Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE:CCL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Josh Weinstein: Yes, sure. I think that there are purposes of how you organize the corporation with operating units and ideally with an operating unit you’re doing it because you’re going to get scale within that operating unit. And if you’re not getting the appropriate level of scale, then you’re taking away from the nimbleness and agility and the ability for brands to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities. And so, we – I looked around and basically by being able to deconsolidate a couple of operating units and give them more nimbleness and flexibility and have a direct line of reporting directly into me, it speeds up the whole process and it lets us act much quicker and much more I would say purposefully for the brand’s needs.

At the same time, we did – it’s not just about giving the brand’s autonomy and nimbleness. We also pulled a few things up to the corporate level to support brands more holistically. So, effectively, in deconsolidating, we’ve benefited both scale on the corporate side and nimbleness for particular brands. And as a result, as you heard in my notes, I’ve now got it’s actually 93% of the capacity that effectively reports directly to [me through six] [ph] of our Presidents who lead that specific brand. And finally, by having our 7% of capacities, which are great brands, but small, they can piggyback on a bigger brand and it works very, very well. [Indiscernible] piggybacks on P&O Cruises in the UK, Seaborne piggybacks on Holland America, and P&O Australia can now do the same with Carnival Cruise Line, which are both full-year players in Australia.

Jamie Katz: Excellent. Thanks.

Operator: Our next question comes from Matthew Boss with JP Morgan. Please proceed.

Matthew Boss: Great, thanks and congrats on a nice quarter.

Josh Weinstein: Thank you.

Matthew Boss: So, maybe if we dig a little deeper on the SEA Change plan, could you speak to the annual EBITDA Glide Pass embedded in the three-year plan or maybe specifically help us to break down the 50% increased target as we think about the year-over-year opportunity in 2024, maybe just given the visibility that you have today, versus the level of improvement that you’re embedding in the outer years within that three-year plan?

Josh Weinstein: Well, it’s a tough question to answer since we’re not giving you 2024 guidance yet. So, I’d say, if we think about pluses and minuses for 2024 and maybe we can start there. There’s a lot of winds in our backs in 2024. The occupancy is going to be a big jump as I talked about on one of the earlier calls, which is going to be a nice pickup in yields on top of what we would expect to be that low-to-mid single-digit price improvement. The booking curve is in good shape. We’re in the best book position in our history. All those commercial activities that I’ve talked about over the last several quarters are in full swing. The capacity that we have were about 5.5% capacity growth in 2024 versus 2023 and two-thirds of that goes to Carnival Cruise Line, which is, it’s our highest returning brand, which we’re very excited about.

So, we feel good about the trajectory and what we should expect some nice pickup in 2024. Now, 2024 is not going to be without challenges. The Ukraine, we don’t forecast that having a reversal such that we can get back to St. Petersburg and those really high yielding types of trades. We’re not planning on China, as you’ve already heard me say. Question mark, hopefully, energy security concerns won’t come back, but I don’t have a crystal ball there. We do have more dry docks in 2024. So, there are pluses and minuses, frankly. There always are. We do feel good that we expect 2024 to be a nice step up versus where we are now because of the trajectory in getting back to normal and full and then pulling ahead. David, I’m not sure if there’s anything you’d like to add with respect to …