Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) swung to a second-quarter loss on charges and lower revenue, as the cruise line company also gave a weak outlook for the third quarter and fiscal year.

The second-largest cruise ship operator by market share behind Carnival Corp. (CCL) posted its second consecutive quarterly loss amid a prolonged slump in travel spending, as it also upped its expectations for the H1N1 virus' impact on its fiscal year earnings.

Shares were down 9.1% to $14.90 in recent trading. The stock has lost more than a third of its value in the past year.

Booking for Royal Caribbean's West Coast Mexican cruises remains "a particular challenge" for the fall and winter season, President and Chief Executive of Royal Caribbean International Adam Goldstein said on the company's conference call. But more expensive Europe and Alaskan cruises have "put the most pressure on 2009," Goldstein said, with Alaska's lower ticket and onboard spending trends the most pronounced.

Cruise line companies have had to cut prices significantly during the recession in order to attract skittish consumers, who are booking cruises closer to their travel dates and are generally taking shorter and less expensive trips. While Royal Caribbean said its booking and pricing environment continues to be stable, compared with where it was late last year, Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Fain expressed frustration on the company's conference call that the environment had not improved faster.

"We noted that the situation began to stabilize over six months ago and normally that's a precursor to things beginning to turn around," Fain said. "We didn't count on that happening, but we did hope that the upturn would have started at least by now."

For the year, Royal Caribbean expects net yields - an industry measure of onboard spending and ticket prices - to fall about 14%, lower than its April view of a 12% to 13% drop, and cut its earnings target to 70 cents to 80 cents a share from $1.35 a share. The company said yields could improve in 2010.

Last month, Royal Caribbean said bookings and prices met expectations globally except in Spain where the economy remains particularly dour, though higher fuel costs and foreign-exchange effects remained a concern. Royal Caribbean said it mitigated much of the fuel-cost increases through hedging and paring other expenses.

The company, whose brands include Celebrity, Pullmantur and Azamara, reported a loss of $35.1 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a prior-year profit of $84.7 million, or 40 cents a share. The loss included 5 cents a share in costs related to the H1N1 virus and about 11 cents a share due to currency adjustments and hedging ineffectiveness.

In April, the company predicted a loss of up to 5 cents a share.

Revenue decreased 15% to $1.35 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for $1.41 billion.

Net yields, or revenue per available passenger cruise days, decreased 18%, in line with the company's estimates, and would have fallen 14% on a constant-dollar basis.

Net cruise costs were down 12%, or 8.5% on a constant currency basis, and also within expectations.

Based on lower fuel costs, the company said it would increase its hedges in 2010 to 50%, which is equal to its current hedging plan for this year. It has hedged about 45% of forecasted 2011 consumption.

For the third quarter, the company expects earnings of 95 cents to $1 a share; analysts were looking for earnings $1.46 a share. The H1N1 virus is expected to lower earnings by 27 cents a share this year, with 18 cents a share realized in the third quarter.

Royal Caribbean previously announced it expected the H1N1 virus to decrease its fiscal year earnings by 22 cents a share.

-By Kelly Nolan, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2167; kelly.nolan@dowjones.com

(Tess Stynes and John Kell contributed to this report.)