“Our strategic decision to accelerate the exit of 19 ships has lowered our capacity growth to roughly 2.5% compounded annually from 2019 through 2025, that’s down from 4.5% pre-COVID,” said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, on the company’s second quarter earnings call on Thursday.

“Moreover, we have opportunistically rebalanced our portfolio through the ship exits as well as the ship transfer and a modification to our newbuild schedule, the combination of which will transfer 8,000 berths from our Continental European brands to America’s favorite cruise line, Carnival Cruise Line to optimize the current environment, maximize cash generation and improve our return on invested capital.”

On Wednesday Carnival announced that AIDA’s 2023 newbuild and the Costa Magica would be transferred to the Carnival Cruise Line brand, while the AIDAcara was sold. 

“While overall fleet capacity growth is constrained, we will benefit from an exciting roster of new ships spread across our brands to capitalize on the pent-up demand and drive even more enthusiasm, excitement and demand around our restart plan,” Donald continued. “Nearly every brand will soon have a new ship welcoming guests for the first time beginning with our namesake brand Carnival, introducing the new Mardi Gras.”