ST. LOUIS — Arnold Donald, the former Monsanto Co. whiz kid who runs cruise operator Carnival Corp., remains upbeat about the industry despite setbacks caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Carnival recently reported growing demand for 2021 bookings and is scheduled to resume cruises next month in Germany, with extensive health and safety procedures onboard.
"There's a pent-up demand for cruises, a lot of pent-up demand for our brands," Donald, 65, told CNBC. He said the 2021 bookings are in a "historical range" of previous years, despite substantially reduced marketing.
Carnival's German sailings are set to resume next month in the form of cruises "to nowhere," Donald said, going out to sea for a few days and returning to the same port. The company will not make a full return in terms of passenger capacity until 2022 at the earliest, he said in discussing financial results July 10.
"We had unbelievable bookings in the first 24 hours (of German bookings) at much higher prices than our fleet average of historical pricing," Donald said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday extended its ban on passenger cruising from U.S. ports through Sept. 30, citing “ongoing” coronavirus outbreaks aboard ships. The CDC’s no-sail order was previously due to expire on July 24.
Looking ahead, “We will be leaner. There is no question about it. And we’ll be stronger,” Arnold said in an interview with Cruise Industry News. “Right now, we have no revenue. We have to slim down. We have to reduce overhead and we have to reduce our cash flow.”
Carnival has nine brands, more than 100 ships and carries approximately 12.5 million guests at double occupancy, according to industry statistics.
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