While the cruise industry continues to struggle with the aftermath of COVID-19, Carnival (NYSE: CCL) (NYSE: CUK) announced this morning that it is canceling more cruises, including some until 2023. The company has also changed some of the winter itineraries still technically in force at the time, causing its stock price to drop during the morning’s trading.
The most far-reaching cancellations were for trips outside of San Diego aboard the Carnival Miracle, most of which were withdrawn, including those booked until April 2023. The trips were canceled until further notice, except for seven Hawaiian cruises. Even these, however, were moved to Long Beach, California, instead of the originally planned departures to San Diego.
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Other Carnival ships (Magic, Paradise and Valor) will not sail again until November this year. Carnival Radiance will also be inactive until November, when it will be moved to Long Beach, which it will share with the Carnival Miracle.
Although the rescheduling necessarily involves several booked travel cancellations, Carnival is also adding some short cruises for the winter of 2021. Starting in November 2021, it will offer 4- and 5-day Long Beach packages to Mexico on board the Carnival Miracle , among Hawaiian trips.
A few days ago, all the major cruise lines agreed to postpone their trips until May 1st at least. The news comes at a time when new infections by COVID-19 are decreasing in 48 of the 50 states, as vaccines gradually move the population towards collective immunity.