Royal Caribbean reported its second quarter fiscal results for 2012 of a net loss of $3.6 million.

Larger than anticipated discounting in Europe has hurt Royal Caribbean's bottom line, despite solid demand in the Caribbean and Asia.  The impact of the Costa Concordia disaster continues to affect Royal Caribbean, particularly in the second and third quarters.

"The steady drumbeat of negative news emanating out of Europe is certainly having an impact," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer. Fain continued, "As a result, we are seeing pluses and minuses in the different geographical markets - North America is holding up reasonably well; Asia is a big plus; but Europe is a pretty consistent minus. Overall we have seen about a 100 basis point drop in our yield projections, but we expect to offset over half of this decline with lower spending."

The outlook for the rest of 2012 is being reduced somewhat, due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.  The dollar's gain has reduced the company's full year outlook by approximately $0.13 per share. This outlook reduction has been largely offset by the reduction in bunker pricing that occurred during this same time period. The net effect of these currency and fuel price changes is essentially neutral for the company's full year earnings outlook. However, the mark-to-market loss on the options is expected to cost the company a ($0.05) per share charge at current prices versus prior guidance.

You can view the full quarterly results.

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on July 26, 2012 at 10am to discuss its second quarter 2011 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

At Royal Caribbean's annual shareholder meeting, executives said it expects a few more not-so-great months before business turns around.

The impact of the deadly Costa Concorida disaster are still rumbling through the cruise industry and Royal Caribbean is not immune to it.  Royal Caribbean chief financial officer Brian Rice said future booking volumes have been off since the Concordia shipwreck back on January 13.

Rice expects Royal Caribbean to feel the greatest impact from the crash in the second and third quarters of 2012 but 2013 looks to be "healthy".  Rice also cited other negative influences such as consumer spending, economic instability in Europe, fuel costs and the company's debt.

On the positive side of things, Royal Caribbean's global reach, customer engagement and a moderate pace of growth and fuel hedging are contributing to help the company's stock price.

Royal Caribbean reported its first quarter 2012 financial results and characterized it as better than expected.  In addition, they updated its guidancefor the remainder of 2012.

Royal Caribbean's net income for the first quarter 2012 was $47 million versus $78.4 million in 2011. Revenues improved to $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011 as a result of capacity increases and yield improvements.

As Royal Caribbean expected, booking activity continued to improve over the span of the last few months.  Cumulative bookings since early February have been down mid single digits, although gradual improvement continues. Bookings from the United States have been running ahead of same time last year for the past four weeks.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented on the results, "First quarter results were satisfactory given the difficult and uncertain operating environment and we continue to see gradual improvement in the demand for our great vacations.  We did not expect the impact of the tragedy to be long term and we are seeing evidence the effects are waning."

Bookings for the fourth quarter of 2012 and for 2013 sailings remain strong, with both load factors and pricing running ahead of same time last year. In addition, the company has seen an increase in summer demand for its Pullmantur brand's tour product.

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on February 2, 2012 at 10am to discuss its fourth quarter 2011 financial results.

Royal Caribbean's third quarter 2011 financial results were reported this morning and the good news is revenue yields, expenses and operating income are all better than expected for the quarter.  For the year, Royal Caribbean expects that its projections will remain stable.

Some of the key highlights include

• Net income for the quarter was $399.0 million, or $1.82 per share.  This is up from $350.2 million last year at this time
• Net Yields increased 5.3% (2.6% on a Constant-Currency basis.) NetCruise Costs per APCD (“NCC”) excluding fuel increased 2.5% (0.7% ona Constant-Currency basis.)

Royal Caribbean's 2012 outlook is described as: Though economic uncertainty is elevated and it is still early in the booking cycle, 2012 demand thus far has been solid. Booked load factors and pricing are both running ahead of this time last year,which supports the company’s expectation of continued yield accretion during 2012.

Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain commented on this quarter's results, "“It was gratifying to beat both our revenue and cost forecasts in the third quarter despite the turmoil in the worldwide financial markets.  The strength of our brands, combined with the value of our product, provides us with a high degree of economic resilience, and both our 2011 results and our 2012 booking patterns validate this.”

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on October 27, 2011 at 10am to discuss its third quarter 2011 financial results.

Royal Caribbean's two largest shareholders, A Wilhelmsen AS and Cruise Associates, have informed Royal Caribbean that they have terminated the Shareholders’ Agreement between themselves.  The deal between the two shareholders meant they agreed to vote their shares for the election as directors of four nominees of each shareholder. With the termination of the Shareholders’ Agreemnt, the two shareholders are no longer obliged to vote their shares in this manner.

Royal Caribbean is not included in the agreement but did issue a statement that the decision has nothing to do with Royal Caribbean as a company.  Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean's Chairman had this to say,  "This action is solely between the two shareholders and does not involve the Company.  We do not expect today’s announcement to result in any change in the Company’s operations or strategic direction."

Per Royal Caribbean's Articles of Incorporation stipulate that when the Shareholders’ Agreement was in place, the approval of at least one director affiliated with each of the two shareholders was required for certain corporate actions. Now that the agreement is terminated, this is no longer a requirement. In addition, Royal Caribbean noted that these changes are consistent with current trends in best practice for good corporate governance.

At Royal Caribbean's second quarter 2011 quarterly results yesterday, Royal Caribbean announced an accounting error that has resulted in double digit drop in Royal Caribbean's stock price.  Today, corporate litigators Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating potential claims concerning whether Royal Caribbean and certain of its officers and directors have violated federal securities laws.

Royal Caribbean had said it would have to revise prior statements because of an error in the way it accounted for interest expense for amortizing financing fees. It reduced its full-year earning guidance by 10 cents per share even without the accounting change, and by 20 cents per share with the change. On this news, shares of Royal Caribbean plunged 10%, or over $3.25 per share.

Royal Caribbean held its conference call today to announce the company's second quarter financial results, Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain characterized an accounting error from the previous quarter as being "embarrassed".

Nonetheless, Fain was excited about the company's short term future and was overall positive about the direction Royal Caribbean is going in, "It still looks like this will be one of the best years in our history".

As a result of the error, Royal Caribbean lowered its full-year earnings per share prediction by 30 cents at the midpoint to a range of $2.90 to $3.20, mostly in order to reflect a revision to how it accounts for interest expense.

Despite Fain's and other executives attempts to diffuse the accounting error situation, Royal Caribbean's stock took a hit following the call, with the price dipping as low as 11% from its market open price.

The interest-expense accounting error related to the amortization of certain financing fees, and caused the revision of some prior results and lower guidance for the rest of the year. The revision is a noncash item, and Fain said the team that made the error also found it and quickly reported it.

During the call, Brian Rice, Chief Financial Officer for Royal Caribbean, called the mistake a human error and like Fain, was embarrassed by the situation.