Carnival chief hails agents following 'double-digit' new-to-cruise growth
James ChappleCarnival Corporation president Josh Weinstein has praised the support its brands have received from the trade following "double-digit percentage growth" in new-to-cruise guests.
Weinstein on Monday (30 September) revealed Carnival’s new-to-cruise bookings were up by 17% year-on-year during its third quarter (three months to the end of June).
This figure stood at 10% at the end of its second quarter (three months to the end of March).
"Strong support from our travel agent partners [has] allowed us to once again take share from land-based peers as we attract even more new-to-cruise guests," said Weinstein during an earnings call. "In fact, both new-to-cruise and repeat guests were up [by] double-digit percentages over last year."
Weinstein said Carnival Corp was "delivering well in excess of 2024 expectations", had built a "strong base of business for 2025" and that its 2026 business had got off to "an unprecedented start".
Q3 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation exceeded $2.8 billion – $600 million more than the group delivered during Q3 last year and $160 million ahead of guidance – as revenue hit "an all-time high" of almost $8 billion, a billion more than during the same quarter last year.
Weinstein said the improvements were being driven by better yields from its ships across all of its major brands rather than through capacity growth. He added that business for 2025 was running at a "historical high" in terms of both occupancy and price.
"Every brand in our portfolio is well booked at higher pricing in 2025," Weinstein continued. "With nearly half of 2025 already booked, we feel confident in maintaining our trajectory. While early days, the benefit of our enhanced commercial performance is carrying nicely into 2026."
In addition, Weinstein said Carnival’s investments in marketing was driving demand "well in excess of capacity growth". He revealed web visits during the year-to-date were up by 40% compared with 2019, paid search +60% and natural search +70%.
Weinstein pinned Carnival’s performance on these key "activities", along with support from the trade – particularly in terms of driving new-to-cruise demand.
"There’s no one thing that’s going to be the answer for driving new-to-cruise either," he said. "It is that same combination of better advertising, the trade doing a great job, better usability of our websites."
Weinstein highlighted Alaska as a particular driver of new-to-cruise interest. "Alaska, in particular, for this past year was off the charts," he said. "It was absolutely phenomenal, and that tends to skew higher to new-to-cruise because if you’re going to go to Alaska, which everybody should go do, the only way you can go see it is by a cruise ship to really appreciate it."
Asked where Carnival was finding demand to convert, Weinstein again alluded to the group’s efforts to drive people towards the trade now that pent-up post-Covid demand was drying up.
"I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out the travel agents because all they do is amplify our voice in a tremendous way," he added. "And so, that success that we’re seeing in building that demand profile is really hand in hand with their success, and we appreciate their efforts."
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