Carnival Corporation & plc, the largest cruise shipping company in the world, said consistent with its planned gradual resumption of guest cruise operations, the company continues to expect to have its full fleet back in operation in the spring of 2022.

“While the company will benefit from the disposal of 19 smaller, less efficient ships since the beginning of the pause in guest cruise operations, the company is forecasting its ship operating expenses, on a per ALBD basis, for 2022 to be higher than 2019,” the company said in a statement.

Total customer deposits increased $630 million to $3.1 billion as of August 31, 2021 from $2.5 billion as of May 31, 2021. For the second consecutive quarter since March 2020, the company has continued to see an increase in customer deposits.

Booking volumes for all future cruises during the third quarter of 2021 were higher than booking volumes during the first quarter of 2021, albeit not as robust as the second quarter of 2021, primarily as a result of lower booking volumes in August 2021, reflecting the impact on overall U.S. consumer confidence resulting from heightened uncertainty around the COVID-19 Delta variant.

Cumulative advanced bookings for the second half of 2022 are ahead of a very strong 2019 as of August 31, 2021. (Due to the gradual resumption in guest cruise operations, the company's current booking trends will be compared to booking trends for 2019 sailings.)