Carnival Corporation reports $2 billion loss for first quarter

Friday, April 9, 2021

Carnival Corporation has reported a net loss of US$2 billion for the first quarter of 2021. The company was forced to halt all sailings in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world and has yet to return in many markets. However, Carnival said the cash burn rate in the first quarter was better than expected as the company identified and implemented opportunities to optimise its monthly spend.

The group currently expects six of its nine brands to resume limited guest cruise operations by this summer. Aida resumed operations in March sailing in the Canary Islands, while Costa began sailing to Italian ports in May. P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises will each offer a series of UK cruises this summer, while Seabourn expects to offer trips sailing from Greece. Carnival said booking volumes for all future cruises during the first quarter of 2021 were approximately 90 per cent higher than volumes during the fourth quarter of last year.

Arnold Donald, Chief Executive, Carnival Corporation said in a statement that the company is focused on resuming operations as quickly as practical, while demonstrating prudent stewardship of capital at the same time in a way that serves the best interests of public health. He shared that the highest responsibility and top priority of the line is always compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of everyone. He mentioned that the portfolio of brands have served as an asset as the line resume operations this summer with nine ships across six of the brands.

He added that throughout the pause the line have been positioning Carnival Corporation to return to serving guests as an operationally stronger company than they were before. He shared that with an exciting roster of six new, more efficient ships by December and with lower capacity from the exit of 19 less efficient ships, the line expects to capitalize on pent-up demand and achieve significant cost improvement from the greater efficiency of the fleet, along with ongoing streamlining of shoreside operations.

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