Swine flu hits cruise companies

//Swine flu hits cruise companies

The first impact of swine flu on cruising has been to send shares in the two major companies plunging today. On Wall Street Carnival Corporation’s shares were down almost 10 per cent to $25.62 while those in Royal Caribbean Cruises fell15 per cent to $2.22.
Several Carnival ships call at Mexican ports on their Caribbean cruises from Florida, and the line’s newest and biggest ship, the 3,000-passenger Carnival Splendor, started sailing this month on regular voyages down the Pacific coast from Long Beach in California to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.
Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas also carries 3,100 passengers each week from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera.
Fred Olsen’s Balmoral, currently sailing down the west coast of America, is scheduled to make a two-day stop in Acapulco next week, before heading through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean and back to Dover on May 29.
A spokesman for the company said they were monitoring the situation closely.
Stock market analysts are comparing the situation with the 2003 SARS outbreak, when major hotel shares dropped by as much as a fifth.
More than 100 Mexicans are reported to have died from the swine flu virus, and public buildings, schools and even churches have been closed in an attempt to stop the infection spreading.
The European Union health commissioner has advised against non-essential travel to Mexico and north America. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged American citizens to exercise caution but her aides stopped short of issuing a travel warning.

By | 2009-04-27T11:50:21+00:00 27 April 2009|Cruise News|3 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

3 Comments

  1. Ohio traveler 27 April 2009 at 10:57 pm - Reply

    At 11:30 a.m. you write that “some cases are reported in Cabo San Lucas.” Yet a Princess spokesperson told me, at 5:15 p.m. (about 6 hours later) that “there have NO cases reported at any of our ports of call,” which include Cabo San Lucas, Mazatian and Puerto Vallarta.
    We will leave Saturday morning, May 2, and Princess said that we will lose nearly $1,000 in cancellation fees if we cancel out.
    How bad does it have to be before we can cancel with no penalty?

  2. JR 28 April 2009 at 12:54 am - Reply

    Zero cases reported in Puerto Vallarta or even the whole state of Jalisco.

  3. CH 28 April 2009 at 6:53 pm - Reply

    San Jose, CA unconfirmed case(s) may be linked to Cabo San Lucas….
    Travelers were vacationing, husband had to stay behind in Cabo due to severity. He’s now @ home in San Jose area awaiting test results.
    Google it.
    The issue is NOT whether you might catch it, most of us probably will, it’s probably in your backyard already.
    Tamma Flu is supposedly able to stave off symptoms, once contracted.
    The question for me is, can I afford to get STUCK down there on vacation, if they close the border(s) and cancel flights.
    And since G/F & I have kids… both with part-time custody, MY mental plane is in a holding pattern.

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