March 31, 2008 -- Carnival Corp. will refund retroactively-applied fuel surcharges for bookings made prior to November 7, 2007 on Carnival, Holland America Line, Princess, Costa, Cunard and Seabourn.

This is the result of a voluntary agreement between Carnival Corp and Florida's Attorney General.

The surcharge remains in effect for bookings made on or after Nov. 7.

The amount of funds to be returned totals approximately $40m. Carnival said today's announcement will have no impact on first quarter financial results or its March 20 guidance for the second quarter or the full year since the company had not recognized the revenues made prior to Nov. 7 pending the Attorney General's review.

For cruises departing on or prior to April 4, passengers due a refund will receive it in the same form they used to purchase their cruise. For sailings departing from April 5 through June 23, passengers will receive an on-board credit. Customers sailing on or after June 24 will have their booking adjusted to remove the supplement.

Carnival noted that travel agents whose clients had existing reservations on Nov. 7 were offered $10 per booking in administrative compensation for notifying those clients. Agents will still receive the $10 per booking.

The Florida Attorney General said more than 1.1m bookings were affected. A similar settlement was reached last month with Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, resulting in $21m in consumer reimbursement.