Carnival Corporation will reroute itineraries for 12 ships across seven of its brands in May, including one P&O Cruises vessel, to avoid transits through the Red Sea.
In a statement on Tuesday (January 30), the global cruise giant said it was “committed to the safety and well-being of its guests and crew and has been actively monitoring the situation in the Red Sea and surrounding region. Given recent developments and in close consultation with global security experts and government authorities, the company has made the decision to reroute itineraries for 12 ships across seven brands, which were scheduled to transit the Red Sea through May 2024”.
The US and UK have carried out several strikes earlier this month on Houthi bases in Yemen, after the Iranian-backed group repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea.
Carnival added that it has not seen an impact on booking trends because of the Red Sea situation and has no other Red Sea transits until November 2024.
Furthermore, the statement continued: “The company has experienced an early and robust start to wave season (peak booking period), exceeding expectations, with bookings volumes since November hitting an all-time high.
“For 2024, the company continues to have the best booked position on record, with both pricing (in constant currency) and occupancy considerably higher than 2023 levels. In fact, the first half of 2024 is almost fully booked.
“The company believes its continued strong bookings momentum is expected to deliver outperformance during the year, offsetting the Red Sea rerouting impact.”
A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: “We’ve made the difficult decision to reroute the segment of the world cruise on Arcadia that was due to operate in the Red Sea. As itineraries are updated, we will directly notify affected guests and their travel agents.”
The cruise giant’s brands include Carnival Cruise Line, P&O Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn.
Carnival said the move to reroute ships will have an adjusted earnings per share impact of $0.07 to $0.08 for full year 2024.
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