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Carnival Corporation & plc Orders New 112,000-Ton Ship for Costa Cruises Unit

MIAMI, Jan 04, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc(NYSE: CCL; LSE)(NYSE: CUK) today announced an agreement with Italianshipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of a new 112,000-ton vessel forits Costa Cruises unit. Delivery is scheduled for Spring 2007.

To be built at an all-in cost of 475 million euro, the as-yet-unnamed shipwill feature a basis two-guest capacity of 3,000 and total capacity, includingupper berths, of 3,800. It will be a sister ship to the Costa Concordia,which begins a new class for Costa when it debuts in late Spring 2006.

The new "Concordia-class" vessels will offer innovative facilities andfeatures, including a wide range of formal and casual dining venues, fourswimming pools -- two of which will include retractable domes -- and state-of-the-art telecommunications capabilities. Of the ships' 1,500 staterooms, morethan 60 percent will offer either an ocean view or balcony.

"Continuing to invest in the Costa brand and introduce new vessels to itsfleet is key to maintaining Costa's preeminent position as Europe's number onecruise line and to ensure Costa's fleet is the most modern in the Europeanmarket," said Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman and CEO Micky Arison.

Carnival Corporation & plc also announced plans to transfer the Costavessel Costa Tropicale to its P&O Cruises Australia unit in October 2005. Shewill be renamed Pacific Star and will join the Pacific Sun and Pacific Sky inserving the expanding Australian and New Zealand market. The 1,022-passengership, which originally entered service under the Carnival Cruise Lines brandin 1982, was operated by that line until its transfer to Costa in 2001. Priorto joining the Costa fleet, the vessel underwent an extensive $30 millionrefurbishment. Further details of her Australasian itineraries will beannounced later this month.

On the transfer of Costa Tropicale to P&O Cruises Australia, Arisonstated, "We are constantly evaluating our ship assets and looking at whichbrands can best utilize certain types of vessels based on the characteristicsof each brand and the markets in which each one operates. Costa Tropicale isa ship extremely well suited to the P&O Cruises Australia brand, and itstransfer to that fleet is a perfect example of the synergies we can capitalizeon through our multi-brand, global strategy."

The new Costa Concordia-class ship announced today will be constructed atFincantieri's Sestri Ponente yard. To accommodate that vessel's constructionschedule, minor adjustments were made to the delivery dates for two otherCarnival Corporation ships under contract with Fincantieri. Delivery ofCarnival Cruise Lines' new Carnival Freedom, a 110,000-ton Conquest-classship, originally scheduled for Spring 2007, will be moved up three months toFebruary 2007. The delivery date for the previously announced new Cunardvessel Queen Victoria has been modified from July 2007 to December 2007.

Based on the new ship contract and delivery schedule adjustments announcedtoday, Carnival Corporation's capacity growth will be 7.6 percent in 2007 and

6.6 percent in 2008 versus previously anticipated capacity increases of 6.6percent in 2007 and 5.7 percent in 2008.

Including the new Costa ship, Carnival Corporation has 13 new ships undercontract and scheduled for delivery between 2005 and 2009.

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 77 ships totaling more than 132,000 lowerberths with 13 new ships scheduled for delivery between April 2005 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 is available online at ## and #

SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

Media, Tim Gallagher, Carnival Corporation & plc, 1-305-599- 2600, ext. 16000
or in the U.K., Sarah Tovey or Emily Kerr, Brunswick Group, +011-44-20-7404-5959
investor relations, Beth Roberts, Carnival Corporation & plc, 1-305-406-4832

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