said yesterday that first-quarter profits were halved from early 2000 and that US economic weakness would hurt ticket prices for the rest of the year.

The Miami-based company, which operates 21 ships in its Royal Caribbean and Celebrity fleets, said net income in the three months ending March 31 was $52.5 million, or 27 cents a share.

RCL's Nordic Empress and Celebrity's Horizon and Zenith are regular callers to Bermuda in the summer.

A year earlier, when profits were lifted by high-priced cruises celebrating the Millennium, the company had profits of $105.5 million, or 55 cents a share.

Share profits fell within the 22 cents to 28 cents range as reported by a Thomson Financial/First Call survey of 16 analysts, whose mean forecast was 26 cents.

Royal Caribbean shares fell 51 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $19.90 on the New York Stock Exchange. In Oslo trading, the shares were off 13.50 crowns at 174.50 after the earnings news.

Revenues totaled $727 million, up 3 percent from $708 million in 2000 on added berths on new ships. The company said gains from the extra passenger capacity was offset by a dramatic 11 percent drop in net yields.

Even without the benefit a year earlier from the Millennium sailings, the company said in a news release, net yield, a measure of revenues per passenger closely watched by Wall Street, dropped 4 percent in the quarter.

Royal Caribbean said ticket pricing was soft, in line with analysts forecasts that overall yields for all big cruise operators, such as Carnival Corp. and P&O Princess, would be flat to down in 2001.

"Although this year's booking period started out strong, we are disappointed that the momentum did not continue as long as we would have liked,'' chief executive Richard Fain said.

"As we all know, the slowdown of the economy is affecting consumer spending.

This impact, coupled with increased industry capacity, continues to put pressure on pricing. As a result, we now forecast yields for the last nine months of 2001 to be down 2 percent on a year-over-year basis.'' A slowing US economy and a high-octane fleet expansion adding thousands of cruise berths yearly are seen as weighing on the sector, whose biggest competitors enjoyed profitable growth throughout the 1990s.

Royal Caribbean made no comment on future earnings, which analysts forecast for the full year to be between $2.31 and $1.87 a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. The company had share earnings of $2.31 last year.

Broker AG Edwards & Sons said the gloomy yield forecast from Royal Caribbean was no surprise since Carnival, the No. 1 operator, said last month it was encountering price weakness, especially in its ultraluxury segments.

The US shares of Royal Caribbean, whose ships sail to more than 200 destinations around the world, are well off a 52-week high of $30.25 touched on February 9 and down more than 20 percent for the year.

By comparison the Dow Jones index of recreational stocks is up nearly 3 percent so far in 2001, while Carnival is off 14 percent this year. Carnival shares were down 53 cents at $25.22 on the New York Stock Exchange.