Series of high profile mishaps hit Carnival profit
Carnival Corp has been forced to lower its profit forecast for the second half of 2013 blaming the impact of negative publicity on its prices.
The cruise line has suffered a number of high profile problems since the start of the year and said it has had to lower prices to drive demand.
It also confirmed that cancellations were higher than expected.
In the most publicised incident, fire broke out on Carnival Triumph leaving passenger stranded in the Gulf of Mexico without power for five days.
The company already lowered its 2013 forecast in March, dropping an estimate of $2.20-$2.40 per share to $1.80-$2.10.
It has now revised its full-year earnings to be in the range of $1.45-$1.65 a share.
Carnival is to invest $700 million over the next two to three years to improve on board safety following the technical problems.
Last year, Carnival’s financial results were also hit by the Costa Concordia disaster, when the ship hit rocks off the Tuscan coast killing 35 people.
By Bev Fearis, TravelMole UK
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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