Cruise industry veteran Lynn C. Torrent has been named senior vice president of sales and guest services at Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator. She will take on her new role on March 3.
In this capacity, Torrent has overall responsibility for Carnival’s various sales activities, particularly as they relate to supporting our travel agent partners, who account for the vast majority of the company’s bookings.
In addition to overseeing the line’s award-winning sales force comprised of business development managers throughout the U.S. and Canada, Torrent is responsible for Carnival’s call centers in Florida and Colorado Springs, Colo., as well as embarkation teams in the line’s 20 different homeports.
She is also responsible for Carnival’s CARE Team, which provides assistance and support to guests and their families should medical incidents or other emergency situations arise during their vacation.
“Travel agents are the key component of our distribution system and we’re very happy to have someone of Lynn’s caliber leading this effort. She is a highly talented and respected executive with wide-ranging knowledge and experience. I have tremendous confidence in her ability to lead the industry’s top sales team,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival’s president and CEO. “I’ve known Lynn a long time and I have seen her excel in a number of different roles, including most recently leading Costa Cruises’ North American operations where she did a fantastic job,” he added.
Commented Torrent, “I have thoroughly enjoyed the last six years with Carnival Corporation & plc, particularly the last three years at Costa, and I am happy to be staying within our Carnival family. I’m very excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with what is, unquestionably, the best sales force in the travel industry.”
A 13-year cruise industry veteran, Torrent most recently served as president and CEO – North America of Costa Cruises, a sister company to Carnival Cruise Lines, where she was responsible for the company’s operations in North and Central America. Prior to that, she served for three years as vice president of marketing for Carnival’s parent company, Carnival Corporation & plc. She began her career in the cruise industry in 1995 as executive vice president of sales, marketing and passenger services for Renaissance Cruises.
Early in her professional career, Torrent was a senior auditor with Arthur Anderson in New York and later served as chief financial officer with Safecard Services, where she worked for Gerry Cahill who was then Safecard’s chief operating officer.
Torrent earned a bachelor’s degree from CW Post in New York and her MBA from Florida Atlantic University.
Carnival is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, with 22 “Fun Ships” operating voyages ranging from three to 18 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, New England, Canada, the Panama Canal, Europe, Bermuda, and South America. The line currently has three new ships scheduled for delivery between now and 2011.
