Carnival Corp. 'Accelerating' Towards Profit as Bookings Near 2019 Levels

Carnival Corporation says it is "accelerating" towards a return to "strong profitability" as the firm's 2023 booking volumes near pre-pandemic levels.

The positive message comes from the organisation's chief executive Josh Weinstein, who – despite the company posting a net loss of USD 1.1 billion for the fourth quarter (three months to 30 November) – remained optimistic about the group's recovery from the pandemic.

"We believe we are accelerating our return to strong profitability through our fleet and brand portfolio management, which is delivering prudent capacity growth," said Weinstein. "This leaves us well positioned to drive revenue growth across our global brand portfolio as we continue to leverage our scale on our industry leading cost base."

Carnival reported a "measurable lengthening" in the booking curve after consumer deposits hit a record USD 5.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, surpassing the previous record quarter which came in 2019 when the company recorded USD 4.9 billion in deposits.

This, said Carnival, was driven by "very strong" Black Friday and Cyber Monday booking volumes, which the business said marked the start of a "positive" wave sales period.