Cruise line stocks Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL), Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH), and Viking Holdings (VIK) declined Friday after Bank of America analysts said in a note that they see modest softness cruise prices.
RCL declined more than 5%, while CCL is down over 8%. In addition, NCLH has dropped over 7%, and VIK has fallen 5%.
The investment bank explained that based on cruise prices pulled in early June, there was modestly softer pricing in ocean markets relative to early May.
“On a sequential basis, 40% of itineraries had softer pricing compared to 33% in May but well below the 60% seen in the early March survey,” said Bank of America, adding that 32% of itineraries had positive pricing growth (compared to 43% in early May) and 28% of itineraries were flat (compared to 25% in early May).
Furthermore, Bank of America notes that Eastern Caribbean pricing saw the greatest sequential acceleration this month at +2%, representing the first sequential acceleration for the region since February.
“This is the first month since December that Eastern Caribbean pricing has outperformed Western Caribbean, which decelerated -6% sequentially this month, the weakest region in our survey this month and the weakest datapoint since March,” states the firm.
Western Caribbean sailings are said to have been some of the strongest in Bank of America’s survey since the entry into service of RCL’s Icon of the Seas, “pricing for which has gotten softer since the initial entry into service.”
