Carnival Corp. (CCL) said on Monday that it plans to embark on a partial resumption of its cruise trips from North America this summer starting August 1.
The “phase in” resumption is set to begin with a total of eight ships from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston, the beleaguered cruise operator said in a statement. The suspension of operations of all other cruises from North American and Australian markets will be extended through August 31, it said.
“We are committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation,” Carnival said in a statement. “We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of homeports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests.”
All Carnival Spirit Alaskan cruises from Seattle will be cancelled, as well as the Carnival Spirit Vancouver-Honolulu cruise on September 25 and the Honolulu-Brisbane transpacific cruise on October 6. Impacted guests and their travel advisors will have the option of receiving future cruise credit packages or a full refund.
Carnival has this year seen over 70% of its stock value shave off following major coronavirus outbreaks on a number of cruise ships, including Carnival’s Diamond Princess cruise ship. Shares rose 2.5% to $14.28 in midday U.S. trading.
Wall Street analysts take a cautious stance on Carnival stock. The analysts’ Hold consensus rating is split into 7 Holds, 3 Sells and 1 Buy. The $23 average price target suggests 61% upside potential should it be met in the coming 12 months. (See Carnival’s stock analysis on TipRanks).
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