As captain of Santa Clarita-based Princess Cruises, Alan Buckelew has steered the cruise line through acquisitions, buyouts, fleet expansions — even a tsunami. He joined the cruise industry 34 years ago as finance manager for Sitmar Cruises, which was purchased by Princess in 1988. He’s worn many hats since then, rising through the ranks to become head of strategic planning, then senior vice president of customer service and CFO. In 2004, he became Princess’s president and CEO. Before becoming a well-traveled executive, Buckelew spent two years as soldier in the Vietnam War, attended business school and spent some time in the real estate business. He says the experiences taught him discipline and motivated him to excel. Princess was acquired by Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company, in 2000. Today, Princess is no longer the small, regional player Buckelew once knew. It’s the third-largest cruise line in the world with 16 fleets serving 1.3 million passengers a year. And it’s part of an industry that is “as big as it’s ever been,” he said. The voyage isn’t over yet for Buckelew and Princess. On the itinerary in the coming years: fleet expansions, renovations and even some new policy regulations. The best part, Buckelew says is “making millions of people happy and fulfilling some of their wildest vacation dreams.” Question: Did you ever imagine yourself as a CEO? Answer: No. I came from a blue-collar background. Q: I understand you served in Vietnam. Were your goals for the future affected by that experience? A: I left college to join the army. I served from 1969 to 1970. When I came back, I was directed and very motivated to excel. I still didn’t have a particular career in mind, but I was a much better student. In many ways, I felt like I was a man among boys and girls. Q: You graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and got your MBA in finance. Why did you choose such different courses of study? A: I was looking for a professional career. I wouldn’t say there was no future in history, but it was not as obvious as to how I would translate that into a career. Q: How did you get interested in the travel industry? A: I was in real estate when I first got out of business school. A headhunter approached me about an opportunity at a cruise company. So I interviewed with them (Sitmar Cruises). When I walked into their office, there was a gigantic portal that led into their main lobby area and there were lots of pictures of ships and different parts of the world. At that time, I had been to Asia, but other than that I had not traveled much. The idea of working for a travel company — where you’re making millions of people happy and fulfilling some of their wildest vacation dreams — was personally satisfying. The more I got to know the business, the more I fell in love with it. Q: What was it like diving into a new industry? A: I had to quickly understand the data that drove the business whether it was the hotel operations on the ships, the reservations and booking cycle, how we planned cruises and fuel consumption. Within a few months I had the luxury of having a pretty good grounding on the fundamentals of how the business worked. Q: Describe your career path in the cruise industry. A: I started (with Sitmar Cruises) in the finance department. I was creating all the information systems. I worked very closely with the market planning department, which is the group that designed all the itineraries and the pricing for the cruises. We had a sister company in Australia and through some reorganization they became our responsibility. I spent about a year and a half in Sydney. When I came back, I was made a director of finance. I took over the project to bring computers into the company. Once that was finished, we were of the mind that our company needed to grow. I was made the vice president of strategic planning, and (after that) I became the senior vice president of customer service. I took over the reservations department and I maintained information technology. I also took over the pricing department, yield management and the air department. I had that responsibility when we were acquired by Princess. Shortly thereafter, the president asked me to become the chief financial officer. Subsequently I became the president and my boss was the CEO. When he left, I became the CEO. Q: You’ve played many roles during your time at Princess. Do you feel that has been beneficial in your role as CEO? A: Absolutely. We like to take our best people and move them around as best as we can. If we can’t do that… we create what we call Operational Effectiveness Teams. We staff them with subject-matter experts and … give them exposure to unique problems in the company and put them in charge. These teams report to the senior executives in the company. It’s a great way for young talent to show us what they can do in parts of the business they normally would not touch. Q: What has been the biggest natural disaster Princess has experienced? A: We had a fire on one of our ships a