Pursuits

Carnival Rocks the Boat

The cruise giant is recruiting managers from diverse backgrounds to reignite its growth.

The Emerald Princess, operated by Carnival, in Monaco.

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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During a meeting with her senior managers in August, Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises since late 2013, got an update on the bedding at her 18-ship line. After routine discussions about mattress coils and fabric blends, she raised an unexpected question: “Have we talked a lot about the menopause issue?”

That’s something few men would have brought up at a high-level corporate meeting. But the average Princess guest is 53 years old, Swartz says, and she’d gotten an earful from some of them about the night sweats and hot flashes associated with menopause. So she pushed her staff to find duvets that look plush without trapping too much heat and to design the bedding in layers that could easily be taken on and off. “Some people have these symptoms for years,” she says. “It’s a major health issue, and there’s not a lot of discussion.”