改造嘉年华邮轮的CEO

On Southampton’s concrete docks under a sky heavy with drizzle, tourists — most of them middle aged — crane their necks at the horizon. In the slate-grey river beside them towers a cruise ship that will carry them to the Solent strait and the blue waters of the Caribbean beyond.

细雨蒙蒙，在南安普敦(Southampton)的混凝土码头上，游客们（大多数已经上了年纪）伸长脖子，眺望着地平线。在他们身边灰蓝色的河面上，一艘巨大的邮轮停泊着，它将把他们带到索伦特海峡(Solent Strait)，然后向蔚蓝的加勒比海进发。

The age of the cruise crowd illustrates a problem that Arnold Donald of Carnival Cruises is grappling with 4,000 miles away in his office in sunny Miami, Florida. The chief executive of the world’s largest cruise company not only has to lead a business that carries 11m passengers on its ships every year. He also has to secure its profitable future against a strong, demographic challenge.

邮轮游客的年龄表明了一个问题；在4000英里以外佛罗里达州迈阿密阳光灿烂的办公室里，嘉年华邮轮(Carnival Cruise)的阿诺德?唐纳德(Arnold Donald)正在应对这一问题。世界最大邮轮公司的首席执行官不仅要领导一家每年搭载1100万乘客的企业，还必须确保该公司在面临艰巨的人口结构挑战的情况下确保未来盈利。

Many within the tourism industry are sceptical about whether cruise companies have a future with younger generations of travellers. Cruising, says one executive at Carnival speaking on condition of anonymity, is for “the newly-weds, the nearly-deads and no one in between”.

很多旅游行业的人对于邮轮公司未来能否吸引年轻一代游客持怀疑态度。嘉年华一名不愿透露姓名的高管表示，乘坐邮轮游玩的“不是新婚夫妇就是垂暮老者”，没有中间年龄段的人士。

“When I first got the call [to become chief executive] I almost said no,” says Mr Donald in a relaxed drawl. “It took two or three days before I called back.”

“刚接到（让我当首席执行官的）电话时，我差点拒绝，”唐纳德用轻松的、拉长语调的南方口音说道，“两三天后我才回了电话。”

That was not only because of the problem of enticing millennials on to cruise ships. The multiple risks involved with transporting so many people every year mean running Carnival is a difficult task.

这不仅是因为吸引千禧一代乘坐邮轮的问题。每年搭载这么多游客的这项业务带有多种风险，这意味着经营嘉年华是一项艰巨任务。

The company, which owns brands including P&O Cruises, Holland America and Costa, was handed a $40m penalty in a US federal court in December after pleading guilty to dumping polluting waste in the sea off the coast of England.

该公司拥有的品牌包括P&O邮轮(P&O Cruises)、荷美邮轮(Holland America)和歌诗达邮轮(Costa)。去年12月，在嘉年华承认在距离英格兰海岸线不远的海域倾倒污染垃圾后，美国一家联邦法院对该公司开出4000万美元的罚单。

But Mr Donald, who sat on Carnival’s board for more than a decade, is used to adversity. First came the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship in 2012 — 33 people were killed. In 2014 a power outage hit the Carnival Triumph, which became known as the “poop cruise” because its toilets stopped working.

但在嘉年华董事会坐了10多年的唐纳德对逆境已经司空见惯了。首先是2012年歌诗达“协和号”(Costa Concordia)邮轮沉没，导致33人丧生。2014年，嘉年华“胜利号”(Carnival Triumph)遭遇停电，这艘邮轮后来被称为“屎轮”，因为船上的卫生间不再运转。

“The media were pretty brutal to us,” he says. After taking over as chief executive from Micky Arison, who is now chairman, Mr Donald instigated reviews of culture and operations in response to the Costa Concordia disaster: “Just to right that ship and float it out cost millions,” he says.

“媒体对我们相当无情，”他表示。在从现担任嘉年华董事长的米基?阿里森(Micky Arison)接手该公司后，唐纳德在回应歌诗达“协和号”事故时推动了企业文化和运作评估：“单单把那艘船扶正、并使它浮起来，就花费了数以百万美元计的巨额资金，”他表示。

Three years into the job, Mr Donald is credited with turning around Carnival’s reputation and its market value. Net profits rose to $2.8bn in 2016, up from $1.8bn the year before. The 62-year-old secured a joint venture in China to gain access to a growing tourism market in east Asia. Bookings have increased steadily.

上任3年后的今天，唐纳德被归功为扭转了嘉年华的名誉和市值。2016年净利润增长至28亿美元，高于上一年的18亿美元。62岁的唐纳德在中国成立了一家合资企业，从而进入了不断增长的东亚旅游市场。邮轮舱房预定量稳步增长。

The US-based company is in a comfortable position because it dominates the industry and takes more than half of all cruisers on holiday, but it may have run out of space to grow. Carnival is under pressure to retire its older ships and refresh its image, as the company enters a technological race with rivals to attract younger cruisers. One person familiar with the company says Mr Donald has pushed this agenda — sometimes to the chagrin of colleagues on the board.

