Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has reported a deep loss for the third quarter of its financial year, but said cruises performed so far had been cash flow positive.

Group net loss deepened to $2.8 billion in the three months to 31 August from $2.1 billion in the previous three month quarter.

Voyages for the third quarter of 2021 were cash flow positive and the company expects this trend to continue.

For the cruise segments, revenue per passenger cruise day ("PCD") for the third quarter of 2021 increased compared to a strong 2019, despite the current constraints on itinerary offerings, which did not include many of the destination rich itineraries offered in 2019. The increase was driven in part by exceptionally strong onboard and other revenue. Occupancy in the third quarter of 2021 was 54%, building consistently month-to-month from 39% in June to 59% in August.

Available lower berth days ("ALBD") for the third quarter of 2021 were 3.8 million, which represents 17% of total fleet capacity. ALBDs are expected to be 10.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2021, which represents 47% of total fleet capacity.

The company's monthly average cash burn rate for the third quarter of 2021 was $510 million, which was better than previous guidance and in line with the $500 million monthly average cash burn rate for the first half of 2021.

Carnival Corporation & plc Chief Financial Officer David Bernstein noted, "We ended the third quarter with $7.8 billion of liquidity. We believe we have sufficient liquidity to get us back to full operations and continue to be focused on pursuing refinancing opportunities to reduce interest rates and extend maturities. To date, through our debt management efforts, we have reduced our future annual interest expense by over $250 million per year and have completed cumulative debt principal payment extensions of approximately $4.0 billion, improving our future liquidity position."