Cruise line promotions Royal Caribbean (NYSE:), Carnival Corp. (NYSE:), Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:) and Viking Holdings (VIK) were lower on Friday after Bank of America analysts said in a note they see moderate softness in cruise prices.
RCL was down more than 5% and CCL was down more than 8%. Additionally, NCLH shares fell more than 7% and VIK shares fell 5%.
The investment bank explained that based on cruise prices raised in early June, prices in ocean markets were slightly lower compared to early May.
“On a sequential basis, 40% of routes had softer prices, down from 33% in May, but well below the 60% seen in the early March survey,” Bank of America said, adding that 32% of routes had positive price increases ( up from up to 43% in early May) and 28% of routes were unchanged (up from 25% in early May).
Additionally, Bank of America notes that pricing in the Eastern Caribbean region saw its largest sequential acceleration this month at +2%, representing the first sequential acceleration for the region since February.
“This is the first month since December that prices in the Eastern Caribbean have outperformed prices in the Western Caribbean, which posted a sequential decline of -6% this month, the weakest region in our survey this month and the weakest since March “, says the company.
Western Caribbean voyages were among the highest since RCL’s Icon of the Seas entered service, “prices have softened since first entering service,” according to Bank of America research.