Carnival has once again reinvested hundreds of millions of dollars in its own stock by refreshing its $1bn share repurchase programme for the sixth time in three years.

The cruise juggernaut's third-quarter authorisation covers New York-listed Carnival Corp's common stock and London-traded Carnival plc's ordinary shares.

"Our strong cash flow and balance sheet enabled us to accelerate our opportunistic share repurchase programme, investing almost $750m in Carnival stock since the beginning of the third quarter," chief executive Arnold Donald said.