Two of the world’s biggest cruise ship companies have seen their share prices rocket in recent days as investors speculating on which operators will survive the downturn threw rescue lines to both.
On Friday (20 March) shares in Carnival, the biggest US cruise operator, jumped 20%, despite a declining market, when it announced plans to borrow some $3bn for six months. It was similarly caught up in Tuesday’s market surge gaining almost 6% by the end of trading.
The Carnival-owned Diamond Princess and Grand Princess accounted for more than 800 covid-19 cases, including 10 deaths. This was one reason why Carnival’s shares started this week some 75% lower for the year against S&P 500 losses of around 30%.
It was a similar story on Monday (23 March) for shares in Royal Caribbean Cruises; they jumped more than 18.5% on the news that a new $2.2bn debt facility could stave off the worst of the downturn for the company.