With a net income of 1.3 million dollars, the lowest Carnival has seen in years due to a series of mishaps over the past year, it’s no wonder that CEO Micky Arison has stepped down after 34 years of running the ship.

Micky, the son of the company founder, Ted Arison, has been the CEO of Carnival since 1979. He’ll remain the company’s Chairman of the Board, but as far as being called the CEO, that honor will go to Arnold Donald, who has served on the company’s board for 12 years.

And it seems he is already getting things in motion to help raise the company up – by investing millions into bettering the ships so that disaster never strikes again.

Carnival has also called in one of its former executives, Bob Dickinson, to help out on the PR front. He will be working on a consultant basis and researching perception by speaking with travel agents to ultimately implement successful damage control PR.

Product improvement and brand perception research are a great starting point. It seems that Carnival is on the right track to clean up the mess they’ve been dealing with (pun definitely intended). The next few months will determine whether this brand gets a new life or their ship has sailed. Let’s hope they can turn it around.