(March 31, 2008)
–Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;
NYSE: CUK) has announced a voluntary refund of
the company’s fuel supplement for applicable U.S.
bookings that were made prior to November 7, 2007,
under an agreement with the Florida Attorney General’s
Office.
The fuel
supplement, announced November 7, 2007, was applied to
all U.S. bookings for voyages departing on or after
February 1, 2008, regardless of when the booking was
made, for cruises on the Carnival Corporation & plc
brands
Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard
Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and The
Yachts of Seabourn. However, this effective date
allowed guests already booked at the time of the
announcement the opportunity to cancel and receive a
full refund.
The company
will now refund the fuel supplement for those guests
who were already booked at the time the supplement was
announced. Refunds for affected guests will be
implemented based on cruise departure date according
to the following schedule:
- For cruises
departing on or prior to April 4, 2008, guests
will receive a refund in the same form they used
to purchase their cruise.
- For cruises
departing from April 5, 2008 through June 23,
2008, guests will receive an on-board credit.
- For cruises
departing on or after June 24, 2008, guests’
bookings will be adjusted to remove the
supplement.
The fuel
supplement remains in effect for all bookings made on
or after November 7, 2007. The $5 per person per day
fuel supplement applies only to the first and second
guests in a stateroom and will not exceed $70 per
person per voyage. Also, at the time the fuel
supplement was announced, travel agents whose clients
had existing reservations were offered $10 per booking
in administrative compensation for notifying those
clients of the supplement. Those travel agents will
still receive the $10 per booking.
Today’s
announcement will have no impact on the company’s
previously reported 2008 first quarter financial
results or its March 20, 2008, guidance for the second
quarter and full year 2008 since the company did not
recognize fuel supplement revenues associated with
bookings made prior to November 7, 2007, while the
Florida Attorney General’s Office was conducting its
review.
Carnival Corporation &
plc is the largest cruise vacation group in the world,
with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America,
Europe and
Australia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines,
Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, The Yachts of
Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line,
Ibero Cruises, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises and P&O
Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands
operate 85 ships totaling more than 160,000 lower
berths with 21 new ships scheduled to enter service
between April 2008 and June 2012. Carnival Corporation
& plc also operates Holland America Tours and Princess
Tours, the leading tour companies in
Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both
the
New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival
Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be
included in both the
S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.