Director, Ports and Destination Strategy

Director Of Global Ports And Destinations Strategy

The Director of Global Ports and Destinations Strategy serves as a key strategic leader within the Global Ports and Destinations Development team. This role will support the VP in spearheading global initiatives aimed at fostering cross brand port operations alignment, developing new port and destination opportunities, and managing high-level government and stakeholder engagements. The scope includes strategic negotiation, financial analysis, cost optimization, and development support across a network of ports handling approximately 17 million passengers annually.

Essential Functions

Corporate Berthing Agreements & New Development Opportunities :

• Support negotiations and lead commercial management for berthing agreements across major North American homeports and destination ports of call.
• Develop business cases for new port and destination opportunities within North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
• Consolidate and harmonize global port agreements across all brand portfolios, ensuring alignment of commercial terms and governance.

Competitive Intelligence & Strategic Insight :

Government Relations & Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration :

Port Cost Optimization :

Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in BUSINESS / HOSPITALITY is required or equivalent experience. MBA is strongly preferred. 6-10 years of professional experience with cruise industry experience preferred; international experience is a must. Fluent Spanish required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Exceptional negotiation skills, business sense and results driven approach. Excellent problem solving, senior level communication and strategy-development skills. High degree of self-motivation, resilience, tenacity and dedication, with aspirations for a long-term career in this area. Experience in building and maintaining effective relationships, interacting with senior executives, peers and teams across multiple functions / departments. Demonstrated curiosity and interest in learning the cruise business and its performance drivers, and ability to quickly come up the learning curve. Ability to balancing short-term, more tactical needs and opportunities with long term, strategic challenges and imperatives.

Physical Demands

Work may require employee to work inside and / or outside with exposure to changing climate and / or operate machinery.

Travel : More than 50% non-shipboard travel likely

Work Conditions : Work primarily in a climate-controlled environment with minimal safety / health hazard potential. This position is classified as "in-office." As an in-office role, it requires employees to work from a designated Carnival office in South Florida Tuesday through Thursday each week. Employees may work from their homes on Mondays and Fridays. Candidates must be located in (or willing to relocate to) the Miami / Ft. Lauderdale area.

Total Rewards Package

At Carnival, your total rewards package is much more than your base salary. All non-sales roles participate in an annual cash bonus program, while sales roles have an incentive plan. Director and above roles may also be eligible to participate in Carnival's discretionary equity incentive plan. Plus, Carnival provides comprehensive and innovative benefits to meet your needs, including :