Carnival Corporation’s CEO Josh Weinstein discussed the company’s efforts to engage constructively with Mexico regarding the recently implemented head tax for port calls in 2026 during an event in Miami on 8 April 2025.
Speaking at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami Beach Mr Weinstein expressed optimism about building a collaborative relationship with officials in Mexico, particularly following a productive meeting with the governor of Quintana Roo.
He acknowledged the importance of learning from past experiences and mutual education to understand the needs of both the cruise industry and the Mexican localities.
Weinstein stressed the desire for a proactive and cooperative approach in addressing future regulatory changes affecting the cruise sector to ensure positive outcomes for all parties involved.
Josh Weinstein told delegates: “I think at this point in time, I’d say there’s a lot of positivity that’s building, The FCCA has been amazing, working incredibly hard, along with the members, along with countless folks in Mexico. Unfortunately, as of this moment, there’s nothing official to report, but I would say, I think that we had an amazing meeting with the governor of Quintana Roo and others, and everything is moving in the right direction for hopefully something that’s incredibly collaborative in its approach.
“Getting educated mutually and understanding what your needs are, what our needs are — we wouldn’t be here if the process had been done differently. Learning from the experience is really important, that we use it and get some benefit out of it,” he explained.
“If there are jurisdictions that have needs, we need to sit down with you before you take action so that we can try to help figure out a path forward that is truly collaborative and can work for everybody. And we’re getting there now, which is great.”
einstein“It would be great if in the future, when these types of things pop up, we can go about it more collaboratively up front.”
