tl;dr – Ernesto Fara will succeed Jim Murren as CEO.
There’s a change in leadership at the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Ernesto Fara has been named president and CEO, and will move offices down the hall. Fara has served as CFO and board member and has been with the organization since 2020.
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is one of several brand extension projects of luxury hotels moving into cruising, whether that be full-scale ocean cruises or river excursions.
At first, I thought this shakeup in leadership was due to the cruise line’s poor financial performance. That said, outgoing CEO Murren (who is staying nearby as executive chairman) is evidently well-respected for bringing the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection to market. Notably, in a world where seemingly every luxury hotel chain wants to get its feet wet, the Ritz-Carlton is the only major player to have launched ships and transported passengers. We still await the debut of the Four Seasons project, as well as other players, such as Aman.
Notably, Fara is a finance guy with a background in operations management, so perhaps his skillset will translate well into better financial performance for the venture.
