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Carnival Corporation & plc Orders Two Ships for German Brand AIDA

MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK) today announced it has ordered two new 68,500-toncruise ships for its AIDA brand, which caters exclusively to theGerman-speaking market.

To be built at Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard, the vessels have an all-incost of approximately euro 315 million each and are expected to be deliveredin April 2007 and April 2009.

Each vessel, which will operate under AIDA's informal "club resort" cruiseconcept aimed at younger, more active passengers, will carry approximately2,030 lower berths -- roughly 22 percent more than the largest vessel in theGerman cruise operator's current fleet.

"Part of our European strategy is to aggressively grow the German market.Exciting new ships like these are needed and they must be specificallydesigned to meet the demands of German travelers who are increasinglydiscovering the value and convenience of cruise holidays," said Micky Arison,Carnival Corporation & plc chairman and CEO.

Today's announcement marks the second time in four weeks that CarnivalCorporation & plc has placed a new ship order. Just last month, the companyreached an agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the constructionof four new cruise ships, as well as the redesign of the Queen Victoria forCunard Line.

Arison noted that these multiple ship orders fulfill the long-termstrategy of growing the cruise market globally and also lower the company'snewbuild costs. He pointed out that the per-berth price of the AIDA shipscomes at the low end of the range that Carnival has historically paid foreuro-priced newbuilds.

Bernard Meyer, managing director of Meyer Werft shipyard, said, "I am verypleased that we are building ships for the world's leading cruise operator,Carnival Corporation & plc. The order with Meyer Werft shows the greatconfidence in our yard. It is also very rewarding for us as a German yard tobe asked to build ships for Germany's leading cruise brand, AIDA. Theseexciting new vessels will set the standard for the future of German cruisingfor many years to come."

With these new orders, Carnival's capacity growth remains in line withprevious guidance of mid-single digit growth. Based on the current orderbook, capacity growth will be 6.9 percent in 2007, 5.5 percent in 2008, and2.1 percent in 2009.

AIDA Cruises has revolutionized the German cruise market with the AIDAclub ships since 1996. In 2009 a total of six club ships will be operating inthe Mediterranean, the Canaries, North Sea, the Baltic, the Caribbean andCentral America.

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 with 14 new ships scheduled for delivery between November 2004 andApril 2009. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tourcompanies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and PrincessTours. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, CarnivalCorporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both theS&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

CONTACT:
Media, U.S. - Tim Gallagher
+1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000
or
Investor Relations - U.S./UK - Beth Roberts
+1-954-612-2391
both of Carnival Corporation & plc
or
Media, UK - Sophie Fitton, or Sarah Tovey
both of Brunswick
+44-20-7404-5959
for Carnival Corporation

Web site: #(CCL CUK)

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