Carnival Corp. at its annual meeting reported “unprecedented demand for bookings” in 2004,” according to vice chairman Howard Frank, quoted in Travel Trade.
He said there was a 62% increase in year-on-year demand for bookings compared to last year. He also anticipated yields would be up 5 to 7% over last year.
Carnival added two new ships to each of three fleets last year, including Princess, Costa and Carnival. The company’s brands will add three more vessels in 2005 and another three in 2006.
There was also good news on the first-time cruiser market: Two million of Carnival’s 5.4 million cruise passengers in 2003 were first-timers.
Report by David Wilkening
