WHY IT RATES: Another year, another award cabinet filled for the Carnival Corporation.-Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
Carnival Corporation, the world's largest leisure travel company, and its nine global cruise line brands earned 556 awards and recognitions in 2017. The third-party endorsements recognize excellence in areas key to exceeding guest expectations and providing extraordinary vacations, including vacation value, cruise ships, onboard entertainment, shore excursions, itineraries, nightlife and overall customer service.
Carnival Corporation and its brands had especially strong showings in the industry's top awards programs, collecting 144 Cruise Critic awards, 51 Travel Weekly awards, 29 Porthole Cruise awards, 26 USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards and 17 Condé Nast Traveler awards.
Some of the honors included:
-AIDA Cruises received the Favorite Ship recognition for AIDAprima as part of the International German Cruise Awards.
-Carnival Cruise Line was named Most Trusted Cruise Line in America by Reader's Digest for the third consecutive year, and took home 10 USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice 2017 Awards, including Best Ocean Cruise Line and Best Cruise Line for Millennials.
-Costa Cruises was honored for Best Mediterranean Itineraries by the Porthole Cruise 19th Annual Readers' Choice Awards and had two distinctions in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards.
-Cunard received 13 Cruise Critic awards including the Cruise Critic 2017 Cruisers' Choice Award for Best Cruise Ships for Public Rooms, Large Ships for its iconic Queen Mary 2 ocean liner.
-Holland America Line was honored with nearly 60 Cruise Critic awards, and its Half Moon Cay was named Best Private Island for the 17th year in a row by Porthole Cruise Magazine.
-P&O Cruises (Australia) was recognized for Best Australia Itineraries by the Porthole Cruise Readers' Choice Awards and received the National Institute of Travel Agents 2017 award for Best Cruise Operator in New Zealand.
-P&O Cruises (UK) received two British Travel Awards 2017 distinctions, including Best Family Cruise Line and won the Consumer Award for Favorite Ocean Cruise by Travel Weekly's Globe Travel Awards.
-Princess Cruises was recognized with six Travvy Awards, including Best Cruise Line in Alaska and Asia, and received six Travel Weekly Magellan Awards including gold for the production show in partnership with Stephen Schwartz, "Born To Dance." The line's newest ship, Majestic Princess, received seven China CTrip Cruiser's Choice Awards for onboard features.
-Seabourn Encore was chosen as Robb Report's Best of the Best 2017 for Slow Travel and was named Best Small Ships Cruise Line in Condé Nast Traveler's 2017 Readers' Choice Awards.
Other notable recognitions included Carnival Corporation's honor as one of the top 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2017 by Corporate Responsibility Magazine (CRM) and Financial Times' EMpower 100 ethnic minority leaders list inclusion of Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation CEO, as its most influential black, Asian and minority ethnic leader for 2017. Eleven Carnival Corporation leaders were named to Travel Agent Central's list of The Most Innovative People in Cruise Travel 2017, and Carnival Corporation Chairman Micky Arison was named a Global Legend of the Caribbean by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Carnival Corporation also received honors in business operations fields such as sustainability, diversity, and innovation. Recognition covered a wide range of specific categories, including Best for Guests with Disabilities, Most Eco-Friendly Cruise Line and Best Cruise Line for LGTBQ Travel.
"We focus on exceeding guest expectations in everything we do, so each of these awards is a strong testament to the success of our collective efforts to provide the world's best vacation experiences at an exceptional value," said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation.
"Over 12 million people trust us every year with their hard-earned money and precious vacation time, and our 120,000 employees around the world have a tremendous passion for earning and protecting that trust. While our most important feedback comes directly from our guests who consistently provide high guest satisfaction scores, it is rewarding for outside organizations to honor our efforts with such a remarkable collection of recognitions, which is often based on consumer input."
In addition to Carnival Corporation and its nine cruise line brands, the industry leader's innovative Ocean Originals TV programs received high industry praise, including 10 Telly Awards and two Parents' Choice Award Stamps of Approval. The TV programs-produced to feature engaging content to increase awareness and demand for cruise vacations-are garnering attention based on their popularity in ratings and experiential value.
Last year, Carnival Corporation announced three of its original programs- "Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin" and "Vacation Creation" on ABC and "The Voyager with Josh Garcia" on NBC-were renewed for second seasons. Now in their second seasons, the three shows are on track to exceed 250 million total viewers.
Carnival Corporation's Ocean Original TV programs are also available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku via OceanView, the world's first free over-the-top (OTT) digital streaming channel from a travel provider.
The company also partnered this month with Univision Communications Inc. (UCI)-the leading media company serving Hispanic America-to air the first Ocean Original primetime series, "La Gran Sorpresa" (The Great Surprise). The show airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT / 7 p.m. CT on the Univision Network.
Globally, the overall cruise market has grown to an estimated 27.2 million people who are expected to take an ocean cruise in 2018, an all-time record and an overall increase of more than 66 percent over the past 10 years. Nearly half of those cruise vacationers will sail on a Carnival Corporation cruise line brand.
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