The cruise industry is entering a new era of leadership as each of the world's three largest cruise companies have named new CEOs since early 2022. Josh Weinstein, who became CEO and chief climate officer of Carnival Corp. in August, spoke with cruise editor Andrea Zelinski about the challenges he and his fellow CEOs will face, including how to approach environmental sustainability and what the increase in direct sales means for travel advisors.
Josh Weinstein
Q: What is the impact of having this new crop of CEOs across the industry?
A: It's a bit of a boost of energy. Anytime you're going to get new folks in leadership roles, they're going to bring different perspectives and different ideas and different ways of working to the table. When you have that effectively with me, Jason [Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group], and Harry [Sommer, incoming CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings as of July 1], that's about 80% of the industry that's got that bit of invigoration. I think that's a positive for all of us. Anytime you get change at the top, there's going to be a sense of opportunity and possibility.
Q: How do you think you and your class of CEOs can approach sustainability now?
A: In this context, the ability for us to find solutions to truly existential issues that face the industry is something that will benefit all of us if we are working collaboratively. Nobody knows what the answer is yet. Nobody. We are a relatively small voice, even when we pool our voices together. We've got to do what we can to make ourselves heard as best as possible. I don't think that anybody looks at one another in our industry and thinks to themselves, "I'd be better off if that company didn't exist." It's not about competition in that light. What we talk about is, when one company does well, generally the other two do well. When one company's not doing well, it generally might drag others down. It behooves us to be real thoughtful about finding solutions together.
Q: How should travel advisors view this new chapter?
A: I'll just say for our corporation, I hope our travel agent partners are excited about the portfolio of world-class brands that we have at Carnival Corp. I am a huge proponent of our travel agent partners. I think that they are going to be instrumental to our continued success, and I've already been having good conversations with many of them to understand what we're doing well, where we can be better, where we can change the ways that we provide support, provide engagement across our brands. As you might have heard in our Q1 update, they've come back with force and I expect that to continue. I'm not going to pretend that we don't have direct business. Of course we do, but we will only be successful if all of our sales channels are successful, truly. I think the trade has done a remarkable job for this industry.
Q: Coming from a generation more comfortable with the Internet, how do you see the direct market unfolding?
A: Our direct held up well as we restarted, and it's really the trade that's been coming back in leaps and bounds. I do think people get more tech-savvy over time. Everybody knows that. That's not going to be the thing that dictates whether people choose to use a travel agent or not. That's going to be personal preference, that's going to be the effectiveness of our travel agents, that's going to be how successful our travel agent partners can be in attracting first-timers who are going to be probably less comfortable doing anything online versus having assurance and questions answered with more of a relationship being built. I think there are [good opportunities] when it comes to travel agents being able to grow their business over time.