- Carnival PLC on Tuesday said it was seeing improving booking trends after the cruise line operator’s first quarter was dented by the Omicron variant.

For the three months to February 28, the Miami, Florida-based firm said revenue jumped to $1.62 billion from just $26 million a year before. However, this remained well below the $4.79 billion notched two years ago in a pre-pandemic period.

Carnival’s net loss narrowed slightly to $1.89 billion from $1.97 billion.

‘During the first quarter of 2022, as a result of the Omicron variant, the company experienced an impact on bookings for its near-term sailings, including higher cancellations resulting from an increase in pre-travel positive test results, challenges in the availability of timely pre-travel tests and the disruption Omicron caused on society overall during this time,’ Carnival said.

Despite the Omicron disruption, the firm noted that occupancy in the quarter was 54%, up 20% on the prior quarter, and it continues to expect improvement in occupancy throughout 2022 until it returns to historical levels in 2023.

‘Since the middle of January, the company has seen an improving trend in weekly booking volumes for future sailings. Recent weekly booking volumes have been higher than at any point since the restart of guest cruise operations,’ Carnival said.

Further, monthly adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation should turn positive at the beginning of the summer season.

Carnival’s first quarter adjusted Ebitda loss was $962 million, narrowed from $1.01 billion a year before.

Carnival ended the quarter with $7.2 billion of liquidity.

‘Looking forward, we believe we remain well positioned given our liquidity and the continued improvement expected in adjusted Ebitda, along with the expected build in customer deposits, as we progress toward resuming full fleet operations,’ said Chief Financial Officer David Bernstein.

However, the company did caution over increased uncertainty over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the knock-on effect on fuel prices. Overall for 2022, Carnival expects a net loss - though should post a profit in the third quarter.

In London, Carnival shares were down 0.7% at 1,293.60 pence, while in New York the stock was down 0.5% at $18.84.

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