Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) recorded its biggest booking week in company history last week as demand for luxury cruises continues to skyrocket.
The company announced that 22 of its 23 ships are back in operation now after many of the ships were out of operation following the pandemic. With covid hospitalizations decreasing and the 7-day moving average for new cases on the decline in the US, consumers feel more comfortable embarking on cruises.
“So where we are right now is in almost a transition period where it continues to come down,” Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told Yahoo Finance Live last week. “The CDC has pulled back on some of the recommendations for indoor masking. And yet, in the next week or two, we will see soon whether we are going to see an increase.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its guidelines for cruise travel on March 30, removing the "Cruise Ship Travel Health Notice" that it has uploaded on its website following a spread of COVID-19 variants across the world. Back in January, the CDC had given cruise ships a Level 4 warning, the highest level possible.
Carnival wasn’t the only cruise line to record significant bookings increases. Virgin Voyages, the cruise line operating under the parent conglomerate Virgin Group, also experienced higher demand after the CDC announcement.
“There's incredible pent-up demand," McAlpin, the president as well as chief executive of Richard Branson's cruise line, told Yahoo Finance in an interview. "We are starting to see it. Bookings are up significantly, 125% over just January levels. Last week, we had a record booking week and we are gonna surpass that this week."
Ihsaan Fanusie is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @IFanusie.
Read the latest cryptocurrency and bitcoin news from Yahoo Finance
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn
