When Josh Weinstein became president and CEO of Carnival Corporation in 2022, the industry was in the midst of post-pandemic recovery. He took considered steps to move from survival mode to a period of disciplined growth, while building operational resilience for the future. Just four years on, the organisation has returned to record financial performance, achieved key strategic targets ahead of schedule and laid out an ambitious roadmap for future growth.
Weinstein started by going back to basics. “Carnival Corporation is a global organisation with eight cruise brands whose purpose is to deliver happiness to over 13.5 million guests each year while honouring the integrity of every ocean we sail, place we visit, and life we touch,” says Weinstein. “Everything we do has to be centred around that purpose, so we analysed everything from the team structure to our business objectives to ensure we could fulfil our ultimate aim.”
From the start, Weinstein prioritised people. “Our people are our most powerful asset – we couldn’t deliver amazing cruise experiences without our 160,000 ship and shore team members,” he says. “It was critical to build a team of capable individuals who are passionate about their jobs, committed to helping the company fulfil its purpose, and dedicated to taking care of their people. We spent a lot of time making sure we had the right folks in the right roles and creating a positive, collaborative and inclusive working environment where everyone has the tools, knowledge and support they need to do their jobs well.”
Next, Carnival Corporation took steps to “further hone operational inefficiencies wherever it could”. In June 2023, Weinstein introduced the SEA Change programme, setting three-year targets to increase environmental sustainability, boost financial performance and drive sustainable long-term net yield growth across its portfolio.
“The main reason for SEA Change was to get everybody thinking about our longer-term trajectory,” he says. “At the time, we were still a little fragile – we hadn’t long restarted operations, so we didn’t have a net income and we’d taken on $20 billion in debt to get through the pandemic. From a financial perspective, there was a long road ahead but I was confident we could achieve levels of performance from well before the pandemic. Ultimately, all our business objectives are designed to help us deliver extraordinary cruises while operating responsibly. If we’re concentrating on this, we’ll naturally hit our financial goals too.”
According to Weinstein, the corporation “unlocked the biggest progress” by making significant inroads in the commercial operations of all of the brands. “We enhanced everything from brand and performance advertising and marketing to revenue management, itinerary planning and onboard delivery,” he says. “If we keep doing the boring stuff better, we can understand what our strengths are, identify our weaknesses and work out how to fill these gaps.”
AIDA Cruises is installing new spaces on seven of its ships as part of its biggest-ever fleet revitalisation project (Photo: AIDA Cruises)
Taking this approach worked well. Carnival Corporation attained the targets 18 months early, more than doubling return on invested capital and delivering its highest adjusted EBITDA per available lower berth days in almost two decades, while meaningfully reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In March 2026, the organisation released its PROPEL targets, which are aimed at further increasing earnings, outsizing shareholder distributions and driving higher returns by 2029. While some in the industry questioned Carnival Corporation’s decision to set such ambitious goals amidst ongoing geopolitical volatility, rising fuel prices and other challenges, Weinstein remains unfazed.
“We did get a few raised eyebrows,” he jokes. “But I’ve been in the cruise industry for 24 years and there have always been issues like this – my job is to look well beyond the current state of play to ensure we build the resilience to perform well in spite of them.”
Weinstein’s confidence stems from Carnival Corporation’s portfolio of “world-class brands”. “They offer diverse cruise experiences and they’re the strongest performers in their respective markets,” he says. “We also have a very mature destination strategy. We’re a leader in the Caribbean, which is an enormous drive-to market for many of our brands, and home to several of our exclusive island destinations. Northern Europe and the Mediterranean have been spectacular for us for years. And we have an untouchable strategic advantage in Alaska, where we own over 3,000 rooms in hotels and lodges, glass-domed rail cars and the largest fleet of motor coaches. We’re also making significant progress towards decarbonisation. I’m very confident that if we make incremental improvements across the business every day and manage costs well, we will reach – and likely exceed – these targets.”
One of the key steps to achieving its PROPEL targets will be to maintain intentional fleet capacity growth while investing in return-generating refurbishment programmes for the company’s existing ships and its exclusive destinations in the Caribbean and Alaska.
“I’ve been pretty open and consistent about my belief that Carnival Corporation can excel by focusing on moderate capacity growth and doing more with the great assets we already have,” says Weinstein. “We’ve been introducing one or two newbuilds annually for the last few years and we’ll follow that strategy for the foreseeable future – in fact 2026 is the only year we don’t have a new ship coming out. The most cost-effective way for us to significantly advance operational performance and the guest experience across multiple brands in a relatively short time frame is to extensively renovate midlife ships. We can refurbish maybe 20 to 25 vessels for the same cost as constructing one big newbuild.”
Carnival Cruise Line, for example, has revamped seven vessels in the first half of 2026. Meanwhile, both AIDA Cruises and Holland America Line are carrying out their most extensive renewal projects to date.
