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Summary
- The Royal Caribbean Cruises is likely to begin with test runs before commencing the full operations
- Royal Caribbean Cruises share price jumped nearly 29 per cent witnessing the first reaction on 9 November
- Royal Caribbean is required to showcase the strategies with which it can safely isolate, disinfect, and quarantine the passengers
The travel and tourism industry has been hit the hardest by the backlash of the coronavirus pandemic as most countries restricted international and non-essential domestic travels after the Covid-19 cases started spreading.
A large number of people employed in the related sectors either lost their jobs or faced severe reductions in their salaries. As the countries around the world are planning to revive the sector, a number of restrictions on domestic and overseas travel have been eased in order to kickstart the business activity for such enterprises.
Royal Caribbean to sail soon
After the United States lifted the no sail order, which has further relaxed with the travel restrictions, the Miami-headquartered Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has been planning to commence its operations soon. The Royal Caribbean Cruises is likely to begin with test runs in order to ascertain that the safety protocols can be adhered after regular runs are resumed.
Accordingly, to the directives issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Georgia-headquartered federal health agency of the US, Royal Caribbean will run a certain number of simulated voyages before beginning the full-fledged passenger cruises. For the test runs, the cruise operator is looking for volunteers who can accompany the crew during the trials. This is one of the pre-emptive steps taken by the Royal Caribbean Group to make sure that the people boarding the cruise can enjoy their voyages with a risk-free state of mind.
Royal Caribbean shares spurt
On the very first day after the CDC’s removal of no-sail order, the NYSE-listed shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises witnessed a very sharp uptick following a heavy influx of buying orders. Earlier this week, the stock of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) rallied nearly 29 per cent in a single day on Monday, witnessing the first market reaction. According to the data available with the New York Stock Exchange, Royal Caribbean Cruises share price jumped by as much as 28.79 per cent to $75.43 from a share price of $58.57 a piece.
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
Accumulating the recent surge in the share price, the stock of Royal Caribbean has advanced approximately 94 per cent in the last six months restoring the gains lost due to the stock market crash on the back of coronavirus scare. On a year-to-date (YTD) stretch, the shares of Royal Caribbean were still oscillating in the negative territory, down 45.24 per cent on the basis of the closing price of $73.73 on 10 November.
Simulated cruise
To comply with the CDC’s standard of test runs with all the safety protocols, the Royal Caribbean is likely to resume its simulated trips with the volunteers to one of its private islands. The primary area of concern for the operator is to try out the ways to control the spread of coronavirus.
Moreover, Royal Caribbean is mandatorily required to showcase the preparedness with which it can safely isolate, disinfect and quarantine the passengers in case of emergencies. The CDC will also analyse the next steps of boarding-deboarding the infected passengers. All the ships should have their mobile testing labs onboard and the necessary medical amenities along with Covid -19-ready first aids.
