CUK Q4 2025 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Carnival Cruise Lines Q4 2025 Earnings Call
• Date: December 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Josh Weinstein (Chief Executive Officer)
  • David Vernon (Chief Financial Officer)
  • Mickey Erson (Chair)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Full-year net income exceeded $3B, representing a 60% increase versus 2024.
• Q4 net income was $454M, nearly 2.5x the prior year and exceeded September guidance by $154M ($0.11 per share).
• Full-year yields improved more than 5.5% versus prior year and outperformed initial guidance by ~1.5 points.
• Full-year unit costs increased 2.6%, which was over a point better than initial guidance for the year.
• Q4 cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD were up only 0.5% versus prior year, driving meaningful quarter favorability versus guidance.
• Customer deposits were up 7% year-over-year and reached an all-time high at year-end.
• Company carried over 13.5M guests during 2025, supporting revenue scale across brands.

Guidance

• 2026 net income guidance is over $3.45B, representing greater than 12% growth versus 2025.
• 2026 EBITDA guidance is $7.6B.
• Company forecasts a normalized 3.0% same-ship yield increase for 2026, with reported guidance of ~2.5% before normalization adjustments.
• Cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD are guided to be up ~3.25% for 2026, which normalizes to ~2.5% after adjusting for Celebration Key and timing shifts.
• Q1 2026 yield improvement is guided to be ~1.6% (2.4% normalized for deployment/drydock shifts) and Q1 adjusted cruise costs excluding fuel per AOBD are expected to be up ~5.9% versus prior year.
• Carnival Rewards loyalty program launch in September 2026 is expected to reduce yields by 0.2 points in 2026, 0.5 points in 2027, and 0.2 points in 2028 before turning positive thereafter.
• Guidance incorporates an expected net favorable fuel and currency impact worth $0.20 per share in 2026, and an estimated $0.35 per share benefit from ~2.5% yield growth versus 2025.