Carnival Corp and Carnival PLC Q4 2025 Earnings Call Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Robin Farley - UBS AG - Analyst : Great. That was a lot of information that covered a lot of the initial questions. Maybe just one thing when we think about your guidance. It sounds like if we were just taking up the accounting accrual, it will be closer to sort of 2.8% yield growth for next year. You mentioned that a lot of the beat in Q4 similar to what you said during the year was this acceleration in onboard spend and better close-in demand. Would you say that you -- when you're thinking about your guidance for 2026, are you factoring in that those things will continue at that level? Or are you kind of assuming that those would be at the rate that you'd originally thought? In other words, I'm just thinking about whether that acceleration and good close in demand is in your guidance or that would really be upside to your guidance?

Question: Robin Farley - UBS AG - Analyst : Okay. Great. And then you alluded to the increase in Caribbean capacity and a lot of that really is focused on Q1. Typically, at this point, right, you would be over 80% booked for Q1? Or if you could just kind of remind us where that is? I know you mentioned kind of overall for the year and that your overall for the year in line with those record highs. Would you say for Q1 that you're further ahead than typical or sort of in line with typical just when we think about how far past the point of digesting anything in the Caribbean is already -- has already happened?

Question: Brandt Montour - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Congratulations on the dividend and the results. So the first question is on the bookings. You guys called out the momentum and it was clear in the release in the commentary. We had heard that there had been some slightly less robust demand, still good, but it's just not quite what some folks have seen last year. So just wondering from a revenue management perspective, as you guys have chosen to take any volume at the expense is slightly less pricing growth this year, if that was a strategy at all for you guys?

Question: Brandt Montour - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Okay. That's great. And then on the Caribbean commentary, we hear about that capacity lift. A lot of it is in the close end market, three- and four-day itineraries. I don't know if you want to comment in terms of your exposure to that market specifically or if you could get in the weeds and kind of help us understand if you have a little bit of different mix versus what you guys see coming into that market for this first quarter specifically? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 19, 2025 / 3:00PM, CCL.N - Q4 2025 Carnival Corp and Carnival PLC Earnings Call

Question: Matthew Boss - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : Congrats on another nice quarter. So Josh, could you elaborate on the momentum carrying into '26 that you cited, specifically maybe the cadence of booking volumes that you've seen up through holiday, prices in North America and Europe, which I think you cited at historical highs? And maybe even to say it a different way, have you seen anything irrational at all? And does your guidance for the 3% normalized yields for the year, does that require today's level of momentum to sustain? Did you bake in benefit for Celebration Cay Half Moon? Is there anything in there for lapping up against the tariff volatility from a year ago that you saw in bookings? And did you put anything in at all for stimulus in terms of potential benefit?

Question: Matthew Boss - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : Great. It's great color. And then, David, just relative to your 3.25 net cruise cost outlook for the full year, what have you embedded if anything, as it relates to cost management? Last two quarters, you've shown really nice results on the cost side. I think you cited hundreds of items that you found to leverage scale as potential offsets the transitory cost headwinds. What have you embedded on the cost management side that could be potential offsets to the cost headwinds that are in your forecast, if anything?

Question: Steven Wieczynski - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc - Analyst : Happy holidays to all you guys. So Josh, I want to dig into the Caribbean a little bit more. And I know it's a topic you probably haven't been asked about a lot recently. But if we think about 2026, can you maybe give us some color on what you're seeing right now in terms of demand for your Caribbean products? And maybe that's not the right way to ask it, and maybe a better way to ask that is your ability to take pricing action right now in the Caribbean? And then maybe how you're thinking about pure Caribbean yields in '26 relative to your overall 2.5% yield guidance?

Question: Steven Wieczynski - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc - Analyst : Let me ask it this way then. Caribbean yields will be positive in 2026?

Question: Steven Wieczynski - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc - Analyst : Okay. I thought I tried to ask it that way. Okay. Second question is probably going to be a David question. Obviously, we have the first quarter guidance. Wondering, David, if you could help us think a little bit more about the cadence over the last three quarters in terms of both yields and costs and anything we should think about in terms of timing of both of those metrics as we update our models.

