Former Celebrity leader Azamara

[Jeremiah1212]

Already posted on the Azamara boards. Dondra Ritzenthaler, former SVP of Sales at Celebrity, is appointed as CEO of Azamara. Dan Hanrahan, current chairman and former Celebrity CEO will lead the transition. 
 

There are some fairly unhappy Azamara cruisers that want change (not surprising). It will be interesting to see what kind of Celebrity influences seep into Azamara in the coming months. They are also naming a new CFO who has significant ties to RCG.
 

Even though the brand is gone from the RCG portfolio it seems like the ties may be strong…

[hcat]

interesting.. Will the influence be Celebrity or the Royal C brand?

 

We never tried Az .  The ships did not appeal to us and they had larger down payments from what I recall.? 

 

 Hope Az fans  will be okay!

[zitsky]

This makes no sense at all.  To let it go then pull it back?

[Jeremiah1212]

6 minutes ago, zitsky said:

This makes no sense at all.  To let it go then pull it back?

RCG isn’t pulling it back. She retired from Celebrity in May. There is no tie between RCG and Azamara anymore however Azamara’s leadership definitely has some crossover. Their new CFO came from Virgin Voyages  it prior to that had several roles at RCG. 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

RCG isn’t pulling it back. She retired from Celebrity in May. There is no tie between RCG and Azamara anymore however Azamara’s leadership definitely has some crossover. Their new CFO came from Virgin Voyages  it prior to that had several roles at RCG. 

Can executives who worked at company X influence company A even though they no longer work at company X?

[mahdnc]

When her retirement was announced, she said that it was time or something like that.  Her retirement occurred when the new Celebrity president was installed.  I guess it wasn't really time for her to retire after all.

[JaneStarr]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

When her retirement was announced, she said that it was time or something like that.  Her retirement occurred when the new Celebrity president was installed.  I guess it wasn't really time for her to retire after all.

I assume this has to do with her noncompete clause. The Azamara announcement said she will start after her non-compete ends in May.

[Cap_D]

How is Azarma's occupancy?  As a non travel agent, and casual observer, I'd add that in various YouTube videos by TAs when Edge Class ships were unveiled to the trade Dondra makes many appearances.  She's often the one that the TAs are trying to sweet talk and vice versa.  Given her past role that makes sense, and presumably she thrived selling the Celebrity product as envisioned and executed in during the LLP era to TAs.  Unclear how much experience she would have with anything shipboard related, logistics,  finances, or anything of the sort.