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Carnival's (CCL) Holland Opens Bookings for 2022 Europe Voyages

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Carnival Corporation & Plc’s (CCL - Free Report) Holland America Line recently announced opening of bookings for its 2022 Europe season. Following the announcement, shares of the company gained 4.1% during trading hours on Jan 14.

The company intends to offer multiple Europe itineraries (ranging from seven to 21 days), thereby comprising eight departure cities and 14 overnight ports. This includes the likes of Rotterdam, Nieuw Statendam, Westerdam and Volendam. Also, five Holland America Line ships will cover voyages exploring the Baltic, British Isles, French and Spanish rivieras, Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean and Northern Europe including Iceland, Greenland, Norway and the North Cape.

The company is also providing its guests with the option to extend into Collectors' Voyages (ranging from 14-35 days). This involves the combination of non-repeating and back-to-back itineraries thereby enabling guests to visit more ports.

Current Bookings Trend

On Jan 11, Carnival reported preliminary fourth-quarter fiscal 2020 financial numbers, thereby indicating that 2022 cruise bookings are running ahead compared with 2019 levels. Also, the company stated that cumulative advanced bookings for second half of 2021 are within the historical range. As of Nov 30, 2020, nearly 45% of guests impacted by the company's schedule changes have received enhanced future cruise credits ("FCCs"), while nearly 55% have requested refunds.

Price Performance

Coming to price performance, shares of Carnival have gained 48.6% in the past three months compared with the industry's 30.9% growth. Notably, the company is witnessing ticket price improvements for both of its North American and EAA brands, with robust ticket price improvements in its Caribbean deployment. Also it is optimistic on its innovations featuring Ocean Medallion, PlayOcean and OceanView. These new offerings are anticipated to accelerate and expand engagement, thereby boosting guest experience. Notably, loss estimates have narrowed to $3.89 per share from $4.21 over the past seven days for the current year.

Carnival — which shares space with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH - Free Report) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL - Free Report) in the Zacks Leisure and Recreation Services industry — has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present.

Key Pick

A better-ranked stock in the leisure space is SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. , which carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

SeaWorld’s 2021 earnings are expected to surge 76.3%.

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