We are very pleased that our ships are making a difference in their lives and contributing to the recovery of New Orleans,

Given the significant decline in our stock price over the last few weeks, the company believes that the purchase of its stock represents a very attractive investment.

What we asked for was to be kept whole basically. And to make up for the revenue that we would have made had the ships been operated. And to pay for the expense of canceling 100,000 people and protecting travel agent commissions.

We have every intention of relaunching cruise service from the great city of New Orleans as soon as the infrastructure is in place so that our ships may contribute to the economic recovery of the area.

Significant improvements in pricing, particularly for our North American brands, more than compensated for increases in fuel costs.

That's quite a remarkable accomplishment considering that fuel price increases are estimated to cost the company an additional $170 million, or $0.20 a share, in 2005,