Question: Ben Chaiken - Mizuho Securities Co Ltd - Analyst : For '26, on the cost side, it sounds like the 2.5 normalized cost has 0.6 point for dry docks in it with more OpEx versus CapEx, to your point, David. I guess what's the more typical allocation as we think about the future, is it the '25 version of the '26 version, if that makes sense, assuming I understood you properly.

Question: Ben Chaiken - Mizuho Securities Co Ltd - Analyst : Okay. Got it. And then on the fuel side, there was -- there's some rounding, so it's not like perfect math, but it seems like there was quite a step-up in the emission allowance tax. I could be mistaken, but I think it's around $160 million for you in '26. Is there any way to --

Question: Ben Chaiken - Mizuho Securities Co Ltd - Analyst : Totally. No, I got you. I was just think is there a smart way to think about the out years? Like are we -- is clearly -- is that step function over and now it just grows by what you guys do on a --

Question: James Hardiman - Citi - Analyst : So circling back to the Caribbean conversation. As we think about -- obviously, there's some one-timers in the first quarter, the Arabian Gulf deployment changes. But sort of your like-for-like numbers that you've given us, right, 2.4% for Q1 relative to 3% for the year. Is that delta primarily just the outsized mix of the Caribbean in Q1? And then to Steve's question, as we think about the shape of the year, do you ultimately feel better as we move into the year about that Caribbean piece. I think the Caribbean is a much larger chunk of Q4 as well, but it seems like based on the answer to the previous question that you feel pretty good. The Q4 yields, if anything, are probably going to be better than the full year? So just trying to understand the Caribbean dynamic in the context of all that.

Question: James Hardiman - Citi - Analyst : Got it. And then I guess moving to the other side of the pond. Obviously, as we think about global capacity growth for 2026, it's in a very good spot, right? The issue is that a lot of that capacity is moving from Europe into the Caribbean, I would think that given your relative exposure to some of your peers in Europe that maybe that's a net benefit to you guys? Maybe speak to that dynamic and whether or not you feel like you're sort of uniquely positioned there.

Question: Lizzie Dove - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : I wanted to get a higher level and just on the strategy that you've taken, you have fewer ships launching than some of your peers, yet you're seeing, clearly, congrats on a great yield growth. Can you maybe talk more about what you think is driving that same-ship yield growth from here? How much of that is maybe brand improvements and some of the brands that have been lagging, maybe more exposure to new to cruise? Just anything you could share, that would be helpful.

Question: Lizzie Dove - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Great. And then I know you get asked this every quarter, but I'll ask it again, especially in the context of contribution to your net yield guidance this year. Celebration Key has been open a number of months now. I think you've had 1 million guests you said go there. I think we all make our own estimates of ticket yield contribution on board. Anything you can share it just participation rate, spend rate, what you are seeing on uplift and what you're expecting on the go forward and as you kind of develop RelaxAway more?

Question: David Katz - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : David, could you just help us a bit with fixed versus variable costs within where you're at today? I know we're not going to be able to predict the future necessarily, but we'd love to get a sense for how we might find leverage in the model, should it turn out to be a better year than anticipated.

Question: David Katz - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Understood. And just my follow-up, one more for you, David. Sorry, Josh. So on the listing, presume that there could be a couple of bucks of cost savings upfront and ongoing, thinking a few million dollars upfront and maybe a few million as an ongoing, every little bit helps. Is that the neighborhood, David?

Question: Jamie Katz - Morningstar Research Services LLC - Analyst : Nice quarter guys. Can I ask a little bit about consumer demand. I think you guys did a nice job of dissecting demand by geography, but maybe can you talk a little bit about the behavior of consumers between income levels because we've been hearing a lot about this K-shaped demand patterns and how they've differentiated. Are we seeing things like seaborne consumers being more resilient than Carnival consumers or vice versa? Is there any way to parse that out to a better degree for us?

Question: Jamie Katz - Morningstar Research Services LLC - Analyst : Okay. And then I think there was a comment on always sailing full, but can you talk a little bit about how you guys are thinking about managing occupancy in 2026 just relative to the past, given that prices are at an all-time high and maybe the experience improves with fewer people on the ship? So maybe how is the occupancy being optimized in the year ahead?