In February 2025, AIDA Cruises began a multi-year project to refurbish seven of its older ships – AIDAdiva, AIDAbella, AIDAluna, AIDAblu, AIDAsol, AIDAmar, AIDAstella – at Chantier Naval de Marseille to create a new Selection class. By 2028, all seven vessels will have refreshed interiors, expanded outdoor areas, additional suites and upgraded dining, entertainment and wellness facilities. They will also have updated technical systems to optimise operational efficiency and decrease fuel consumption.
Similarly, Holland America Line is spending more than $500 million to complete bow-to-stern revitalisations on six of its 11 ships in partnership with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The multi-year project will span four Vista-class ships – Oosterdam, Zuiderdam, Westerdam and Noordam – and two Signature-class vessels – Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam.
Starting in autumn 2027, the brand will complete the refits ship by ship, incorporating bars, restaurants and suite and stateroom categories found on its latest Pinnacle-class vessels, while also introducing experiences and venues that are new to the fleet. Oosterdam will be the first to be revitalised and feature 76 additional staterooms and suites, including 30 purpose-built for travellers, two Bridgeview Suites positioned above the bridge with forward-facing wraparound windows, and a 1,550-square-foot Pinnacle Suite.
“These refurbishment programmes will significantly enhance the guest experience and the ships’ operational performance,” says Weinstein. “They also allow us to moderately grow capacity for brands that are bursting at the seams with demand, but without the massive capital expenditure and time associated with building new vessels. More of our brands will be announcing similar projects in the coming months.”
The Stay Awhile beach shack is one of multiple new venues that have been added to the corporation’s exclusive Bahamian island, RelaxAway Half Moon Cay (Photo: Carnival Cruise Line)
Weinstein witnessed the success of these efforts first-hand when he joined investors onboard the newly renovated AIDAdiva when it docked in New York, USA, as part of its world cruise. “Everyone said it looked and felt like a completely new ship, not an 18-year-old vessel, and that’s exactly the reaction we were hoping for!”
Carnival Corporation is making similar high-impact upgrades to its private islands. For example, it has added the expansive Mangrove Bay area to Isla Tropicale (formerly Mahogany Bay) in Roatán, Honduras, and doubled pier capacity at Celebration Key in Grand Bahama, allowing the island to accommodate four cruise ships simultaneously. RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay now features a new beach club, shops, pickleball courts and food trucks, as well as refreshed dining venues and beach facilities. The corporation has also allocated $70 million for a two-year project to update riverside trails, revamp public spaces, remodel existing guest rooms and construct a new accommodation building at Holland America Denali Lodge, which is located just outside of Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
“Just as with our ships, creating new exciting experiences at our existing destinations is a good way to quickly improve the guest experience,” says Weinstein.
Carnival Corporation is also “aggressively investing” in technologies and solutions to boost operational efficiency and reduce organisation-wide energy consumption as part of its pathway to PROPEL.
“We don’t yet have the ultimate solution for decarbonising our operations – and if someone says they have, they’re lying to you!” says Weinstein. “In fact, I don’t think we’ll ever have one solution that can be used on every cruise ship; we’ll likely use a combination of technologies to help us to reach net zero.”
For now, Carnival Corporation is centring its efforts on fleet transformation and making incremental improvements, says Weinstein. “Anything we can do to operate more thoughtfully and lower our carbon footprint goes into the mix, but our main objective is to consume fewer resources – whether that be energy, fuel, water, food, single-use plastic, or something else. The fewer resources we use, the less waste we produce, which is better for both the planet and our bottom line.” Around 80 per cent of the fleet now features Power Saver Packs – LED lighting and advanced HVAC and energy management systems – which has reduced annual shipboard energy demand by more than 535,000 megawatt hours since 2019. Over 40 ships use Azipod propulsion systems to cut fuel consumption by up to 10 per cent, while 13 vessels use air lubrication systems to decrease propulsion energy needs by around five per cent. Smart itinerary planning, weather routing and voyage optimisation tools further minimise fuel use.
“We’re by far and away the tip of the spear when it comes to reducing energy consumption – it’s been our primary focus for more than 20 years,” says Weinstein.
At the same time, Carnival Corporation is adopting low-carbon solutions to reduce GHG emissions. One is LNG fuel, which Weinstein says the corporation committed to in 2012, long before any infrastructure had been built. In 2018, it debuted the world’s first fully LNG-powered cruise ship and 11 of its 96 ships – almost 21 per cent of the fleet capacity – now operate using the fuel. Seven more LNG-powered newbuilds are set to join the fleet by 2033 and are expected to deliver more than 20 per cent greater efficiency per passenger than current ships.
“We’ve long advocated for the use of LNG as a transitional fuel – it’s the lowest-emission option we can feasibly use at scale today,” says Weinstein. “We’ll move to bio-LNG and e-LNG fuels as they become widely available, and we’re trialling biofuels on some AIDA Cruises, Holland America Line and Costa Cruises ships. AIDA Cruises is also testing hydrogen-powered fuel cells and battery technology – these technologies are helping us to save energy but our ships are so big that batteries can only ever be part of a wider solution.”
