Features on Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, P&O, Holland America Ships Expanding Readership Base MIAMI, May 30
MIAMI, May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Although the popular blog of
Carnival Cruise Lines' Senior Cruise Director John Heald has been featured on
the Web site of parent company Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;
NYSE: CUK) since last August, in the past few months he has broadened the
scope of his postings to showcase other Carnival-affiliated brands.
"While our corporate Web site is primarily aimed at investors, the
feedback we're receiving indicates that visitors really enjoy John's unique
brand of humor and insight into different facets of the cruise industry," said
Beth Roberts, Carnival Corporation & plc's vice president of investor
relations. The site has had some 300,000 visitors since the blog was
prominently displayed on its splash page.
Heald's blog is one of the most popular Internet sites in the cruise
industry, generating more than 2.2 million hits since being introduced in
March 2007. Typically, Heald posts near-daily blogs while he serves in his
role as senior cruise director. However, being on vacation in his native
England for the past three months has provided him the opportunity to broaden
his focus with features on other Carnival-affiliated brands.
"When you are not actually working aboard you have less material to write
about, so I've really enjoyed visiting and blogging about the ships and
personnel of our sister companies," Heald said.
Earlier this year, he created blog posts based on the inaugural
festivities of Cunard Line's Queen Victoria and P&O Cruises' Ventura, as well
as a Caribbean cruise aboard Princess Cruises' Emerald Princess.
Heald's features on Carnival Corporation & plc's cruise brands - which
encompass both ship reviews and interviews with brand executives - are among
the most popular on his blog. For example, the entry entitled "An Afternoon
with the Queen," based on a shipyard tour of Queen Victoria while the vessel
was under construction in Italy, generated more than 23,000 hits alone.
In just the past week, Heald has interviewed the hotel director of Cunard
Line's Queen Victoria, restaurant entrepreneur Todd English whose namesake
restaurants are featured on both the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, and
noted cruise ship designer Joe Farcus, and he also traveled to Naples, Italy,
to board the AIDADiva for a review.
He now heads to Genoa to take up residence on Carnival Cruise Lines'
Carnival Splendor as part of the inaugural team that will launch the vessel in
early July. Heald will serve as senior cruise director and will continue
blogging during the start-up activities of the vessel, which is in the final
stages of construction at Fincantieri's shipyard in Sestri, Italy.
"John offers real insight into the behind-the-scenes action aboard ship --
something that is of keen interest to readers," Roberts said. "Literally
thousands of people are involved in the successful launch of a ship before the
first passengers step on board. John will chronicle those stories, all in a
highly entertaining and engaging way and I think investors will find it to be
a fascinating look at a ship's launch," she added.
In addition to the corporate websites, www.carnivalcorp.com and
www.carnivalplc.com, Heald's blog can be viewed at
johnhealdsblog.wordpress.com and www.carnival.com.
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in the
world, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe and
Australia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess
Cruises, The Yachts of Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line,
Ibero Cruises, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands operate 86 ships totaling more than 162,000 lower
berths with 20 new ships scheduled to enter service between July 2008 and June
2012. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Tours and
Princess Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon.
Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation &
plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the
FTSE 100 indices.
SOURCE Carnival Cruise Lines
