Cruise industry appointments

Ben Bouldin has been named director of sales for the UK and Ireland at Royal Caribbean International. Bouldin will lead an 18-strong sales team dedicated to the brand, following the split of the RCL Cruises brand at the start of this year. He joins from PepsiCo International where he held several senior roles. “With a new brand structure in place and the recent announcements confirming Anthem of the Seas deployment to the UK in 2015, Ben joins the Royal Caribbean business at an exciting time. I look forward to working alongside him and am confident that with his exceptional experience working with high profile international brands he’ll be able to build on the team’s industry leading track record within the cruise sector,” said Stuart Leven, Royal Caribbean International, managing director, UK and Ireland.

David Sanders has been appointed head of media and public relations at Princess Cruises. He has previously worked at Peveral Retirement, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the Civil Aviation Authority and joined the cruise line on 13 Jan. Suzanne Korff will join Princess on 20 Jan, as head of marketing communications. Korff joins Princess from Sandals Resorts UK where she was head of marketing.

Neil Palomba has become senior vice president hotel operations and guest experience at Costa Cruises. Palomba has taken on the newly-created role after 17 years at MSC. From 2006 Palomba was MSC’s chief operating officer.

The cruise line has also signed up Paul Soulsby to become senior vice president shared services. This newly-create role at Costa Crociere will see Soulsby handle the company’s structure and develop “synergies between common practices of the main staff functions.” Soulsby joins the cruise company from AIDA Cruises where he spent 13 years, most recently as senior vice president and CFO.