This is a summary of the first quarter fiscal 2008 earnings call as conducted by Carnival Corp. (CCL: chart) on March 20, 2008

Management:

- Chairman and CEO : Micky Arison
- Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer: Howard S. Frank
- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: David Bernstein
- Vice President of Investor Relations: Beth Roberts

Key Investors Issues:

- Earnings dropped 17% to $236 million or 30 cents a share.
- Revenue rose 17.3% to $3.15 billion from $2.69 billion in the prior year.
- The firm''s capacity increased 10.5% for the first quarter with the majority of the increase going to the European brands.

First Quarter Highlights:

Earnings amounted to $236 million or 30 cents per share, down 17% from $283 million or 35 cents a share in 2007 as a result of lower than expected fuel prices.,

- Earnings were also affected by the positive impact of currency, various other cruise costs and this was partially offset by the fact that the firm excluded the fuel supplement on existing bookings from first quarter revenue.
- Net revenue yields increased 6.2% and the exclusion from revenue of the fuel supplement on existing bookings accounted for 0.2 percentage points.

Net and gross revenue yields increased 6.2 % (3.4 % on a constant dollar basis) compared to the prior year, resulting in revenue rising 17.3% to $3.15 billion from $2.69 billion in the prior.

- Excluding fuel, net cruise cost per available lower berth day increased 1.4 % on a constant dollar basis compared to the prior year primarily due to the increase in the number of dry-docks.
- Gross cruise costs per ALBD increased 11% compared to the prior year.
- Fuel price increased 66 % to $499 per metric ton compared to $301 per metric ton in the prior year.

The firm''s capacity increased 10.5% with the majority of the increase going to the European brands.

- The European brands grew 20.6% including Ibero Cruises, while the North American brands grew 5.7%.
- Cruise passenger ticket saw an improvement of 7.7% in current dollars and 4.8% in local currency.

North American brands were up a strong 7.1% driven by the recovery in the Caribbean.

- Excluding Ibero Cruises, the European brands achieved a 1.3% increase in local currency passenger ticket yields.
- Costa''s yields in China improved significantly driven both by price and occupancy, which resulted from the firm''s decision to shift the sourcing strategy for Costa Asia.
- In onboard and other yields, the firm saw a reported yield improvement of 1.5% in current dollars but a yield decline of 0.7% in local currency.

Cruise costs per available berth day were up 12.9% driven by fuel prices and dry-docks.

- Fuel prices this year were higher than the first quarter of last year, costing an additional $156 million or 19 cents per share.
- The firm had ten dry-docks in the first quarter of this year versus four in the first quarter of last year, which cost an additional $21 million.

Outlook for 2008

- Crews cost per available berth day for the full year in current dollars is expected to be in the range of 8.5% to 9.5%.
- However, excluding fuel and in local currency it is expected to be down slightly.
- For the full year based on the forward curve, fuel prices are projected to be $525 per metric ton for 2008 versus $361 per metric ton in 2007, costing an additional $532 million or 65 cents per share.

The firm has reduced 2008 EPS guidance range to $3 to $3.20, which is a 10 cents reduction from previous guidance.

- The 10 cents reduction is comprised of a number of factors including lower expected revenue yields, the deferral of the fuel supplement revenue, the higher forecasted fuel cost for the remainder of the year and a 10% benefit from the strengthening of foreign currencies.
- The revenue yield guidance has been increased to 5.5% to 6.5% from 4.5% to 5.5% largely as a result of the stronger euro and Australian currencies.