MIAMI — Carnival Corporation’s forward bookings for the next three quarters are higher at prices that are well ahead of the prior year, says President and CEO Arnold Donald. “We are realizing sustained strength in booking trends across all core products. We are delivering on our strategy to grow demand in excess of measured capacity growth while leveraging our industry-leading scale resulting in increased return on invested capital. We are working hard to sustain the momentum.”

Carnival Corporation & plc’s net income for the second quarter of 2017 was US$379 million, compared to $605 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues for the second quarter of 2017 were $3.9 billion, up from $3.7 billion in Q2 2016.

“Strong execution drove significant operational improvements, which more than offset the substantial drag from fuel and currency, leading to another second quarter adjusted earnings record,” said Donald. “It was reinforcing to see over 5% improvement in cruise ticket prices, affirming our efforts to increase demand by building positive word of mouth through the delivery of exceptional guest experiences as well as our innovative marketing and public relations programs.”

Carnival Corp.’s gross revenue yields (revenue per available lower berth day) increased 2.7%.

Highlights from the second quarter included the delivery of Princess Cruises’ Majestic Princess, the first ship tailored for the China market, as well as the addition of AIDAperla to the company’s German brand, AIDA Cruises.
Also during the quarter, two additional Princess Cruises ships, Caribbean Princess and Royal Princess, were outfitted with the technical requirements to transition them in early 2018 to the Ocean Platform featuring Ocean Medallion. Ocean Medallion will debut on Regal Princess this November.

The company expects full year 2017 net revenue yields to be up about 3.5% compared to the prior year.