CHICAGO (AP) — Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled as it reined in expenses while continuing to woo budget-conscious travellers.

People are still going on vacation during the recession, but they're typically taking shorter trips and spending less on food, drinks and other discretionary purchases. But the Miami company, which had warned its traditionally slow fourth quarter would be worse than usual, handily beat Wall Street estimates.

Its shares rose in pre-market trading, though it reporter less rosy results for the full year.

For the three months that ended December 31, the owner of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Pullmantur earned $3.4 million, or two cents per share. That's more than double its profit a year earlier, when it earned $1.5 million, or a penny per share.

Revenue was nearly steady at $1.45 billion for the quarter, down from $1.46 billion last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Royal Caribbean to lose six cents per share on revenue of $1.44 billion.

"Good cost discipline and better than expected revenues have enabled us to end 2009 on a decidedly upbeat note," chairman and CEO Richard Fain said in a statement.

For the full year, its profit plummeted almost 72 percent to $162.4 million, or 75 cents per share. That's down from a 2008 profit of $573.7 million, or $2.68 per share.

Full-year revenue fell 10 percent to $5.89 billion from $6.53 billion.