few years ago. We were just exiting Cairo, Egypt, and we had an engine fire. There were no injuries on board. The challenge is that you’re halfway around the world. You don’t have the control you’d like to have. We had situations, for instance the earthquake in Chile, where we had a ship arrive the next day at the Port of Santiago, which was close to destroyed. During the tsunami in Japan, we had a ship on the other side of the island. Even though the tsunami was in Japan, we had to pull ships out of Harbors in Tahiti and Mexico because no one knows how big the tsunami is going to be as it travels. Q:Tell me about how the industry has changed. What has been the most challenging time you’ve faced? A: When I joined the cruise industry, it was very small. In fact, it was a regional business. Princess and Sitmar were based in Los Angeles, and they were West Coast cruises that appealed to consumers on the West Coast. Many of the other cruise lines were based in Florida and had a very strong Southeastern following. As the industry began to grow, they expanded and businesses began to be nationwide. When I joined there were probably less than 10 ships in the cruise industry. Today, Carnival Corp. has 100. The economic malaise we’re going through today is one of the bigger challenges for the industry, because the industry is as big as it has ever been. The consumer confidence is very low. When there’s almost 10 percent unemployment you can’t be a part of the fabric of this country and not be affected by that. Q: What are Princess’s fleet expansion plans? A: Debuting in spring of 2013, the new 141,000-ton, 3,600-passenger Royal Princess is the first of two new-generation ships … built by Fincantieri at their Monfalcone, Italy, shipyard. The prototype design is an evolution of the line’s classic style of ships, while including some new areas and expanded spaces. We’re excited to be working on this new design while still staying true to the signature features that have become emblematic of the Princess experience. A sister ship to Royal Princess will be launched in spring 2014, and we have yet to announce the ship’s name. Q: Does Princess see itself as a megaship cruise line? If not, are you headed in that direction? A: Our fleet of 16 ships includes sizes (ranging) from an intimate 600-passenger all the way to a 3,000 passenger (vessel). The varying size of our ships enables us to place them in many different parts of the world depending upon passenger demand and port infrastructure. Regardless of which ship a passenger may be cruising on, our business strategy is to offer a consistent product across our fleet of ships. While our new ships will be our largest ever introduced, the ships’ design will be evolutionary — in keeping with the themes of our current vessels, but with some new features and innovations. For example, all outside cabins will feature balconies, bringing the percentage of balconies on the ships to 80 percent of all staterooms. Q: Describe your typical Princess passenger. A: The typical Princess passenger could be described as a baby boomer and is an experienced cruiser, whether they’ve cruised on Princess or other lines. Being a destination cruise line, with an average cruise length of 10+ days, our product is going to appeal to a more sophisticated traveler who wants to explore the world. We also welcome onboard many first-time cruisers, but Princess is a premium line that a passenger likely steps up to after having been introduced to cruising. Age: 62 Education: Bachelor’s degree in History and MBA in Finance from UCLA Career Turning Point: When I was recruited to join the cruise industry. Most Admired: Ronald Reagan Personal: Married with two daughters Q: What are some of the company’s newest innovations? A: In the period between the launch of Ruby Princess in 2008 to Royal Princess in 2013, we have been and will continue to be focused on refining and enhancing the Princess cruise experience. We’re currently in the midst of an extensive fleet modernization phase. In the last couple of years, we’ve modernized several of our ships including Caribbean Princess, Star Princess, Golden Princess and most recently, Grand Princess. We’ve added signature features like our Movies Under the Stars giant outdoor screens, central Piazza, adults-only Sanctuary and a Crown Grill premium steakhouse, as well as introduced a couple of new (food and beverage) concepts — a new pizzeria and a tea lounge with its own tea sommelier. Q: With cruise ships moving to non-smoking formats, what kind of customer feedback have you received? A: We recently announced a change to our smoking policy that will take effect Jan. 15. We’ll be making all of our staterooms and passengers balconies non-smoking. This new policy reflects changing customer preference and the move around the globe to further restrict areas where smoking is allowed. Q: Name the top trend in cruising. A: Value. No matter what the economy looks like, we can’t forget that cruising is a great vacation with an incredible value.
Smooth Sailing
