Carnival Corp boss sees ‘reversal of headwinds’ after geopolitical volatility

Carnival Corporation chief executive Josh Weinstein has said the group is “beginning to see a reversal of headwinds” from geopolitical uncertainty, which affected more than three months of business.

The announcement comes as the parent group to Carnival Cruise Line, P&O Cruises, Cunard, Seabourn and Princess Cruises reported its second-quarter financial earnings, claiming a 12th consecutive quarter of record yields and an all-time high for customer deposits of $9 billion.

Speaking on the company’s earnings call, Weinstein compared the trading impact from the outbreak of recent geopolitical conflict to “a cardiac arrest”, but said June “seems to have turned a corner” and the outlook for future booking trends was positive. 

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Weinstein said the business had not expected the volatility to last more than three months, noting that growth levels for this year could have been higher without the impact of the disruption. 

He added that this was particularly telling when compared with last March and April, which “took a hit” from volatility arising from news around US tariffs before normalizing.

“March [2026] was clearly impacted by the start of the conflict and we did better year-over-year in April, but we should have done better because of the [lower] comparable last April,” he said. “Europe did do a good deal better in April compared to March, but it was not positive year over year.”

He said May was “a bit of a step backwards year over year versus April” because of a stronger comparable in 2025, combined with ongoing headlines affecting consumer confidence.

Chief financial officer David Bernstein added that the net impact of fuel prices and currency compared to the previous earnings guidance was “less than 1% per share”. He noted that an “intensified focus on cost management” and a 5% increase in fuel efficiency had helped “offset” the revision to yields originally outlined in their guidance.

Bernstein said that “despite extreme geopolitical volatility and historic low levels of consumer sentiment” throughout the quarter, late demand and “robust onboard spending” helped drive yields ahead of expectations.

Looking ahead, Weinstein said: “As conditions continue to normalise, we expect to benefit from the strong underlying demand, pricing and operational improvements that remain embedded in our business, and in fact, booking trends in recent weeks suggest we are already beginning to see a reversal of these headwinds.

“The key takeaway here is that this moderation is already proving to be transitory and is not something that alters the underlying trajectory of the company.”

He added that the business was “well-positioned” to close out 2026 with record prices and less inventory left to sell for the remaining quarters of the year.

Weinstein said he expected “record yields” in the second half of the year, building on the “strong-mid-single digit growth” achieved at the start of the year.

Looking to 2027, he said volumes and prices “continue to run ahead of last year’s levels”, adding that demand was “broad-based” with bookings for European sailings up in the mid-teens percentages at higher prices.