Carnival Corporation & plc

The British-American corporation, Carnival Corporation & PLC is the world's largest cruise operator, comprising 12 cruise brands, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Windstar Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line in North America; P&O Cruises, Cunard Line, Ocean Village Holidays and Swan Hellenic in the United Kingdom; AIDA and A'ROSA in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe and P&O Cruises Australia in Australia. It operates 80 ships, totalling more than 139,000 berths with a further 15 ships to be delivered between May 2006 and October 2009.

Carnival Corporation & plc is a dual listed company, with headquarters in Miami, Florida, USA and London, UK. The companies of Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc are the two holding companies of Carnival Corporation & plc, operating 80 ships and totaling more than 139,000 berths. A further 15 ships are to be delivered between May 2006 and October 2009. In the year ending 30 November 2005 Carnival had a revenue of $11.087 billion and a net income of $2.257 billion.

Carnival Corporation

Carnival Corporation was initially formed in 1972 under the name Carnival Cruise Lines by the late cruise industry pioneer Ted Arison. After achieving its position as one of the world's most popular cruise lines, it made an initial public offering of 20% of its common stock in 1987. This provided an influx of capital that allowed the company to begin its expansion through acquisition. In 1989 its first acquisition was made with the premium operator Holland America Line (this included Windstar Cruises and Holland America Tours) and its second in 1992, of the operator Seabourn Cruise Line. Following this acquisition in 1993, the company changed its name to Carnival Corporation and continued its expansion further into virtually every market segment of the cruise industry with the acquisitions of Costa Cruises in 1997 and Cunard Line in 1998.

Carnival Corporation is the larger of the two holding companies and is incorporated in Panama with its primary listings on the New York Stock Exchange (). Prior to 17 April 2003 it was a separate company and the market leader in the United States cruise market. CEO Micky Arison, son of the companies founder and his family own 47% of Carnival Corporation.

In 1988, Carnival Cruise Lines expanded into the world of charter airlines, with the purchase of Pacific Interstate Airlines, which was subsequently renamed Carnival Airlines in 1989. The company flew Airbus A300's, Boeing 727's and Boeing 737's on routes between San Juan, Orlando, Miami International Airport and Islip, along with other charter services. In September 1997 the company was purchased by the Pan Am Corporation, however its rapid expansion and economic troubles led to both Pan Am and Carnival Airlines filing for bankruptcy and ceased scheduled flights in February 1998.

Carnival plc

Carnival plc was formed in October 2000 under the name P&O Princess Ltd by the demerger of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company's cruise business. P&O Princess' cruise business has had over 150 years of maritime history beginning in the United Kingdom in the 1840s. From established positions in the United Kingdom and Australia it improved its position in North America with the acquistions of Princess Cruises and Sitmar Cruises in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1999 P&O Princess entered the German market with the acquistion of a majority stake in AIDA Cruises and bought it out-right in 2000 by acquiring the remaining minority stakes. In 2002, the company announced the introduction of a new cruise brand in the United Kingdom with Ocean Village which commenced operations in May 2003. This was after the merger of Carnival Corporation and P&O Princess Cruises plc on 17 April 2003 that created one of the world's largest leisure travel companies. At the same time, P&O Princess ceased to exist, favouring the name Carnival plc. Its stock is currently traded on the London Stock Exchange () and the New York Stock Exchange () as the second holding of the dual listed company.

Notable Cruise Liners of Carnival Corporation & plc

RMS Queen Mary 2 (transatlantic ocean liner) (Cunard)
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 -- 1969 (transatlantic, now a cruise liner) (Cunard)
Carnival Destiny (cruise liner) (Carnival Cruise Line)
Star Princess (large fire ripped through berth's in March 2006) (Princess Cruises)

External links

Carnival Group | Carnival Corporation & Plc

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