Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen, one of the co-founder of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and a visionary strategist of the modern cruise industry, died Saturday, April 11, 2020, in Palma, Spain. He was 90. The entire Royal Caribbean family extends its heartfelt condolences to the Wilhelmsen family.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company that controls and operates four global brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea Cruises.
Wilhelmsen was a constant influence on the company from its founding, serving more than three decades on the company’s board of directors. Together with the company’s first CEO, the late Edwin Stephan, Wilhelmsen saw possibilities for the budding cruise industry that others did not.
According to RCL’s chairman, and CEO Richard Fain during the a time when the rest of the world thought cruising was a niche use for old transatlantic liners, Arne was already seeing glimmers of the growth that was possible.He had a vision of the modern cruise industry when the ‘industry’ might have been a dozen used ships, total, he added.
Wilhelmsen saw the potential for cruising to become the fastest-growing segment in a growing vacation industry. He once recalled, “My initial challenge was to convince my partners and management in Miami to build bigger and more efficient ships in order to grow the company.” True to his vision, the company now sails 61 ships calling on all seven continents and its fleet features the largest cruise ships in the world.
Wilhelmsen was born on 15th June 15, 1929, in Oslo, Norway. He earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and worked as a chartering assistant for Norway’s EB Lund & Co. and later as a shipbroker in New York. After joining the family business in 1954, he became its president in 1961. The scion of a leading Norwegian shipping concern – Anders Wilhelmsen & Co AS – he spent most of his life in the family business, including an early stint as a deckhand.
