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Carnival Corporation & plc Reports Financial Impact of Hurricane Katrina
MIAMI, Sept. 5, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK) announced today that the severe weather caused byHurricane Katrina and subsequent port closures resulted in the cancellation ofone voyage and the shortening of two voyages, as well as other voyagedisruptions and related costs, for the company's Carnival Cruise Lines brand.
In addition, Carnival Cruise Lines has two vessels, the Carnival Conquestand Sensation, which homeported out of New Orleans. Given the tremendousdamage to New Orleans, the company does not expect these ships to operate fromNew Orleans for an extended period of time. The Carnival Conquest willrelocate indefinitely to Galveston, Texas.
Carnival Cruise Lines has chartered three vessels, including theSensation, along with the Holiday and Ecstasy -- to the Military SealiftCommand (MSC) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fora period of six months that will be used in the hurricane relief efforts. Thecharters will begin Monday, Sept. 5, aboard the Ecstasy and Sensation, dockedin Galveston, and Thursday, Sept. 8, aboard the Holiday, docked in herhomeport of Mobile, Ala.
While it is difficult to determine the full financial impact resultingfrom the above hurricane related events, the company currently believes thatthese events will reduce earnings by between $0.01 and $0.03 per share withmost of the impact expected to fall in the fourth quarter of 2005.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of New Orleans and all ofthe Gulf Coast who have been so terribly devastated by this catastrophicevent," said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation & plc's chairman and CEO. "Weknow that all of our loyal guests, shareholders and employees are very pleasedthat we were able to join forces with the federal government to participate inthe extensive relief efforts that have been launched. We have every intentionof re-launching cruise service from the great city of New Orleans as soon asthe infrastructure is in place so that our ships may contribute to theeconomic recovery of the area," he added. "At the same time we apologize tothose guests who have had their vacation plans disrupted by thesecancellations but know that they will understand the extreme circumstances ourcountry is facing and why this action is necessary," Arison said.
He noted that the Holiday is currently operating a cruise from Mobile,which has quickly recovered from hurricane damage. The Holiday will resumecruise service from Mobile at the conclusion of the charter.
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 Cruises, Costa Cruises,Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O CruisesAustralia.
Together, these brands operate 79 ships totaling more than 137,000 lowerberths with 12 new ships scheduled for delivery between January 2006 and April2009. 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.
Additional information can be obtained via Carnival Corporation & plc'sWeb sites at # and #
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & Carnival plc
CONTACT:
US MEDIA, Tim Gallagher, Carnival Corporation & plc, +1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000;
or US/UK INVESTOR RELATIONS
Beth Roberts, Carnival Corporation & plc, +1-305-406-4832, cellular: +1-954-612-2391;
or UK
Sophie Fitton or Sarah Tovey, both of Brunswick Group, +44-20-7404-5959
Web site: ##
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