Cruise stocks rose on Friday, October 30, after the USA's CDC agency announced it would replace the nearly 8-month old "no-sail" order with the less restrictive “Conditional Sailing Order.”
The no-sail order expires on Saturday, October 31. The new conditional order is due to remain in effect until either November 1, 2021, the expiration of the Department of Health & Human Services’ declaration of a public health emergency or when the CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield decides to end it.
Shares of Carnival Cruise Line, the world's largest cruise company, soared over 11% on the news in afternoon trading Friday, prior to levelling off at ~7%. Shares of NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line traded over 6% higher and Royal Caribbean stock was up over 5%.
The new order establishes a framework that would help the industry implement safety measures to resume operations in US waters "in a phased approach", the CDC revealed in a statement. Before restarting passenger operations, the companies will have to face tests from the Centers on how safe their protocols are.
The CDC’s announcement comes after Norwegian and Royal teamed up to hire former U.S. health officials and top epidemiologists and to craft a public health proposal for the Centers that would let them resume sailings.
The CDC said cruise shipping companies would need to “demonstrate adherence to testing, quarantine and isolation, and social distancing requirements” prior to moving forward in the restart framework. The lines are also expected to build lab capacity to conduct testing of the crew and eventually passengers.