Carnival Splendor To Make Drastic Move To P&O In 2019

Posted on 21 December, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

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Carnival Splendor will be transferred to P&O Australia

Carnival Cruise Line has just revealed that its vessel, Carnival Splendor, will be transferred to P&O Cruises Australia in late 2019.

The move is to boost guest capacity and maintain the line’s growth in the Australian market. The 113,000gt Carnival ship is 50% larger than P&O’s biggest ship and will accommodate 3,000 guests.

P&O Cruises Australia president, Sture Myrmell, stated: ‘Welcoming a transformed and renamed Carnival Splendor to the P&O Cruises’ fleet in 2019 on the back of the addition of Pacific Explorer in mid 2017 cements our position as Australia’s leading cruise line and the only true home grown Australia brand’.

‘In four years P&O Cruises will have doubled capacity by welcoming four ships- Pacific Aria, Pacific Eden and Pacific Explorer as well as the additional ship in 2019- as part of the remarkable evolution of the brand’.

A newbuild originally designed for P&O Cruises Australia will now join the Carnival fleet as the third in its Vista Class whilst Carnival Splendor will be transformed into P&O Cruises Australia.

Myrmell continues: ‘We benefit from being part of a global organisation with a worldwide fleet of cruise ships that ensure we have the flexibility to make the most of opportunities in our region and to adjust our strategies accordingly. Having reviewed the market, we believe a 3,000 passenger ship is the right sized ship for the P&O fleet to drive further sustained growth in our market.’

P&O Cruises Australia hopes that Carnival Splendor will enable it to maintain its position as the region’s largest and longest-serving cruise operator.

Before joining the fleet, Carnival Splendor will be refurbished ‘to reflect the P&O look-and-feel and build in the experiences core to our offering’, Myrmell said. And while P&O’s desire to grow its position in an increasingly competitive market was the core reason for the change in plans, Myrmell has further stated that other longer term factors could not be ignored in the recent market review.

Carnival Splendor will join P&O at the end of 2019 and more details regarding the ship’s features and itineraries will be revealed in due course.

Carnival Reports Record $2.8 Billion Profit in 2016

Posted on 21 December, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corp.

By https://gcaptain.com/

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise ship company, posted a record $2.8 billion profit for its full fiscal year 2016 as the company looks towards another solid year for the cruise industry in 2017.

Carnival Corp. reported the record full year and fourth quarter earnings Tuesday. Carnival announced net income for the full year 2016 of $2.8 billion, or $3.72 diluted EPS, compared to $1.8 billion, or $2.26 diluted EPS, for the prior year.

Carnival Corp. said revenues for the full year 2016 were $16.4 billion, $700 million higher than the $15.7 billion in the prior year.

“We achieved the most profitable year in our company’s history as well as record fourth quarter earnings,” said Carnival Corporation & plc President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald. “The continued execution of our core strategy to drive consumer demand in excess of measured capacity growth, contain costs and leverage our industry-leading scale resulted in our third consecutive year of significantly higher earnings and return on invested capital. The delivery of over $5 billion in cash from operations for our shareholders enabled increased dividend distributions reaching $1 billion and the investment of over $2.3 billion in the repurchase of Carnival Corporation stock.”

Highlights from the fourth quarter 2016 included the U.S. debut of Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Vista. Holland America’s Koningsdam also made its North American debut in November while Seabourn took delivery of ultra-luxury cruise ship Seabourn Encore.

Seabourn Encore

During the quarter, Carnival Corp. also signed a memorandum of agreement with Meyer Werft for three new 180,000-ton cruise ships that will be powered by liquefied natural gas, the world’s cleanest burning fossil fuel. Two of the ships are for Carnival Cruise Line and are scheduled for delivery in 2020 and 2022. The third ship is designated for P&O Cruises (UK) and is scheduled for delivery in 2020. The company also signed an agreement with Shell to begin fueling its LNG-powered ships, starting with AIDA and Costa ships scheduled to launch in 2019.

Looking ahead, Carnival said it expects another solid year in 2017, forecasting adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.30 to $3.60, compared to 2016 adjusted earnings per share of $3.45 in 2017.

“We are anticipating another solid year of operational improvement in 2017. Despite the unusual and significant impact of fuel and currency working against us simultaneously, the underlying strength in our fundamental business leaves us well positioned to achieve sustained double digit return on invested capital and to create continued value for our shareholders,” Donald added.

Carnival Cruise Line to get third Vista-class ship in 2019

Posted on 17 December, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Vista

Carnival Cruise Line will grow and update its fleet in 2019 via a ship swap with sister brand P&O Cruises Australia.

Carnival will add a sister ship to the Carnival Vista, a vessel that was originally designated for Carnival Corp.’s P&O Cruises Australia brand. The Carnival Splendor, which was delivered in 2008, will be transferred in 2019 to P&O Cruises Australia in conjunction with the change.

The new ship, as yet unnamed, will be the third in the class, which was launched last year with the debut of the Carnival Vista. The second in the class, the Carnival Horizon, is also to sail for Carnival Cruise Line and is scheduled for delivery in 2018.

The 133,500 ton Vista ships carry 3,954 passengers at double occupancy and are 18% bigger than the Carnival Splendor, which carries 3,006 passengers.

In a statement, Carnival president Christine Duffy said the addition of additional Vista-class ships would enable Carnival to offer the Vista-class experience from different homeports and create new itinerary options.

Specific itinerary, homeport and ship details for the third vessel have yet to be announced.

The Vista “has proven to be the most innovative and popular ship we’ve ever introduced,” Duffy said.