If you’ve been keeping up with the cruise industry as of late, you may have noticed the powerful toll of the outbreak of coronavirus. Coming from Wuhan, China, the novel illness has been wreaking having across the Asian continent (and further, in some cases), causing cruises to be cancelled, ships to be quarantined and money to be lost. It’s a big deal, and all the recent reports indicate that the virus is yet to relinquish its hold over the industry. Here is the latest news about coronavirus that you should be clued in on.
Carnival fears big financial losses
There has been talk of different cruise lines suffering financial losses due to the virus, and Carnival’s most recent statements on the subject make it clear that these worries are definitely based in truth. They said in a press statement that it is likely that coronavirus will have a “material impact on its financial results which was not anticipated in the company’s previous 2020 earnings guidance.” How bad, you might be wondering? While this isn’t the plan currently, they said that “if the company had to suspend all of its operations in Asia through the end of April, this would impact its fiscal 2020 financial performance by $0.55 to $0.65 per share.” For some context, Carnival’s shares are at $43.20 as of February 13, with a downward trend for about the past month or so.
More cancelled itineraries
Much of the loss Carnival is preparing to suffer is from cancelled sailings, something that is not unique to that one cruise line. Norwegian and Celebrity recently announced that they were going to be shutting down a number of planned trips. In Norwegian’s case, there were Vietnam sailings that are now cancelled. Celebrity cancelled all of their Asian sailings in favor of some American itineraries that are yet to be detailed.
South Korea enforces new health standards
While South Korea isn’t quite the cruise hub that Taiwan was, they are still looking to enforce some new health standards. Before any ship arrives in the country, documents need to be submitted that describe symptoms of those on board. If anyone has even mild symptoms, they will be denied access. This will likely put a further strain on companies trying to find somewhere to port in Asia, as it seems options are becoming far more limited and strict.
It’s hard to say what the future holds for the cruise industry and coronavirus’ relationship, but it’s probable that the virus will need to peter out completely before cruises can start to jump back to their former Asian glory. In the meantime, there are lots of fun Caribbean itineraries to choose from….
