Carnival Corporation reports strong Q1 profits

Posted on 30 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

By Hollie-Rae Merrick

Carnival Corporation reports strong Q1 profits

Carnival Corporation has reporter stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2015.

The cruise company made a net profit of $49 million, or $0.06 diluted earnings per share in the last quarter, compared to a net loss of $20 million in the last year period.

It attributed its strong earnings to a rise in onboard revenues which were up 8% compared to 2014. Onboard spending rose to $889 million from $850 million, although revenue from ticket prices dropped around 3.5%.

Net revenue yields increased 2% in the first quarter of 2015, better than the company’s December guidance of up to 1%. However, gross revenue yields dropped 3.1% due to changes in currency exchange rates.

Looking ahead to 2015, Carnival Corporation said advance bookings were ahead of 2014 and at higher prices.

Chief executive and president Arnold Donald said: “The year is off to a strong start achieving significantly higher earnings than the prior year and our previous guidance.

“Our onboard revenue initiatives drove particularly strong improvement in the first quarter with onboard yields more than 8% higher than prior year (constant dollar).

“We are experiencing an ongoing improvement in underlying fundamentals based on our successful initiatives to drive demand. Our efforts to further elevate our guest experience are clearly resonating with consumers and, notably, improving the frequency and retention of our loyal guests.”

Donald said he believed results had improved off the back of “ongoing public relations efforts and creative marketing campaigns” designed to attract new customers. He referenced the success of the company’s Super Bowl advertising campaign which generated five billion impressions online before the ad had even run on TV.

He added: “Consistent with many global companies, the strengthening of the US dollar has hampered our full-year earnings expectations, masking the 3% to 4% (constant currency) yield increase our collective brands are expecting to achieve.

“Our successful initiatives to drive both ticket and onboard revenue yields have improved our financial performance and we remain on track toward our goal of achieving double-digit return on invested capital in the next three to four years.”

Folllowing a strong start to the year with bookings, Carnival said it expects full-year 2015 net revenue yields to increase 3% or 4% compared to 2014 and one point better than previous guidance for the year ahead.

However, changes in currency exchange rates means full-year 2015 earning expectations have been reduced by $219 million. Carnival said this was offset by an improvement in the company’s operating performance.

Carnival creates boutique cruises that include a ‘Throwback Seaday’

Posted on 6 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Cruise Lines is redoubling its push for more interesting itineraries, creating a new cruise collection that has novel onboard features in addition to longer voyages.

Called “Carnival Journeys,” the cruises will feature more local food and entertainment options, fun “Carnival style” enrichment classes, more crew interaction and a “Throwback Seaday” in which the clock will be turned back to 1987.

“We want to create something really different in terms of the experience,” said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of itinerary planning.

So far, 26 cruises have been designated Carnival Journeys. They are all longer than the typical Carnival cruise and include some smaller, less visited ports. Thornton cited Bonaire; Martinique; Grenada; Dominica; and Ixtapa, Mexico, as examples. Cruises will run between 9 and 15 days.

Well under 1% of Carnival cruises will be in the program. Part of the idea is to give experienced cruisers and Carnival’s past guests something new to aspire to. “This will be a natural for people who have cruised before to come back to cruising and find something original and unique,” Thornton said.

For travel agents, Carnival Journeys offer the prospect of higher commissions than are typical for Carnival.

There are five components to the new onboard program. In “Authentic Eats,” Carnival will partner with local restaurants in ports of call to do onboard cooking demonstrations. There will be excursions to the restaurants and market tours with the chef.

“Local-tainment” will feature local bands either on or off the ship; “Academy of Fun,” will offer enrichment, but in a non-stuffy, entertaining way; and a “Throwback Seaday” will bring back the Baked Alaska dessert, the midnight buffet and white gloves on officers, as Carnival featured in 1987.

The fifth component is a heightened opportunity for interaction with the staff at all levels, and more chances to learn about shipboard life.

The first Carnival Journeys cruise is scheduled for Oct. 4 from New Orleans.
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Correction: The first Carnival Journeys cruise will depart New Orleans, not Galveston as previously reported.

New cruise port at Dominican Republic’s Amber Cove to open in October

Posted on 24 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

An aerial view of Amber Cove.

Cruise passengers will have a new stop in the Caribbean in October when ships pull into Amber Cove port in the Dominican Republic.

The new port facility is expected to revive interest in the north coast of the Dominican Republic, which hasn’t been a regular cruise stop since the 1980s, Carnival Corp. announced Wednesday.

Amber Cove adds more cruising cachet to the Caribbean, already the world’s largest cruising market. It accounts for more than a third of the cruise business globally.

The Carnival Victory will be the first ship to visit the $85-million port on Oct. 6. Other lines in the Carnival family — Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, German line AIDA and British-based P&O Cruises — will follow suit later this year and in 2016.

Carnival Corp. was a partner in developing the new port facility. Ships (it was built to accommodate super-sized cruise ships) are expected to bring more than 250,000 cruise passengers to Amber Cove in its first year of operation, the announcement says.

The port is near the city of Puerto Plata (it made Travel + Leisure’s Best Places to Travel in 2015 list) where there’s an Amber Museum that displays insects and flowers trapped in the ancient resin and a marine park called Ocean World.

The new stop allows Carnival brands to offer more than 40 new shore excursions — including beaches, water sports, culinary and cultural tours — as well as new itineraries in the central Caribbean.

Thirteen ships across six Carnival brands are expected to make 57 port calls between October and April 2016.

Upcoming visits include Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 on Nov. 22, the Costa Deliziosa on Dec. 31 and Holland America’s ms Eurodam on Jan. 19.