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Princess Cruises Creates New Guest Operations Department

Princess Cruises is reshuffling its shoreside leadership structure and creating a new department designed to tighten control over the guest experience and onboard revenue.

In an internal letter signed by Princess Cruises President Gus Antorcha, the company announced the launch of “Guest Operations,” a new umbrella group that will combine Hotel, Food & Beverage, Onboard Revenue, and Entertainment into one unified structure. Princess says the goal is to sharpen focus on “guest-facing operations” and improve operational efficiency by putting these teams under a single leadership chain.

 

New department, new COO

To lead the new Guest Operations department, Princess is bringing in Rodrigo Llaguno as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Antorcha said Llaguno will report directly to him and join the company’s Senior Leadership Team. The company described him as a leader with deep experience managing large hospitality operations.

Under this new setup, key vice presidents will now report to the COO, including:

  • John Paul Lamb, Vice President, Entertainment (newly promoted)

  • Lorna Warren, Vice President, Hotel Operations & Guest Experience

  • Sami Kohen, Vice President, Food & Beverage

  • Alfredo Jimenez, Vice President, Onboard Revenue

 

Entertainment split from Hotel Operations

One of the bigger structural changes is Princess separating Entertainment from its Hotel Operations & Guest Experience organization.

Antorcha confirmed John Paul Lamb has been promoted to Vice President, Entertainment, and will now lead the entertainment organization moving forward.

The entertainment reporting structure listed in the letter includes:

  • Denise Saviss, Vice President, Entertainment Resource Group

  • Cody Blanco-Hann, Director, Entertainment Operations

  • Katy Harris, Director, Entertainment Experience & Creative Development

  • Robby Mantegna, Director, Production Entertainment Experiences

  • Jackson Walsh, Senior Manager, Studio and Show Operations

  • Jordan Herring, Manager, Family Strategy and Programming

 

Food & Beverage promotions

Princess also confirmed several promotions within Food & Beverage:

  • Andreas Dymke promoted to Senior Director, Culinary Experience

    • Direct reports include Vicki Light (Culinary Arts Projects), Greg Smitka (Culinary Quality Assurance)

  • Sarah Hancock promoted to Director, Beverage Operations

    • Direct report listed: Kim Henigman (Sr Specialist, Beverage and Specialty Dining)

 

Hotel Operations updates

On the hotel side, Nick Shrives has been promoted to AVP, Guest Services and Arrival Experience. His listed direct reports include:

  • Ovidiu Herman, Director, Guest Operations Rooms Division

  • Multiple Guest Port Experience managers (including Anja Dryer, Cindy Alfaro, Benjamin Bartlett, Deon Doria, Dee Schwulst)

  • Tomas Gonzalez de Rosenzweig, Manager, Technical Ecosystem

  • Louvia Lubin, Associate, Special Projects

Princess also announced Miles Clark, Director of Arrival Experience, will be leaving the company.

 

Tech and safety teams moved

The letter also included shifts impacting tech and safety systems:

  • Robert Schurr, Senior Director of Ops Platform, and his team are transitioning to Global Connectivity Solutions and Operations (GCSO), reporting to Rick Lapenna, Vice President, Cloud Engineering and Operations

    • The PCL Networking Team led by Andre Doles will now report to Schurr

  • Dario Amato, Director of Safety Systems and Operations, will transition to the Maritime Operations team, reporting to Jochem Bakker, Senior Director, Safety, ISM, and ERO

  • Werner Benkenstein, Senior Manager of Hospitality Operations, will report directly to COO Rodrigo Llaguno

 

Three Hotel Operations director roles now open

With the promotions of Lamb and Shrives, Princess says it currently has three Director, Hotel Operations positions open, calling it an opportunity for new leaders to step into expanded roles as the organization evolves.

 

What this likely means onboard

This kind of restructure usually signals a few clear priorities: tighter coordination between “guest experience” and revenue-driving departments, more centralized decision-making, and stronger oversight of entertainment and onboard product delivery.

For crew, the big question is always how these changes translate into day-to-day life onboard — whether it means better support and clearer direction, or more pressure to deliver higher scores, more upsells, and faster operational response.

Princess says the new structure is aimed at “collaboration and operational efficiency” and positions the company for long-term growth. Crew Center will be watching to see what this means in practice — especially for hotel and entertainment teams who carry the weight of the guest experience every single day.

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