Shares of cruise ship operator Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) are soaring today after the company posted better than expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter.

As we noted Monday in our earnings preview, analysts had been expecting the company to show earnings of $1.18 per share for the quarter, but Carnival easily beat out those estimates with a reported $1.33 per share.

The Swine Flu outbreak keeps chugging along as the number of people affected rises.

Shares of all travel-related companies have been sickened by the threat of a really bad pandemic, as opposed to a mild flu with a lot of media hype. And the market concerns can hardly be sneezed at. During the hellish Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, when tens of millions died, the bug circumnavigated the globe once in a milder form before mutating into the more virulent and deadly form that killed so many.

Wednesday, consumer products maker Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) delivered some bad news to investors when it slashed its current quarter profit outlook rather significantly.

It took the Street completely by surprise, and the shares got hammered to the tune of 27%.

Then yesterday, one of the quintessential companies that relies on consumer spending, Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), announced that it too has lowered its profit guidance for 2009, to a range of $2.25 to $2.75 per share from its previous range of $2.50 to $3 per share.

The company said it expects full-year net revenue yields to fall 6% to 10% on a constant dollar basis compared with previous guidance of a drop of 1% to 5%.

Despite the weak outlook, the shares were up on a day when not much else was rising.

What gives?

Hurricane Dean's presence in the Western Caribbean has forced over a dozen cruise ships to quickly change their itinerary towards the eastern side of the Caribbean this week. The storm, currently moving as a Class Three hurricane through the Yucatan peninsula, has affected Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) the most.

According to the company's site, as of Sunday, August 18th, the itineraries of over ten Carnival ships have been altered, forcing them to dock in Eastern ports-of-call or cancel a part of their stay. CruiseCritic.com has reported that a dozen of Carnival's ships were impacted from Dean. The company could not be reached for comment. Only three Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL) ships needed to steer clear of the storm.

Despite many weather stations calling Jamaica "Ground Zero" all weekend, the island nation received a glancing blow on Sunday. Gene Sloan of USAToday's "The Cruise Log" reported today that Royal Caribbean will be the first to test Jamaica's waters on Wednesday, as originally scheduled. Carnival's spokesman Vance Gulliksen told Sloan their line expects to resume calls in Jamaica next week and plans to return to the Caymans as early as later this week, but is "awaiting final confirmation."

The major question is the impact of Dean on Cozumel and other Mexican ports on the Yucatan Coast. Check out CruiseCritic.com's Hurricane Zone for an updated list of the damage reports.