As the cruise industry enters the 21st century, Carnival and Royal Caribbean square off again as they battle to acquire British company Princess Cruises. Whoever wins Princess will be virtually uncatchable as the largest cruise company in the world. But when the Covid-19 pandemic breaks out, the cruise industry struggles to keep passengers safe, and the entire existence of the industry is in jeopardy.<br>See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

ENCORE: Cruise Ship Wars | Mayday

Business Wars

[SPEAKER_11] Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business Wars ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. It's early 2002 in London, England. Carnival Cruise Line President Mickey Arison sits across from a Princess Cruises shareholder.

[SPEAKER_11] Outside, icy rain pours down and the cuffs of Arison's pants are still damp from his short walk from the cab to the restaurant door. But Arison's not letting his discomfort distract him. He's here in this cold, dark city on a mission.

[SPEAKER_05] Look, I know that Richard Fain and other Royal Caribbean executives are out there saying that I'm a spoiler. That Carnival doesn't really want to buy Princess. We just want to prevent Royal Caribbean from buying it. But look, I can assure you that that's not the case.

[SPEAKER_11] In late 2001, Mickey learned that Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fane had made a deal to buy Princess Cruises. Now Mickey is doing everything he can to stop that deal from going through.

[SPEAKER_05] And let's talk about Richard Fane. He swooped in and took over Royal Caribbean. Look, he's not a cruise man. He hires a bunch of Ivy League consultants to help him run the business. We've never had to do that at Carnival. Because cruising is in our blood. My father practically invented this business. Has Princess ever needed to bring in consultants? I'm not sure. I doubt it. Now, let's look at what these Ivy League consultants brought to Royal Caribbean.

[SPEAKER_05] Since Fane took over, Royal Caribbean has consistently underperformed compared to Carnival. And per the terms of the deal, he'd retain the top position once he acquired Princess. I don't think there's any reason to believe he'd do a better job overseeing a bigger company.

ENCORE: Cruise Ship Wars | Mayday

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

ENCORE: Cruise Ship Wars | Mayday

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.