Royal Caribbean Cruises Posts Record $374.7 Million Third-Quarter Earnings

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines´ third-quarter profits jumped 32 percent to $374.7 million, while revenue increased 8.4 percent to $1.5 billion. Net yields for the second-largest cruise company, behind Carnival Corp., increased 6.9 percent from the third quarter of 2004.

Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean´s CEO, said in a statement last week that revenue enhancement efforts and a means to control costs “more than compensated” for fuel spikes and the company´s lack of capacity growth.

A 47 percent spike in fuel costs was the primary driver for a 6.4 percent increase in net cruise costs. RCCL said fuel costs represented 6.6 percent of revenues. Occupancy for the quarter peaked a whopping 109.3 percent.