Nearly half of Carnival Corp.'s inventory for 2025 has been sold and 2026 bookings are off to an "unprecedented start," said CEO Josh Weinstein during the company's Q3 earnings call Monday.
Every brand in the portfolio -- including Carnival, Princess, Holland America Line and Seabourn -- is ahead on pricing for 2025 hand has lengthened the booking curve, allowing the company to command higher prices, Weinstein said.
"We're about two-thirds booked when you look at the next 12 months, so we're in a pretty enviable place," he said.
The company said 2026 bookings helped boost Carnival Corp. to an all-time Q3 high of nearly $7 billion in customer deposits. Revenue hit an all-time high of $7.9 billion, one billion dollars higher than last year's record Q3. Pre-cruise purchases of onboard extras continued to grow, as did onboard spending.
"Our third quarter, by all accounts, was phenomenal, breaking multiple records and outperforming on every measure," Weinstein said.
In two years, Carnival Corp. has doubled its revenue and climbed from a negative EBITDA to an all-time high of $6 billion this year, he said.
The strong quarter led Carnival Corp. to again revise its full-year earnings guidance. The company previously raised its full-year earnings guidance in June.
Carnival Corp. reported $1.7 billion in Q3 net income, up more than 60% from a year ago. The company also said its adjusted net income was $170 million more than forecasted in June, driven by strong ticket prices and higher-than-expected onboard spending, said CFO David Bernstein.
Compared to a year ago, the number of first-time cruisers was up 17% in Q3, Weinstein said.
"That's not by accident. That's because our brands are really focused on driving that demand profile," he said, pointing to the company's marketing efforts since the pandemic.
Industry analyst Patrick Scholes of Truist Securities expected a strong Q3 and noted lower-than-expected payroll costs and administrative expenses.
Looking at Q4, Scholes said he expects the quarter to be relatively "less strong" than Q3 relative to investors' expectations.