Carnival Corp looked down its own corridors in searching for the right leadership to take it through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

In June, the Miami-based owner of 90 cruiseships appointed Josh Weinstein, former president of Carnival UK for three years, to the vacant post of chief operations officer.

“His background and experience, along with his intellect and work ethic, make him a perfect choice for this important role,” spokesman Roger Frizzell tells TW+.

Weinstein, who reports to chief executive Arnold Donald, is responsible for Carnival Corp’s main operational global functions, including maritime, ports and destinations, sourcing, IT and auditing.

Simon Palethorpe will replace Weinstein as president of Carnival UK, which operates P&O Cruises and Cunard under Holland America Group, while remaining president of Cunard.

Stein Kruse will continue to serve as chief executive of Holland America Group, which oversees Holland America Line and Carnival UK.

Carnival said it made the latest leadership changes to improve operations and mobilise the company before it returns to cruising.

Weinstein has become the world’s largest cruiseship owner’s second-in-command at a time of unprecedented loss for the company and the entire industry.

Carnival posted $4.4bn deficits for the first two quarters of 2020 as a result of laying up its enormous fleet since mid-March to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It has taken on more than $10bn in debt and sold 18 ships to pay its bills in a no-revenue environment.

The company returned Costa Cruises’ 2,828-berth Costa Deliziosa (built 2009) to service on 6 September with a voyage from Trieste, Italy, and the 4,927-berth Costa Diadema (built 2014) followed on 19 September with a seven-day cruise at several ports on the Italian coast.

Industry-wide disruption

But other ships within Carnival’s fleet will not begin sailing again until next year.

Rivals Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings have also suffered losses and assumed debt in the billions as a result of Covid-19 disruption.

Weinstein joined Carnival Corp in 2002 as assistant general counsel and became treasurer in 2007. He served in that role until April 2017 before being appointed Carnival UK president.

Before arriving at Carnival, Weinstein was a lawyer with Miami firm Greenberg Traurig and at New York practice Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

He earned a juris doctorate degree from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Weinstein’s appointment to chief operations officer was part of a series of leadership changes made within Carnival Corp over three months as the group responded to the unprecedented position it finds itself in.

In May, the company accepted the resignations of Holland America Line president Orlando Ashford and Seabourn president Richard Meadows, who retired from Seabourn, Carnival’s five-ship luxury brand, after 35 years with the group.

In July, Carnival Cruise Line chief operating officer Gus Antorcha became Holland America Line president to replace Ashford.

Carnival also named Costa Cruises president Neil Palomba as executive vice president and chief operations officer for Carnival Cruise Line.

“Given all the operational challenges associated with Covid and the Covid-19 world, it makes sense that the world’s largest cruise holding company would look to put someone with experience in the chief operations officer post to help normalise operations,” Macquarie analyst Paul Golding tells TW+.

Weinstein begins with a virtually new team that will have its work cut out resuscitating not just the giant of the cruising world but the industry itself.

Nobody can be sure how many of the customers who helped Carnival become such a colossus of the publicly listed shipping world will want to return to ocean cruising holidays.

Cruising has suffered an incredibly sharp shock from coronavirus. Weinstein and the Carnival team will have to apply new medicines to bring it back to health.