Carnival Corporation announces employee layoffs, furloughs and reduced hours

Carnival Corporation issued a business update on Thursday that includes various steps the company is taking to strengthen its financial future.

Most notably, Carnival announced it has no choice but to a combination of layoffs, furloughs, reduced work weeks and salary reductions across the company, including senior management. The reduction in workforce will contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in cash conservation on an annualized basis.

In addition, completed a successful financing effort last month with a heavily oversubscribed offering of senior secured notes, senior convertible notes and common stock, netting $6.4 billion of additional liquidity. 

Carnival Corporation is also committed to repatriating many thousands of crew members still on its ships to their home countries. Repatriation efforts include chartered flights as well as rerouting its ships to crew home ports where those ships would not have otherwise sailed. The company is also working closely with its many destination partners as it continues to evaluate the best options and safety protocols for return to service.

"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.

Added Donald, "We also want to thank our guests for their many thoughtful notes and overall outpouring of support. It is clear there is tremendous anticipation for a return to cruising. It's also encouraging to note that the majority of guests affected by our schedule changes want to sail with us at a later date, with fewer than 38 percent requesting refunds to date. Our booking trends for the first half of 2021, which remain within historical ranges, demonstrate the resilience of our brands and the strength of our loyal recurring customer base, of which 66% are repeat cruisers.  In addition, we plan to stagger fleet reentry to optimize demand and operating performance over time."