Economist | Cruise ships

Cruise ships

Cabin fervour

An early victim of the pandemic seeks to reoat

May 29th 2021 | words 511

THE LATEST addition to the fleet of Carnival, the worlds biggest cruise operator, is the Mardi Gras. This ocean-going playground for 5,300 passengers comes complete with six different zones, including a French Quarter, two dozen restaurants and a rollercoaster. It is set to arrive at its base in Florida in early June. That is a year behind schedulebut possibly just in time for a revival of the industry, which has been hit harder than just about any other by the pandemic.

Holidays afloat gave an early hint of covid-19s damage to international travel. Images of passengers stranded aboard modern-day plague ships prefigured lockdowns on land. Most pundits reckon cross-border tourism will not fully rebound until 2023. Yet cruising may steam ahead before then. Where else can you go to bed at night and wake up every morning in a different, new, exciting place? ventures Arnold Donald, Carnivals boss.

A break at sea is a small niche of the global tourist industry. Of the 800m or so foreign holiday-makers in 2019, only around 30m ascended a gangway. It was, though, growing fast, adding over 10m more sea faring tourists in a decade. And before the pandemic drowned the business in red ink, it was lucrative. The three companies that transport three-quarters of all passengersCarnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lineraked in combined operating profits of $6.6bn on revenues of $38bn in 2019.

With fleets mostly idle in the past year, cruise operators have been burning cash. Only a few of the worlds 270 large cruise ships are at sea with paying passengers. Luckily for Mr Donald, investors seem to share his belief that the industry will roar back full-steam ahead. Carnival has had little trouble raising $24bn of debt and equity over the past 12 months to tide it over; its rivals have also been able to tap the market.

Now demand is returning. Carnivals bookings for 2022 are back at the higher end of historical trends, its boss reports. The industry continues to expand long-term capacity. Over 100 vessels are on order; none has been cancelled during the pandemic. Perhaps the biggest headwind is countries fast-changing rules for international travel, especially in America. Half of all tourist seafarers are North American, double the number of Europeans, the next largest group, with China and other emerging markets far behind for now. Since the pandemic no ship has been allowed to set sail from an American port.

Mr Donald hopes that will change soon. Big cruise firms are trying to move things along by lobbying governments to allow vaccinated passengers who test negative for covid-19 to come onboard. That makes recent efforts by lawmakers in Florida to ban companies from using vaccine passports rather unhelpful. The Sunshine State is home to not just the Mardi Gras but also to Americas largest cruise ports.

VOCABULARY

strand

strand / strnd /

verb [VN] [usually passive] 1. to leave sb in a place from which they have no way of leaving

The strike left hundreds of tourists stranded at the airport.

2. to make a boat, fish, whale , etc. be left on land and unable to return to the water

The ship was stranded on a sandbank.

plague

plague / pleig /

noun

1. (also the plague) [U] = bubonic plague :

an outbreak of plague

2. [C] any infectious disease that kills a lot of people

SYN epidemic :

the plague of AIDS

3. [C] ~ of sth large numbers of an animal or insect that come into an area and cause great damage

(),:

a plague of locusts / rats, etc.

prefigure

prefigure / prifig(r); NAmE -gjr /

verb [VN] (formal) to suggest or show sth that will happen in the future

pundit

pundit / pndit /

noun

1. a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and who often talks about it in public

SYN expert 2. = pandit

rebound

rebound

verb / ribaund /

[V] 1. ~ (from / off sth) to bounce back after hitting sth

The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in.

2. ~ (on sb) (formal) if sth that you do rebounds on you, it has an unpleasant effect on you, especially when the effect was intended for sb else

SYN backfire

3. (business ) (of prices, etc. ) to rise again after they have fallen

SYN bounce back

tide

tide / taid /

verb PHR V

tide sb 'over (sth) [no passive]

to help sb during a difficult period by providing what they need

()():

Can you lend me some money to tide me over until I get paid?

IDIOMS

go, swim, etc. with / against the 'tide

to agree with / oppose the attitudes or opinions that most other people have

the 'tide turned | turn the 'tide

used to say that there is a change in sb's luck or in how successful they are being

tap the market

To establish access to or a connection with

tapped a new market for inexpensive books