MIAMI (Reuters) -- Royal Caribbean, the world's No. 2 cruise group, said yesterday second-quarter net income jumped to $108.3 million, or 27 percent higher than a year earlier, largely on capacity growth boosted by its new megaship.

The Miami-based operator of Voyager of the Seas , the world's biggest cruise ship, and 16 other vessels under the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity flags said earnings per share were 56 cents, up from 47 cents earned in last year's second quarter.

The quarterly per share profits topped a consensus Wall Street forecast of 55 cents, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.

Royal Caribbean shares were up 5/8 at 19-3/4 at midday, but well below a 52-week high of 58-7/8 touched late last year.

Revenues rose to $680.7 million from $617.7 million for the year-ago quarter, primarily due to an 11 percent increase in capacity.

"The majority of this increase is from the Voyager of the Seas entering the market,'' CFO Richard Glasier told analysts on a conference call.

"Voyager-class vehicles continue to command a nice market.'' Voyager , which sails the western Caribbean and set a record of 3,608 for most guests on a single cruise on Memorial Day weekend, will be joined in October by a sister ship Explorer of the Seas .

Royal Caribbean said the occupancy rate was 106.1 percent in the second quarter, up from 104.8 percent in the 1999 period. Occupancy rate of more than 100 percent refers to passengers such as children sharing rooms.

Net revenue yields, or the net revenue per available passenger cruise day, were up 2 percent.

"We are particularly pleased with our net yield number,'' Glasier said.

Royal Caribbean, and other big cruise lines such as Carnival Corp (CCL.N), have been hit in 2000 by a flattening of net yields, a key measure of money per berth, blamed by some analysts on a multibillion-dollar ship-building spree still under way.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival, the world's biggest cruise group, last month told institutional investors that increases in net yields were running below forecast and would be flat or down from 1999's.

Glasier said that forecast was unchanged and overall yields would be "down somewhat for the second half of the year'' though not as much as for its two maival and Princess.

Royal Caribbean expects "nice improvements'' in yield for the rest of the year in the Caribbean, which makes up more than 40 percent of its market, and for Europe. But yields were expected to be flat in Bermuda, served by Nordic Empress and down over last year in Alaska and in the three-to-four-day market that targets first-time cruise passengers.

In addition to fares, now going at bargain rates, and expected by travel agents to continue low into the fall, modern cruise ships pull in substantial revenues from spas, casinos, liquor tabs and other on-board services.