President and CEO of Carnival Corporation, Josh Weinstein, said the company continues to maximize the value of its destination portfolio through investments that enhance the guest experience and strengthen itinerary differentiation.
On the company’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call, Weinstein highlighted that in early May, Carnival completed a pier extension at Celebration Key, which is “increasing operational flexibility and enabling us to accommodate up to four ships and over 13,000 guests on any given day,” he said.
According to the company, Celebration Key offers a high-energy experience featuring lagoons, the world’s largest sandcastle, water slides and the world’s largest swim-up bar.
“Next year, Celebration Key is expected to welcome 3.5 million visitors while still providing ample capacity for future landside expansion,” Weinstein added.
He explained that Carnival has already had three ships visit on the same day. While they can’t accommodate three larger ships in a day due to capacity constraints, Carnival has the flexibility to optimize deployments and itineraries and mix and match ships to regularly reach a high guest count.
AIDA has a call scheduled for Celebration Key in 2027, and Princess will also stop at the private destination on select Caribbean itineraries.
“When you look at 2027 on an annualized basis for Celebration Key, I think (we will have) about three and a half million people, which is a pretty good step in the right direction,” Weinstein said.
During the call, he noted that Carnival will be talking more about potential landside expansion:
“As we make our way through the latter half of this decade, we’ll be able to make some inroads on giving ourselves even more opportunity.”
