MIAMI (AP) — Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise group, said on Friday its first-quarter profit rose 13 percent on increased cruise capacity and strong yields from European brands that offset pricing weakness in the Caribbean. The company also reported a significant increase in future Caribbean bookings.The Miami-based company reported net income of $283 million, or 35 cents per share, for the quarter ended February 28 versus $251 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $2.69 billion from $2.46 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a profit of 34 cents per share on sales of $2.64 billion.

The revenue increase reflected a 7.4 percent increase in cruise capacity from ships added to Carnival’s 82-ship fleet.

Net revenue yields for the first quarter edged up 0.3 percent compared with the prior year. Adjusting for currency exchange rates, net revenue yields as measured on a local currency basis fell 2.1 percent when compared with the previous year. Yields are a key profitability gauge that measure net income earned from passengers per day from cruise tickets and onboard sales.

Carnival Chairman and CEO Micky Arison noted the first quarter continued the trend of strong performance in Europe. Arison did indicate that at least some of the trouble with Caribbean bookings could be attributed to the active 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. Last year was slow for hurricanes.

The busy seasons “created a snowball effect that still hasn’t reached bottom but hopefully will soon,” Arison said on a conference call.

For the rest of 2007, Carnival said it continued to expect full-year net revenue yields to be flat to up slightly compared to last year. The company expects 2007 earnings to be in the range of $2.90 to $3.10 per share, compared to $2.77 per share last year.

“With the exception of our Caribbean trades, our other trades are performing well,” said Howard Frank, Carnival’s vice chairman and chief operating officer. “We do believe the current Caribbean softness is an economic issue.”

Industry executives have said the troubles in the Caribbean can’t be blamed on fundamental problems with the industry, such as market saturation or consumer boredom. Rather, it’s a cyclical problem based on problems in the U.S. economy, specifically the housing market and lending issues, that have cut into consumer travel spending and affected the middle market demographic.

“Clearly, we’ve been putting out aggressive prices in the Caribbean,” Arison said. “Hopefully, that message is getting out clearer and clearer.”

However, Frank did report that Carnival had seen booking increases in the past several weeks, with more details to be divulged Monday. Since the beginning of “wave season” — the January-to-March booking season for summer trips — reservations were up 8.9 percent and in line with fleet capacity increases year over year, Frank said.

The company’s cost guidance for fuel for the last nine months of 2007 is $318 per metric ton, compared to an average price of $341 per metric ton for the last nine months of 2006.

“Fuel does have a positive impact on our cost guidance not only for the second quarter but also the year,” said Gerald R. Cahill, chief financial officer.

Carnival Corp.’s portfolio includes 12 brands, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises, and P&O Cruises. It will become 11 brands when the planned sale of Windstar Cruises for $100 million Ambassadors International Inc. closes later this year.