarnished the company’s image with extensive news video of passengers stranded at sea. Says Donald, who pondered the offer for two days: “I had to think about whether I was the right person at this time for Carnival.”