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Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus has been brought under control.
“Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed,” Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday announcing the move.
Far from scrapping its vaccination program altogether, however, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority said there will probably be a need to vaccinate against Covid-19 again in the fall.

Health personnel are preparing injection syringes with Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark. the country has now announced it will suspend its vaccination program and will review whether it’s needed later in the year.
Ole Jensen | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control.
“Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed,” the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.

“Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against Covid-19 for this season,” it said. People will not be invited for vaccines from May 15, it said, although everyone will be able to finish their course of vaccination.

Denmark’s Covid vaccination campaign began soon after Christmas in 2020. Some 4.8 million citizens have been vaccinated, the health authority said, with over 3.6 million people receiving a booster shot.
At the same time, many people have been infected since the omicron variant became the dominant strain of the virus, it said, meaning immunity levels among the population are high.
“We are in a good place,” Bolette Soborg, unit manager at the National Board of Health commented. 
“We have good control of the epidemic, which seems to be subsiding. Admission rates [to hospital] are stable and we also expect them to fall soon. Therefore, we are rounding up the mass vaccination program against Covid-19.”

Soborg insisted that the public can still be vaccinated over the spring and summer if they want, and that vaccination sites will remain open around the country.
He added that immunization was still recommended to people for whom Covid poses a heightened risk, such as those over the age of 40 and for unvaccinated pregnant women. “We also continue to recommend that you complete your started vaccination course,” he said.

Vaccinations likely to resume

Denmark’s move to suspend its vaccination program comes as the Covid situation around the world remains mixed. Europe and the U.S. have abandoned most Covid restrictions, but China is still imposing (or considering) lockdowns as the virus spreads in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.
Far from scrapping its vaccination program altogether, however, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority said there will probably be a need to vaccinate against Covid-19 again in the fall as the virus continues to mutate.

New variants have emerged over the course of the pandemic, which is now into its third year. These have eroded the efficacy of the Covid vaccines that were developed in record time in 2020, although the shots authorized for use in the West remain effective at preventing serious infection, hospitalization and death from Covid-19.
With the vaccination program likely to restart in a few months’ time, Denmark’s health experts will be looking at who should be vaccinated, when the shots should be given and which vaccines should be used.
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority said it would continue to follow the development of the epidemic closely, and is ready to restart vaccination efforts again if there is a need to immunize additional target groups before the fall.

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A new study shows American travelers view many Asian nations as safer travel destinations now than they did four years ago.
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, China and Vietnam rose in the annual safety rankings published by travel insurance provider Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection.

The survey in the 2022 “State of Travel Insurance Report” also showed that some of America’s favorite travel destinations in Europe and the Caribbean — namely Italy, Bahamas, Spain, Jamaica and the United Kingdom — lost ground in terms of perceived travel safety.
Australia also took a hit. From 2018 to 2022, the country fell from No. 1 to No. 10 in the survey.

‘Safest’ places for travel

Three Asian nations ranked among the top 10 safest travel destinations in the survey of more than 1,500 Americans conducted in September 2021.
The survey asked travelers about their perceptions related to crime, terrorism, transportation and health as well as the safety of travelers who are female, people of color or LGBTQ people.

Singapore — a city-state which was not included in the survey’s country ranking — ranked No. 3 on the safest city rankings — ahead of Tokyo (No. 5) and Bangkok (No. 11).

Singapore finished 21st (out of 56) in 2020 and 25th (out of 53) in 2019 on Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protections list of safest destinations, the company said.
Taiwan was not included in the survey, according to a company representative.

Women and millennials were more likely to view Asian destinations as safer, according to the survey.
After Iceland (No. 1), millennials ranked South Korea and Thailand as the next two safest travel destinations in the world. Composite scores also showed they view Vietnam (No. 6) to be slightly safer than Greece (No. 7).
Millennials — those currently between 27 and 42 years old — also rated Singapore No. 1 for “overall safety” in the city survey, ahead of Montreal and Amsterdam.

Changing perceptions of ‘safety’

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, terrorism and violent crime were travelers’ top safety concerns, said Carol Mueller, vice president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection.
But in the 2022 survey, travelers said they were most concerned about “being able to move about freely” and staying “free from disease,” she said. Survey responses indicated getting stuck in a country even eclipsed fears of getting sick there, she said.
“It became a concern of, okay, I’m going to travel. I’m vaccinated, I feel comfortable,” she said. “But … what happens if I get stuck?”
That’s likely why Canada tops the list, she said. Canada reopened to vaccinated Americans in August 2021, the month before the survey was conducted. Its proximity to the United States worked for travelers wanting to “stay closer to home,” she said.
Australia’s decline in safety perception “could be because of … their tight Covid restrictions — the safety of not being able to get home when you want to get home,” she said. Australia’s borders were closed at the time the survey was taken.  