这家总部位于美国的公司目前处于一个舒适的境地，因为它主导着整个邮轮行业，一半的邮轮度假乘客选择了该公司，但它可能已经没有进一步的增长空间了。随着该公司开始与对手靠拼技术来吸引年轻游客，嘉年华目前承受着老旧邮轮退役和重塑形象的压力。一名熟悉该公司的知情人士表示，唐纳德在推动这一议程——有时令董事会同僚不快。

Mr Donald insists that it is important for Carnival to modernise: “We built this business on a premise that works really well, which was to organically grow a brand and acquire other brands.

唐纳德坚持认为，嘉年华进行现代化改进非常重要：“我们以行之有效的模式打造了这家企业，即让一个品牌实现有机增长，并收购其他品牌。

“It stopped working because the world changed?.?.?.?with the BP oil spill, then Lehman Brothers, then the Arab spring, which caused people to not to want to travel.”

“后来这种模式不再有效，因为世界变了……英国石油(BP)原油泄漏、还有雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒闭、之后是阿拉伯之春，这些都使得人们不想旅行。”

Mr Donald describes his humble origins at the back end of the civil rights movement in the late 1960s, growing up in a “very poor” family from the ninth ward of New Orleans. As an aspirational child, he secured a place to study engineering at Washington University and joined Monsanto, the global agribusiness, after graduating.

唐纳德称，他小时候家境卑微，上世纪60年代末民权运动后期在新奥尔良第九区一个“非常贫困的”家庭长大。作为一个有抱负的孩子，他入学华盛顿大学(Washington University)学习工程学，并在毕业后进入全球农业综合企业孟山都(Monsanto)。

After 23 years at Monsanto and a brief stint as chief executive of Merisant, a manufacturer of artificial sweeteners, Mr Donald was ready to retire before he accepted the Carnival job — which paid him $9.4m in 2015. His package includes stock and other benefits.

在孟山都工作23年、并短暂担任甜味剂制造商美利生(Merisant)首席执行官之后，他曾准备退休，结果却接受了嘉年华的工作（2015年他的薪酬为940万美元）。他的薪酬待遇包括股票和其他福利。

He emits a sense of ambition that others in the industry say has propelled the company forward. However, according to an independent analyst who did not want to be named, investors had wondered whether decision making would remain with Mr Arison, a member of the founding family.

他散发出雄心壮志的气场，业内人士称，这推动着嘉年华向前发展。然而，据一名不愿具名的独立分析师称，投资者在揣测，决策权是否仍在创始家族成员阿里森手中。

“We thought maybe Micky wants to get out of the limelight so Arnold will take over and just be Micky’s guy,” the analyst says.

“当初我们认为米基想告别聚光灯，于是让阿诺德接手，只是当米基的马仔，”这名分析师表示。

A former colleague from Monsanto adds that they were “surprised” when they heard that Mr Donald had joined Carnival. “He’s a very ambitious fellow, but what does he know about running cruise liners?”

唐纳德在孟山都的一名前同事补充称，当他们听说唐纳德加入嘉年华时，他们“感到意外”。“他非常有雄心，但他了解如何经营邮轮公司吗？”

Although Carnival — and the industry — have recovered from the Costa Concordia disaster, Mr Donald fears a change in global attitudes towards terror could undermine the business.

尽管嘉年华——乃至整个行业——已经从歌诗达“协和号”事故中恢复元气，但唐纳德担心全球对恐怖主义态度的变化可能有损该行业。

“Whether the world acts out of fear, whether the world overreacts, that’s what keeps me awake [at night],” he says.

“世界会不会因为出于恐惧采取行动，世界会不会反应过度，这些问题让我夜不能寐，”他表示。

For now, Mr Donald is focused on taking advantage of scale, which he calls “the yin and yang of being big”. Since 2013 he has attempted to cut costs, but he balks at the idea that Carnival’s 10 brands may come together in Miami. “No, no, no, we’re not centralising. I don’t believe in centralising,” he says.

就目前而言，唐纳德正聚焦于利用规模效益，他称之为“做大的阴与阳”。从2013年起他便试着削减成本，但他拒绝了把嘉年华旗下10个品牌都集中在迈阿密进行管理的想法。“不不不，我们不搞集中化。我不相信集中化，”他表示。

Carnival announced a joint venture with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Investment Corporation in 2014. Three new luxury ships are due to join its fleet of four in the country over the next two years.

2014年，嘉年华宣布与中国船舶工业集团公司(China State Shipbuilding Corporation)和中国投资公司(China Investment Corporation)成立合资企业。未来两年，预计将有3艘豪华邮轮加入嘉年华在中国的船队（现有4艘邮轮）。

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, he unveiled a wearable device for cruise passengers, equipping them with a personal digital concierge that recommends activities. But rivals are expanding and innovating and some question whether so many cruise ship berths can be filled by future generations.

今年初在拉斯维加斯举行的消费电子展(CES)上，唐纳德公布了一款面向邮轮乘客的可佩戴设备，让他们有一个可以推荐各种活动的个人数字礼宾。但竞争对手也在扩张和创新，同时有人质疑：那么多邮轮铺位能否被未来几代人填满？

“We’re huge,” Mr Donald says. “If people cruise then we’re all good.”

“我们是庞大的，”唐纳德称，“只要人们乘邮轮游玩，那我们就会日子好过。”