Higher ticket prices and onboard spending helped cruise giant Carnival Corporation generate record turnover during 2024, but dividends to investors remain on hold.
The world’s largest cruise ship operator highlighted seven consecutive quarters of record revenues and cash from operations hit an all-time high of $6bn.
But despite the rebound in its annual results, there were no distributions to shareholders.
“We do not expect to pay dividends on Carnival Corporation common stock and Carnival plc ordinary shares for at least the next couple of years,” the company said in its annual report.
Instead, the company said it is “laser focused” on further reducing its interest expenses and rebuilding its balance sheet to be “investment grade”.
Net profit was $1.9bn for Carnival’s 2024 financial year ended 30 November, up from a loss of $74m during the previous 12-month period.
Earnings per share were $1.50 for the year, up from a 6-cent loss per share previously.
Carnival made debt prepayments of over $3bn last year.
It has repaid $7bn in debt since the beginning of 2023 and ended its 2025 financial year with $27.5nn of debt outstanding.
Annual revenue from passenger tickets and onboard spending rose by just over 15% last year to reach $25bn.
This outpaced a 9% rise in annual operating expenses.
Carnival said “record” booking trends and year-end customer deposits indicate a “continuation of the strong momentum we’ve been experiencing for the last two years”.
Carnival added three new ships to its fleet last year – the Carnival Jubilee (built 2023) joined Carnival Cruise Line; the Sun Princess (built 2024) joined Princess Cruises’ fleet and the Queen Anne (built 2013) became Cunard’s first new ship in 14 years.
Carnival’s shares trade on the London and New York stock exchanges.
