Carnival Cruise Lines has just posted way better than expected results for its third quarter endings in terms of late bookings. This huge surge in bookings comes at a time when many travel companies have been doing everything that they can to get people to start taking breaks again.

As of now, net income came is at $1.1 billion. Although this is good news for the company, this number is still down from the $1.3 billion that was seen during the same time last year. The booking volumes for the remainder of 2009 and for the first half of 2010 are actually running 19 percent ahead of what they were year on year.

The occupancy levels are on the rebound, but they are still behind last year, which is kind of disheartening. On top of this, the ticket prices for these bookings are also at a much lower level, which has decreased the amount of profit that Carnival Cruises makes per booking.

The chief executive and chairman of Carnival, Micky Arison, said that given the global economic environment, the earning of more than $1 billion in this quarter was a big achievement for the company. It is a testament to the power of this global brand. He went on to note that the net income for the quarter did exceed their previous estimate, and this was due to better than expected pricing on close-in bookings worldwide.

Just last week, the company was able to take the delivery of the Carnival Cruise Lines largest vessel so far, the Carnival dream. This ship is able to carry over 3,600 passengers.