Coronavirus: Carnival shares plummet as firm extends cruise suspensions
Carnival’s luxury cruise operator Cunard today said that it would extend the suspension of all its voyages by a month to 15 May due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Carnival, also the operator of two coronavirus-stricken Princess cruises, has already temporarily suspended several of its ships due to concerns over the rapidly spreading Covid-19 crisis earlier this month.
Shares in the firm dropped nearly 15 per cent today after the announcement was made.
Over the course of the last three months Carnival’s stock has shed nearly three-quarters of its value.
“The impact of Covid-19 is affecting personal routines and businesses as well as placing significant travel restrictions around the world,” said Simon Palethorpe, Cunard’s president.
Sign up to City PM’s Midday Update newsletter, delivered to your inbox every lunchtime
Cunard, which extended the suspension from 11 April, said it would provide a 125 per cent credit for future cruise to travelers impacted by the suspension which can be redeemed against new booking before the end of March 2022.
Earlier this month Carnival suspended all sailings for subsidiary Princess Cruises for two months, saying it was acting out of “an abundance of caution”.
The Diamond Princess was moored off the coast of Japan for two weeks in February after 700 cases of the virus were confirmed, with six deaths.
Another vessel, the Grand Princess, was prevented from mooring in San Francisco in early March after the authorities learned that some of the passengers aboard the vessel had developed symptoms of the disease.
The firm had said it will recommence sailings on 11 May, but that was before stringent travel bans were put in place across most of the world.