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Carnival Corporation & plc Signs Letter of Intent for New 116,000-ton Ship for P&O Cruises

Delivery Date for Previously Announced Carnival Cruise Lines Newbuild Switched From Summer 2010 to Spring 2011

MIAMI, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK) today announced that it signed a letter of intentfor a new 116,000-ton ship for its P&O Cruises brand.

The new vessel, which will have 3,076 lower passenger berths, will bebuilt by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri at its Monfalcone yard, at anestimated all-in cost of 535 million euros. The ship is scheduled fordelivery in spring 2010. Externally, the vessel will be similar to P&OCruises Ventura, which is scheduled to enter service in spring 2008, but thenew product features and interior design will be announced at a future date.

This latest ship order will bring the total number of vessels in the P&OCruises fleet to seven, including five existing ships, as well as the newVentura, which will be Britain's largest cruise ship when it enters service inApril 2008. The new ship will further enhance P&O Cruises' reputation as theonly company building cruise ships specifically for Britain.

P&O Cruises Managing Director David Dingle stated, "This latest orderresults from the strong continuing growth of the cruise market in the UK.Each of the new ships which we have built for Britain has increased the demandfor cruising through a reputation for innovation, style and customer service.Our projections indicate that we will require further new capacity to meetthis additional demand by 2010."

With today's announcement, Carnival Corporation & plc has 20 new ships onorder, 14 of which are being constructed by Fincantieri.

Commenting on the agreement Fincantieri's Chief Executive Officer GiuseppeBono said: "Our relationship with Carnival, the world's leading cruiseoperator, continues to grow at an incredible pace. In 2006 Fincantieri andCarnival signed contracts for eight ships for a total value of nearly 3.5billion euros. The new year has started out with the allocation of this shipwhich is a clear signal that cooperation between our two companies will getstronger in the future too, thereby enabling both of us to consolidate ourpositions as market leaders."

The building slot at Fincantieri being utilized for this new P&O Cruisesvessel will result in a modification to the delivery date of the 130,000-tonnewbuild for Carnival Cruise Lines announced in mid-December 2006. TheCarnival vessel will now enter service in spring 2011 instead of summer 2010as previously announced.

Explained Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc,"It had been our intention all along to schedule delivery of the P&O Cruisesship for 2010 and the Carnival Cruise Lines vessel for 2011. However, becausewe completed the agreement for the Carnival newbuild first, we temporarilyplaced it in the first available shipyard slot pending finalization of the P&OCruises agreement."

Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in theworld, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe andAustralia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, PrincessCruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises,Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O CruisesAustralia.

Together, these brands operate 81 ships totaling 144,000 lower berths with20 new ships scheduled to enter service between March 2007 and spring 2011.Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tour companies in Alaskaand the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and Princess Tours. Traded onboth the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc isthe only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE100 indices.

SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

CONTACT: US Media, Tim Gallagher, of Carnival Corporation & plc,
+1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000; or UK Media, Richard Jacques, or Ruban Yogarajah,
both of Brunswick Group, +44 0 20 7404 5959; or US-UK Investor Relations, Beth
Roberts, of Carnival Corporation & plc, +1-305-406-4832

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