Viking said a combination of strong demand and a bigger fleet drove up its earnings and revenue in the second quarter.

The cruise company posted a profit of $587.4 million, or $1.31 a share, compared with $439 million, or 99 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had been forecasting $1.26 a share.

Revenue jumped more than 16% to $2.19 billion, ahead of analyst projections for $2.14 billion, according to FactSet.

Capacity passenger cruise days, a measure of how much available space it had to sell to passengers, was almost 11% higher than it was a year earlier, thanks to growth in the company's fleet. Occupancy for the second quarter was more than 94%.

Operating expenses were 17% higher, or almost 14% higher when excluding fuel, due to the increase in fleet size.