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Carnival Corporation & plc Announces Capital Deployment Plan Authorizing Repurchase of $1 Billion of Company's Shares and Increasing Dividend 20 Percent

MIAMI, Oct. 25, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE:) (NYSE: CUK) today announced its capital deployment plan withthe company's board of directors authorizing the repurchase of up to aninitial $1 billion of Carnival Corporation & plc shares and approving anincrease in the quarterly dividend by 20 percent to $0.15 per share.

The stock repurchase will commence in 2005 and take place from time totime in open market or privately negotiated transactions in accordance withall applicable laws, rules and regulations. The stock repurchase programreflects the company's continued strong cash flow and is also in response tothe Standard & Poor's index float adjustment scheduled to be implemented inMarch and September 2005. Following the S&P float adjustment companies will beweighted in the S&P Index by reference to the free float and not the totalnumber of shares outstanding and this may result in possible increased salesvolume of the company's stock. Carnival believes that during the course ofthis process attractive purchase opportunities may arise and this authorityputs the company in a position to react accordingly.

The quarterly dividend will be increased by 20 percent to $0.15 per sharefrom $0.125 per share and will be payable to holders of Carnival Corporationcommon stock and Carnival plc ordinary shares. The board approved a recorddate for the quarterly dividend of November 19, 2004 and a payment date ofDecember 10, 2004. This follows the company's last dividend increase of 19percent which was announced in October 2003.

"We have consistently stated our priorities for capital deployment tomaximize return on invested capital -- building new ships to grow ourbusiness, maintaining a strong balance sheet and credit rating, and returningexcess cash flow to our shareholders -- and we are doing all three of these,"said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation & plc's chairman and CEO. Just lastweek Carnival announced that it placed an order with German shipyard MeyerWerft for two AIDA ships for delivery in 2007 and 2009. That followed afive-ship order with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for deliveries in 2007and 2008 that was placed in September. "We are in the unique position ofhaving strong cash flow to fund our growth initiatives internally, as well asfree cash flow to return to shareholders without increasing our debt levels,"he said.

The company's current $7 billion newbuilding program includes 14 new shipsscheduled for delivery between November 2004 and spring 2009 - one more infiscal 2004, three each in 2005 and 2006, four in 2007, two in 2008 and one in2009.

The stock repurchase plan will apply to both Carnival Corporation commonstock traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Carnival plc ordinary sharestraded on the London Stock Exchange and repurchases may be made by eitherCarnival Corporation or Carnival plc. However, under the dual listed company(DLC) equalization agreement, the company would be permitted to repurchaseCarnival plc shares only after April 17, 2005, and up to five percent a yearfor the next three years. These purchase restrictions were agreed at the timeof the merger in order to protect Carnival plc shareholder interests. Inaddition, the repurchase of Carnival plc shares requires Carnival plcshareholder approval and the company intends to seek approval of a generalauthority to make purchases at the next annual meeting in April of 2005.

The dividend will be payable in U.S. dollars to holders of CarnivalCorporation common stock or Carnival plc ADSs. The dividend for Carnival plcordinary shares will be payable in U.S. dollars or sterling. In the absenceof instructions or elections to the contrary, holders of Carnival plc ordinaryshares will automatically receive the dividend in sterling. Dividends payablein sterling will be converted from U.S. dollars at the exchange rate quoted bythe Bank of England in London at 11 a.m. on December 1, 2004. Holders ofCarnival plc ordinary shares wishing to receive their dividend in U.S. dollarsor participate in the Carnival plc Dividend Reinvestment Plus must elect to doso by November 19, 2004.

Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in theworld, with a portfolio of 12 cruise brands in North America, Europe andAustralia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, PrincessCruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA, Costa Cruises, CunardLine, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O Cruises Australia.Together, these brands operate 77 ships totaling more than 128,000 lowerberths. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tour companies inAlaska and the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and Princess Tours.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 theFTSE 100 indices.

SOURCE: Carnival Corporation & plc

CONTACT: Media, U.S., Tim Gallagher, +1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000, orInvestor Relations, U.S./U.K., Beth Roberts, +1-305-406-4832, both of CarnivalCorporation & plc; or Sophie Fitton, or Sarah Tovey, both of Brunswick, U.K.,+44-20-7404-5959

Web site: #(CCL CUK)

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