Carnival Corp has tapped innovation leader John Padgett to become president of Princess Cruises, almost a year after Jan Swartz was promoted to president of Holland America Group.
Padgett, who has served as Carnival's chief experience and innovation officer since July 2014, will oversee the performance and operations of Princess' 14 ships as president.
He will also continue leading the cruise major's innovations unit while reporting directly to Swartz, who has served as Princess' president since 2013.
"The opportunity to lead the iconic Princess brand and to help take the cruise content — including hotel, food and beverage, entertainment, merchandise and destination experiences — to new levels is an absolute honour," he said in a statement.
As Carnival's innovation leader, Padgett helped to launch the Princess MedallionClass platform that allows passengers to request onboard services from a wrist-worn Ocean Medallion.
Swartz became president of Holland Americas Group, which includes Carnival brands Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and P&O Cruises Australia, in December 2020.
"John is the mastermind behind our state-of-the-art Ocean platform and was a key player in our fleet transformation, working closely with Princess team members in virtually every area of our operation to enable the MedallionClass experience for all our guests," Swartz said.
Before joining Carnival, Padgett worked for 18 years with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to develop guest engagement tools such as the MagicBand, FastPass+ and Magical Express.
He holds a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in finance from Virginia Tech and has two dozen patents and many innovation awards, Carnival said.
