Carnival Corporation – the world’s largest cruise operator – has said it now expects its full year financial performance to be better than it estimated earlier this year.
Carnival owns the likes of Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises, Cunard, Holland-America Line, AIDA Cruises, Seabourn, Carnival Cruise Line, and Costa.
On the back of a strong second quarter (the three months to the end of May) – which saw Carnival year-on-year grow its net income by nearly $475m to $565m and achieve record revenues of $6.3bn (up nearly $550m year-on-year) – Carnival now expects full year net income (for the 12 months to the end of November) to be up by over 40% and $200m more than estimated as recently as March.
Carnival Corporation CEO Josh Weinstein said: “Our strong results, booked position and outlook are a testament to the success of our ongoing strategy to deliver same-ship, high-margin revenue growth. We continue to set ourselves up well for 2026 and beyond, with so much more potential to take our margins, returns and results even higher over time.”
“Our guests continue to look to us as their preferred vacation choice given the amazing experiences our cruise lines provide. Even with the price increases we have achieved over the last few years, our tremendous value compared to land-based alternatives has supported our ability to continue demonstrating remarkable resilience amid heightened volatility. In fact, close-in demand and onboard spending levels were incredibly strong for second quarter sailings and our booking curve continues to be the furthest out on record,” Mr Weinstein noted.
The company’s cumulative advanced booked position for the remainder of the year remains strong with occupancy the second-highest on record and pricing (in constant currency) at historical highs. While early, the company’s booked position for 2026 is in line with 2025 record levels (at the same time last year) and at historical high prices (in constant currency).
