Cruise Operators Are Sailing Despite Omicron. The Stocks Are Holding Up.

Barrons ^ | Jan. 1, 2022 3:03 pm ET | Lawrence C. Strauss

[Capt. Tom]

The cruise industry is sailing on for now despite travel warnings from health officials. But it hasn’t been smooth sailing, and plenty of hurdles remain.

As of Saturday afternoon, there were no reports of any cruise voyage cancellations,

Patrick Scholes, a travel and leisure analyst at Truist Securities, points out that the CDC’s action comes at an especially bad time for the cruise operators.

Woronka says that enthusiasm for cruising remains strong among travelers. The largest bucket of cruise customers, he says, “are going to go” on sailings.

“The market is saying that these disruptions are not going to cripple the cruise companies,” Woronka says. “They’ve got pretty sufficient liquidity buffers to get through this. The view is that the CDC does not derail the second half of ’22 and ‘23 recovery.”

Royal Caribbean said in its release Thursday that “none of the Omicron cases [aboard its ships] have been severe” or required hospitalization.

It added that “almost everyone onboard” its ships have been vaccinated. The company, which resumed U.S. sailings in June, said it has carried 1.1 million guests on its ships since then, with 1,475 people testing positive—a rate of 0.02%.

Carnival and its peers had been shut down from sailing in and out of U.S. ports for about 15 months starting in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

Royal Caribbean’s load factors, essentially bookings, for sailings in the first half of this year are below historical levels but are within their historical ranges for the second half of 2022, the company said.

Royal Caribbean said in its release that the travel industry has been “experiencing significant disruptions by air transport and other service providers due to the spread of Omicron.”

As of mid-Saturday afternoon, there were about 2,500 flight cancellations within, into or out of the U.S.,

[oldasrocks]

Californicate needs cruise ships for the homeless.

[PJ-Comix]

Have you sailed a lot?

Not for 2 years. Last cruise was aboard the Celebrity Silhouette.

[af_vet_1981]

Bad link; no article

[Ann Archy]

The Equinox is almost exactly like the Silhouette, and the officers and crew are just as nice and friendly.......BON VOYAGE!!

[Oystir]

I have been on Equinox several times. The upgrade restaurant, Murano, is fantastic as is the comic restaurant!

[Oystir]

I don’t mean the comedy club. There is a restaurant based on comix

[Oystir]

The Petit Chef

[Capt. Tom]

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[Capt. Tom]

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[Justa]

Hope you take your supplements and Ivermectin along. I woke up this morning with classic Omicron symptoms. I’m already on D3, zinc, etc. and ivermectin (12mg). So I hope it’s short-lived. I’d like to kick it in a day so I can spare using vacation hours for a sick day.

Best of luck on your cruise.