In addition, Carnival Corporation has expanded shore power capabilities to 74 per cent of its fleet, with these ships connecting to local electric grids during approximately 1,460 port calls in 2025. “We’ve been at the forefront of shore power since our Princess Cruises brand became the first cruise line to connect to a hydroelectric shore power system in Juneau, Alaska, in 2001,” says Weinstein. “We’ll continue to connect wherever possible in ports worldwide and expand shore power capabilities to 80 per cent of the fleet by 2030.”
Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras is one of the 11 LNG-powered ships currently sailing in the corporation’s global fleet (Photo: Holland America Line)
Carnival Corporation’s extensive efforts are paying dividends. Not only are they helping the organisation to move closer towards its PROPEL targets, but they’re also enabling it to regularly surpass its GHG emissions intensity and other environmental aims.
In 2021, Carnival Corporation declared it would reduce GHG emissions intensity by 20 per cent by 2030, relative to its 2019 baseline. The organisation hit this benchmark in 2025, five years ahead of schedule, helped largely by retiring 27 older ships and introducing a new generation of more energy-efficient vessels.
“Reaching our 2030 goal five years early is a significant milestone that reflects years of disciplined investment and innovation across our global fleet,” says Weinstein. “It’s even more impressive when you consider the fleet is also over 10 per cent bigger than it was in 2019 – and we’re using over 12 per cent less fuel than we were in 2019, which we expect will save roughly $650 million in 2026 alone. Since 2008, we have decreased GHG intensity by 44 per cent, almost halving per-guest emissions.”
Carnival Corporation raised the stakes again in 2026, committing to cut emissions intensity by 25 per cent by 2029 versus its 2019 baseline. “We want to continue improving every part of the equation to lower emissions even further over time,” says Weinstein.
He explains that partnerships with key stakeholders across the maritime and other industries will continue to be pivotal in helping the organisation decarbonise.
“We never want to compete on the environment,” says Weinstein. “The only way the cruise industry will find feasible decarbonisation solutions is by working together and sharing our expertise. There are already many examples of decarbonisation solutions that work well on land, but it’s a massive challenge to get them to work effectively on cruise ships sailing at sea – everything has to be miniaturised and compartmentalised. We’re collaborating with shipyards, suppliers, vendors and other entrepreneurs to refine these solutions for use at sea, and we’re always open to discussing new ideas, technologies and partnerships.”
Carnival Corporation will also continue collaborating with organisations like the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to help it overcome other issues that may hinder its growth, such as increasingly strict regulations, rising fuel prices and overtourism.
“The cruise industry represents a tiny proportion of the global travel sector, so it can be difficult for individual cruise operators to solve problems on their own,” says Weinstein. “CLIA provides a unified voice for the industry, helping us to align on priorities that will benefit the entire industry, our guests, the communities we visit and the environment. As they say, a rising sea lifts all ships.”
In January 2026, Weinstein began a two-year tenure as chair of CLIA’s Global Executive Committee (GEC), succeeding Jason Liberty, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. In this role, he will collaborate with other members of the GEC to shape CLIA’s strategies and develop initiatives to enable the cruise industry to accomplish its shared priorities.
“I’ve had the privilege of being on the GEC for four years and working with the leaders of other major cruise brands to advance the industry, so I’m honoured to now serve as chair,” he says. “Delivering extraordinary cruise experiences depends on a sustained focus on safe, reliable operations and effective coordination across the sector. As we build for the future, CLIA will help the industry continue to demonstrate its commitment to responsible growth, achieving our GHG reduction short-term and long-term ambitions, deepening relationships with our ports and destination partners, prioritising workforce development, and contributing positively to the communities we serve.”
Josh Weinstein believes Carnival Corporation has an “untouchable strategic advantage” in Alaska, where it offers multiple sailings and has an expansive network of lodges for guests to stay in (Photo: Carnival Corporation)
Four years into Weinstein’s time as CEO of Carnival Corporation, the cruise industry is still contending with a challenging operating environment. From rising fuel prices to negative media headlines about a rare outbreak of hantavirus, the US-Iran war trapping ships in the Strait of Hormuz and anti-cruise sentiment from destinations expressing concerns about overtourism – the list of hurdles may seem insurmountable to some. Yet, just as he was confident in Carnival Corporation’s ability to excel after the pandemic, Weinstein is certain the cruise industry will have a prosperous future.
“We’ve had virus outbreaks, geopolitical unrest, extreme weather events, natural disaster and other incidents in the past, and they’ll happen again in future,” says Weinstein. “No industry is immune to these incidents. However, the cruise industry is very resilient and, because we’re small in comparison to other segments of the travel sector, we have a tremendous opportunity to keep growing. More people are recognising that we provide remarkable vacation experiences for great value, so cruising has become more popular and mainstream than ever. Carnival Corporation’s brands are committed to continually improving and finding new and innovative ways to fulfil our core purpose of making our guests happy.”
Discover more insights from experts across the passenger shipping industry in the Autumn/Winter 2026 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. To get content like this on a regular basis, subscribe to the print editions or free digital editions of our Cruise & Ferry publications.