MIAMI, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest leisure travel company, announced today that its Arison
Maritime Center in the Netherlands
will honor the legacy of the Arison family who founded and grew the
company into the world's largest cruise line operation. The company
also announced that construction is now well under way for what
will be a spectacular state-of-the-art campus located in Almere,
just outside Amsterdam. A grand
opening celebration at the center is scheduled for July 14, 2016.
The centerpiece of the new seven-acre campus is the CSMART
Academy, the Center for Simulator Maritime Training for Carnival
plc, a part of Carnival Corporation & plc. The CSMART Academy
will feature the most advanced bridge and engine room simulator
technology and equipment available, with enough space to complete
rigorous annual professional training for the company's deck and
engineering officers for its 10 global cruise line brands. When
complete, it will be the most progressive maritime center of its
kind in the world for training and continually improving
industry-wide safety and excellence.
At nearly 110,000 square feet, the center is more than double
the size of the company's current facility, which has been in
operation since 2009 in Almere. The new CSMART Academy at the
Arison Maritime Center will feature four full-mission bridge
simulators and four full-mission engine room simulators, designed
to provide a wide array of programming and simulated exercises that
can recreate an extensive range of maritime scenarios.
The new five-story center will also include 24 part-task engine
simulators, eight debriefing rooms and eight part-task bridge
simulators. The seven-acre campus will have double the training
capacity of the existing location and is expected to train over
6,500 deck and engineering officers every year. It will also
include an advanced medical center and an 11-story, 176-room hotel
for Carnival Corporation trainees.
The new Arison Maritime Center honors the legacy of the Arisons,
the first family of cruising. Micky
Arison has been chairman of the board of directors for
Carnival Corporation & plc since 1990. He began his career at
Carnival Cruise Line in 1972 in sales and was named reservations
manager in 1974, vice president of passenger traffic in 1976 and
president in 1979. In 1990 he was appointed chairman of Carnival
Corporation by the company's board of directors. In 2013, the role
of Carnival Corporation chairman and CEO was split, with Arison
continuing as chairman and longtime board member Arnold Donald being named CEO. Considered one of
the most respected leaders and experts in the cruise industry,
Arison's vision and leadership played the central role in building
Carnival Corporation into the world's largest cruise company and
helping grow cruising from a niche holiday to one of the most
popular vacation experiences available.
His late father, Ted Arison,
founded the company in 1972 with one ship with the firm belief that
cruising is one of the best ways to enjoy a vacation and a
commitment to making cruising available to people from all walks of
life. Referred to by The New York Times
as "the godfather of the modern cruise industry," he is credited
with building cruise operations that give travelers the opportunity
to enjoy a cruise vacation with prices that range from affordable
to upscale. Today, the company has 101 ships, over 120,000
employees and welcomes 11 million guests annually. About one of
every two travelers who go on a cruise vacation do so a on Carnival
Corporation ship.
"When complete, the Arison Maritime Center and CSMART Academy
will be an extraordinary operation dedicated to providing our deck
and technical officers – the heart and soul of ensuring our ships
operate as safely as possible – with the most advanced and
progressive training, professional development and research in the
cruise and maritime industry," said David
Christie, senior vice president of maritime quality
assurance for Carnival Corporation. "Safety is our top priority and
we take great pride in providing the world's most comprehensive
maritime safety training to our highly skilled and dedicated deck
and engineering officers in our pursuit of excellence and
continuous improvement. This center underscores the depth of our
commitment to the safety and comfort of our guests who sail with us
to over 700 ports around the world."
Added Christie: "It is very special for all of us at Carnival
Corporation to honor the extraordinary leadership and legacy of Ted
and Micky and their families, who recognized early on that going on
a cruise would be a great way to enjoy a vacation. They not only
led the way in building the world's largest cruise company with 10
cruise lines that represent some of the world's best leisure
brands, but they also played leading roles in helping grow cruising
into one of the most popular vacation experiences in the world. The
Arison family has been an inspiration for all of us at the company,
and we are proud to establish the Arison Maritime Center in their
honor."
With the exterior of the facility in place and the on-campus
hotel having reached its peak height, the final phase of
construction consists chiefly of the installation of the necessary
technology and the industry's most advanced bridge and engine room
simulators. Carnival Corporation was "handed over" the facility at
a ceremony in April. A larger event featuring Carnival Corporation
global leadership and international dignitaries is scheduled for
Thursday, July 14, when the Arison
Maritime Center will be officially opened.
In addition to state-of-the-art simulator technology and
world-class facilities, Carnival Corporation has assembled a team
of deeply experienced and committed CSMART Academy instructors who
have developed a curriculum that sets the industry standard for
safety and marine training and keeps pace with advances in maritime
and ship technology. In particular, the CSMART Academy has played a
leading role in developing and refining a function-based bridge and
engine room management system on a large scale.
The function-based system creates what is known as
organizational redundancy – giving every member of the bridge and
engine room teams a voice and role in safely operating the ship and
encouraging officers at all levels to speak up. Officers work under
the captain's and chief engineer's direction as a coordinated team
to manage bridge and engine rooms based on specific functions, with
tasks verbalized, agreed upon and then executed.
In keeping with the faculty team's leadership, the Arison
Maritime Center will provide the additional space needed to
implement the industry's first Proficiency Training and Assessment
(PTA) program. The week-long course is based on a specially
developed curriculum that annually refreshes and then evaluates
each of the corporation's maritime officers.
Carnival Corporation worked with Dutch property group AMVEST
Vastgoed B.V. to purchase the seven-acre plot of land in Almere
Poort called the DUIN, a planned business and residential community
in Almere, one of Europe's newest
and fastest growing cities. The center's campus and buildings were
designed by Dutch architect Paul de
Ruiter, and the Dutch construction company Dura Vermeer has
built the CSMART Academy and hotel. The design and construction are
being built to meet rigorous environmental and sustainability
standards that will achieve "LEED Gold" certification, and the
campus will fit esthetically into the Duin environment, per
AMVEST'S original plan for the development.
"All of us at Carnival Corporation want to thank everyone who
has made us feel so welcome in the
Netherlands," said Christie. "From the moment we began
looking into establishing a presence in the Netherlands in 2009, we were embraced by
members of the business community and government officials in
Almere, Amsterdam and the Netherlands. This includes the current and
past mayors of Almere, the Dutch Ambassador to Italy, the Dutch Consulate in Miami and its trade office in Atlanta, along with many others. We have found
the Netherlands to be a great
place to do business, and we appreciate everyone making us feel so
welcome and at home in Almere. We look forward to completing the
Arison Maritime Center and continuing to have a long and productive
operation in the Netherlands."
Additional information on the new Arison Maritime Center can be
found at http://csmartalmere.com/NewCsmart.aspx, including details
on the CSMART simulators and training facilities.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival
Corporation & plc is the largest leisure travel company in
the world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North
America, Europe, Australia and Asia comprised
of Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America
Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA
Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O
Cruises (Australia)
and P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 101 ships visiting over 700 ports
around the world and totaling 225,000 lower berths with 15 new
ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and
2020. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates
Holland America Princess Alaska 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&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com,
www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com,
www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com,
www.pocruises.com.au, www.pocruises.com and
www.fathom.org.
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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc