LATE NIGHT talk show host and comedian Jay Leno will serve as godfather to one of Carnival’s ships.
Leno will be present at a celebratory event on June 14 when Carnival Venezia is blessed and enters service from New York City.
In addition to serving as the godfather, Leno will perform a special comedy show exclusively for event guests.
With Carnival Venezia joining the fleet and sailing from New York, we wanted to ensure a proper welcome for the ship and decided having a godfather would be both fun and appropriate,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line President.
“And when we thought of someone who would make a fun godfather with Italian heritage, we knew Jay Leno would be the perfect godfather!
In typical Italian style, Leno said Carnival’s offer was one he couldn’t refuse.
I’m also excited to have my very own cruise ship, although I think I’ll need a bigger garage! he said.
During most of his tenure, Leno’s The Tonight Show was the top-ranked talk show on late night TV in America and he earned the reputation as being “the hardest working man in show business.”
Carnival Venezia celebrates Venice and has many spaces on board that are reminiscent of her namesake.
When guests enter the ship, they arrive in the Venice-inspired atrium Piazza San Marco, the onboard flavour and flair continues at restaurants like the Marco Polo and Canal Grande, along with the new Italian specialty eatery, Il Viaggio.
The ship accommodates more than 5,000 guests and will offer 10 different cruise durations and 22 unique itineraries featuring visits to 25 ports across 14 countries.
Qantas maps out its flying future
QANTAS HAS released details on its strategy through to 2030, as the national carrier moves from recovery to renewal and growth.
At its first Investor Strategy Day since the COVID pandemic, members of the Group’s Management Committee outlined long-term plans across key categories of customer experience, sustainability and its people.
The Group also disclosed plans for maintaining FY24 margin targets across its flying businesses and announced new earning targets through to FY30 for Qantas Loyalty and Project Sunrise.
Highlights include:
- Detail on the right aircraft, right route’ approach that underpins the current network and supports new next-generation fleet arriving from this year onwards (A220, B787 and A320-family).
With these aircraft come new routes, more comfortable cabins, less noise and less carbon emissions. - Plans for an overhauled Qantas app, launching towards the end of 2023, that will give customers more control over their bookings, introduction of baggage tracking and better integration of Qantas Loyalty.
- Changes to Qantas’ boarding process from October 2023 to improve on-time performance and to better recognise tiered Frequent Flyers, in response to customer feedback.
- Plans to significantly expand the current range of redemption options for Frequent Flyers.
- Continued investment in low fares, particularly by Jetstar, with around 10 million fares under $100 offered this calendar year and five million reward seats via Qantas Loyalty.
- Launching a $400 million Climate Fund the largest of its type for any airline to accelerate progress towards the group’s sustainability targets.
This is a structurally different business than it was before COVID, operating in markets that have also changed, said Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO.
We’re very well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that creates and the detail we’ve released today shows our strategy to do it.
