What’s going on with the cruise stocks?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Wednesday that cruise industry passenger operations in the U.S. could resume in mid-summer, and outlined new steps to speed up the approval process. Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) were trading 0.78% lower on Thursday afternoon, to $86.79, while Carnival (CCL) was up 0.92% to $28.06 per share, and Norwegian Cruise Ord (NCLH) rose 1.52% to $30.69.
What does it mean for cruises?
The cruise industry shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic through most of 2020, but CDC’s guidance about resumption of operations provides an optimistic timeline for a comeback.
According to a letter to the cruise industry from the federal agency, “if a ship attests that 98% of its crew and 95% of its passengers are fully vaccinated,” the ship can skip simulated voyages and move directly to open water sailing, CNBC reported.
CDC also trimmed the timeline for its response applications for simulated voyages to 5 days, down from anticipated 60 days.
The CDC assurance that passenger cruises can proceed this summer arrives after Alaska last week joined Florida in a lawsuit filed April 8 to overturn a CDC decision to prevent the U.S. cruise industry from resuming operations right away after being sidelined for a year.
NCLH has a Long-Term Technical Rank of 75. Find out what this means to you and get the rest of the rankings on NCLH!
Norwegian Cruise Line is the world's third- largest cruise company by berths (at nearly 60,000), operating 28 ships across three brands (Norwegian, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas), offering both freestyle and luxury cruising. With nine passenger vessels on order among its brands through 2027, Norwegian is increasing capacity faster than its peers, expanding its brand globally. Norwegian sails to more than 450 global destinations.
