Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy and Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse joined the Times Square Alliance President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey Straus on December 31 to flip the switch that lit New York City’s famous New Year’s Eve Ball for the countdown to 2023.
The event, which marked the start of the new year, was attended by thousands of people who gathered in Times Square to watch the iconic ball drop. The Carnival Cruise Line executives’ attendance at the world-famous event coincides with the 2023 advertising campaign the cruise line has set up and the upcoming sailings of Carnival Venezia from New York.
Carnival Plays Big Role in Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration
Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy and Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse had the honor of participating in one of the most significant events in the world on New Year’s Eve.
Together, Duffy and Lagasse joined Times Square Alliance President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey Straus in flipping the switch that lit the New Year’s Eve Ball, which has become an iconic symbol of the annual celebration in Times Square.
The ball, which is made up of over 2,600 Waterford Crystal triangles, is illuminated by 32,000 LED lights and weighs over 11,000 pounds. As the clock struck midnight, the ball began descending down a flagpole, signaling the start of the new year.
Duffy has been the President of Carnival Cruise Line since February 2015. Lagasse, on the other hand, is a renowned chef, television personality, and restaurateur. He has made a name for himself in the culinary world with his unique blend of Creole and French cooking styles and is widely considered one of the most influential chefs of his generation.
Carnival has Big Plans For 2023
That Carnival Cruise Line has such a big presence at an event such as the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebrations is no coincidence.
A short while before the event, Duffy posted the following on her Linkedin account: “Our Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse and I are getting ready to flip the switch in Times Square!”
“Along with fleetwide New Year’s Eve celebrations, we’re ringing in 2023 in New York City as the official cruise line sponsor of Times Square New Year’s Eve. We’ll be inviting everyone to #ChooseFunTogether, which is also the theme of our new advertising campaign for 2023.”
ChooseFunTogether is the advertising campaign for Carnival Cruise Line for 2023. Officially launched during Christmas, the campaign saw a nationwide launch point during the New Year. Besides the Times Square celebrations, Carnival acted as musical sponsor and countdown clock sponsor for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” on ABC.
Christine Duffy said: “As we head into 2023, we have even more reasons to celebrate and so it’s appropriate that America’s cruise line be part of America’s most iconic New Year’s celebration.
“We’ve got two new ships joining the fleet next year, including the start of year-round service from New York in June on Carnival Venezia, which will offer our upcoming Carnival Fun Italian Style experience, and then we’ll end the year with Carnival Jubilee arriving in Galveston. We’re looking forward to continuing this exciting period of growth and building on the success of the past year.”
Carnival Venezia will join Carnival Cruise Line in June of this year. The cruise ship is joining the Carnival fleet from the Italian cruise line Costa Cruises. While Carnival will be adding several features for which the cruise line is famous, several of the features that Costa Venezia was known for will remain.
Carnival Jubilee will join the Carnival fleet later on in the year. She will be sailing from Galveston, Texas, and is the sister ship to Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration, the best cruise ship of 2022 and the best new cruise ship of 2022, respectively.
The launch of the Choose Fun Together campaign comes as the cruise industry’s 2023 wave season kicks off, a time when many Americans and travel advisors begin planning their cruises.
