Carnival Corp.’s 2025 Described as “A Truly Phenomenal Year”

Revenues of $36.4 billion and net income of $4.79 billion smashed records during Carnival Corp.’s 2025 fiscal year, but executives say the best is yet to come.

With nearly two-thirds of inventory already booked for 2026, those records are likely to fall again.

Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein called 2025 “a truly phenomenal year.” It was so good that the company announced it is reinstating its dividend for shareholders.

“We’re always trying to figure out how to make the experience onboard meet and exceed expectations of our guests,” Weinstein said during an earnings call with financial analysts. 

“We have a tremendously ridiculous price-to-experience ratio gap between what we give to our guests and what you can get in land-based alternatives. That value proposition, I think, is getting clearer and clearer when it comes to how we can market and talk about this.” 

A contributor to this year’s success was private island Celebration Key, which opened in the Bahamas in July and welcomed its 1 millionth guest on December 18. The numbers will increase next year as sister line Princess Cruises will begin stopping there later in the year.

The company is also developing a port resort in Ensanada, Mexico, and making major change to Half Moon Cay, which will soon offer what Weinstein called “distinct and different experiences” for CCL and Holland America Line guests.

In other news from the company, the boards of directors for Carnival Corp. and Carnival plc have recommended unifying them into a single company — Carnival Corp. — with Carnival plc as its wholly owned U.K. subsidiary.

Carnival plc shareholders would receive Carnival Corp. shares on a one-for-one basis, while Carnival plc shares would be delisted from the London Stock Exchange, creating a single global share price. 

The move, which CFO David Bernstein says will simplify the company structure and increase liquidity for stock trades.

Weinstein downplayed concerns from Wall Street analysts around a significant boost in Caribbean cruise capacity in the first quarter, as new ships, high airfares and geopolitical concerns are driving more vessels to the popular cruise region.

“We have successfully absorbed elevated supply in the Caribbean before and in Europe and Alaska many times over the last many decades,” he said. “And it comes and it goes and it gets absorbed and we move along.”