Movement in the rankings

Iceland and Sweden held their rankings as safe travel destinations, while Italy — which has always scored high — dropped because of the difficulty of getting into the country and “because of what was going on with Covid,” said Mueller.

Mueller said the survey “can’t get into the minds” of the survey respondents, but she noted that places that were prominently in the news for Covid outbreaks — such as the United Kingdom — could have been affected by the coverage.     
She also said rankings could have been affected by a change in survey methodology in 2022.
“Only people who had actually visited a destination could weigh in on its safety,” she said. “From a distance, it’s easy to think that European countries are safer. But, people who’ve actually visited many Asian countries know first-hand how safe they are.”
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection also released a separate set of rankings for the safest countries and cities, which combined the survey results with crime statistics and Covid performance factors, said Mueller.

Will perceptions last?

Many of the Asian nations that rose in the rankings were praised by medical experts for the tactics they employed to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following Abu Dhabi, Singapore ranked No. 2 and Seoul No. 3 in a global ranking by the London-based analytical agency Deep Knowledge Analytics that analyzed pandemic responses in 72 cities.
Both countries, along with Japan, have some of the lowest Covid-related death rates in the world among nations with at least 1,000 reported cases, according to the data research website Statista.
How countries responded to Covid will affect how tourists perceive their travel safety, both before and during their trips, said Rachel Fu, director of the University of Florida’s Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute. 
She said that will be important for regional and international tourists alike.
“The facts will be recorded with historical value when future generations look back about how each country … dealt with the pandemic,” she said. “History will be holding us accountable.” More

Ford is cutting 580 U.S. salaried employees and agency workers as part of its ongoing Ford+ turnaround plan, the company confirmed Wednesday night.
The cuts include approximately 350 salaried and 230 agency positions.
The reductions occurred largely in engineering, as the Detroit automaker pivots to electric vehicles.

Ford CEO Jim Farley at the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, plant where it’s building the electric F-150 Lightning on April 26, 2022.
CNBC | Michael Wayland

DETROIT – Ford Motor is cutting 580 U.S. salaried employees and agency workers as part of its ongoing Ford+ turnaround plan, the company confirmed Wednesday night.
The cuts include approximately 350 salaried and 230 agency positions, according to an emailed statement. The reductions occurred largely in engineering, as the Detroit automaker pivots from vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines to electric cars and trucks that can require different skill sets.

“We continue to align staffing around the critical skills needed to deliver our products, services, and the Ford+ plan,” the company said. “As part of the ongoing management of our business, we will continue to align our staffing to meet our future business needs and plans.”
The automaker said impacted employees and the agencies for the non-Ford employees were notified Wednesday – the same day the automaker reported a net loss of $3.1 billion in the first quarter, largely due the loss in value of a 12% stake in EV start-up Rivian Automotive.
The cuts, which will be completed by the end of the week, come less than two months after Ford said it would reorganize operations to separate its electric and internal combustion engine businesses into different units within the automaker.

Ford said eligible employees will receive benefits continuation and severance equal to up to nine months of pay based on service and “career transition services.” A spokeswoman declined to estimate how much the packages will cost the automaker.
The employee cuts, which were first reported by the Detroit Free Press, are only about 1% of the company’s roughly 31,000 U.S. salaried workforce. As of the end of last year, Ford had 186,769 employees globally, with 90,873, or 48.7%, hourly and salaried workers located in the U.S.

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In a first for China, Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai received permission from Beijing city to remove the safety driver for part of their robotaxi business in a suburb.
The cars will still need a staff member to sit inside, but not necessarily in the driver’s seat anymore.
In the U.S., Alphabet’s Waymo and GM’s subsidiary Cruise can already run public robotaxis with no human staff in the vehicles.

Chinese tech companies Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai announced Thursday they received permission from Beijing city authorities to remove the safety driver for part of their robotaxi business in a suburban part of the city.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

BEIJING — China’s capital city has moved one step closer toward letting ordinary people take robotaxis with no driver in them.
In a first for the country, two Chinese companies — Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai — announced Thursday they received permission from Beijing city authorities to remove the safety driver for part of their robotaxi business in a suburban part of the city.

The cars will still need a staff member to sit inside, but not necessarily in the driver’s seat anymore.
It’s a move toward letting the companies run a robotaxi business without having to pay for staff to man the cars — fully eliminating the cost of a taxi driver. It remains unclear when the Chinese government would allow robotaxis to charge fares for rides without any human staff in the cars.
In the U.S., Alphabet’s Waymo and GM’s subsidiary Cruise can already run public robotaxis with no human staff in the vehicles. Laws for testing robotaxis and charging riders vary by city and state.
Waymo can charge customers for its robotaxis that operate in Arizona, while Cruise is waiting for approval on a final permit to charge riders in San Francisco.

Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based advisory firm Sino Auto Insights, pointed out that GM’s Cruise can only operate its driverless robotaxi service in San Francisco at night, while the latest loosening of restrictions in Beijing allows the nearly driverless robotaxis to operate during the day.

That would allow the Chinese operators to collect more data during higher-traffic periods.
Under Beijing city’s new permit, Baidu said it can operate 10 robotaxis without safety drivers, and plans to add 30 more such vehicles at an unspecified later date.

Pony.ai can initially operate four robotaxis without safety drivers under the new rules, and expects to add more in the future, a spokesperson said.
Beijing authorities in the suburban Yizhuang district confirmed Baidu and Pony.ai received the new robotaxi approvals in a press conference Thursday. The government added the operational area tripled to the equivalent of about 23 square miles.

A busy six months for China robotaxi rule changes

Rules for testing and operating robotaxis also vary by region in China.
Beijing city’s latest move comes less than six months since the municipality allowed Baidu and Pony.ai to charge fees for robotaxis in the suburban district of Yizhuang. The approval to charge fares was the first by a major city in China.
Baidu said its Apollo Go robotaxi business subsequently began to charge fares in the municipality of Chongqing in southwestern China and a smaller, central China city of Yangquan in February. The cars still require a safety driver.
On Sunday, the Nansha district of the southern city of Guangzhou gave Pony.ai’s tech-powered robotaxis the same designation as traditional taxis — the first such license in China. The license lets Pony.ai charge fares in the district. The cars currently have safety drivers.
— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

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According to Logan City Council, the facility “blasts sewage with extremely high heat.”
The end product from the process is an odorless biochar which can be used as a fertilizer in agriculture, among other things.
The council is describing the facility as “the first of its kind in Australia.”

A sewage treatment plant. The idea of reusing organic matter or waste in industrial processes and other initiatives is not a new one, and the last few years have seen a number of interesting projects take shape.
Thomas Imo | Photothek | Getty Images

An Australian plant that converts human waste into fertilizer and energy has been opened, with those involved in the project hoping it will reduce carbon emissions and save money.
Located at the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant in Logan City, Queensland, the biosolids gasification facility was developed by Logan Water, the water business of Logan City Council.

According to the council, the 28 million Australian dollar (around $20 million) facility “blasts sewage with extremely high heat.” The Australian Renewable Energy Agency provided $6 million in funding for the project.
The end product from the process is an odorless biochar which can be used as a fertilizer in agriculture, among other things. In a statement Tuesday, the council described the facility as “the first of its kind in Australia.”
Logan Water collaborated with a range of partners to deliver the project’s gasifier. A key component of the project was the installation of two industrial strength driers constructed in Germany by ELIQUO, a Dutch firm. The driers each weigh 34 metric tons and are 18 meters in length.

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“The gasification process involves biosolids (sewage sludge) being dewatered, dried and treated at high temperatures,” the council said. “Heat created from the process is then captured and used in the drying phase.”
Prior to the facility’s opening, trucks had taken the sewage sludge to another site where it was repurposed as low-grade fertilizer.

“Operational cost savings and carbon credits will return almost $1 million annually to the City of Logan while a new revenue stream will be created from biochar sales,” according to the council. Carbon emissions would be lowered by roughly 6,000 metric tons per year, it added.

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Rents for private home climbed 4.2% in the first quarter of this year, compared to a rise of 2.6% in the previous quarter, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
To be clear, interest from Hong Kong is just one piece of the puzzle. Rental prices in Singapore were already moving higher during the pandemic due to demand from various sources.
There are signs that rental demand has grown further.
Co-living start-up Hmlet saw a 25% increase in bookings in January 2022 from December 2021, while serviced apartments managed by Far East Hospitality saw a spike in inquiries and bookings around the end of February.

Stifled by strict Covid restrictions in Hong Kong, residents from the financial hub are continuing to move to its rival, Singapore.
Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images

SINGAPORE — After eight years in Hong Kong, Jonathan Benarr is giving up that city for a new set of attractions — in Singapore.
“Hong Kong was always the fun place to be,” he told CNBC. “Singapore was where you went if you were a bit boring or you had a family.”

“Well, fast forward [two years], Singapore is a shining light,” he said. “You’ve just reopened the bars and the clubs, and people are being treated like adults.”
Stifled by strict Covid restrictions in Hong Kong, some residents from the Chinese financial hub have moved to Singapore, and there are signs that rental demand has gone up.
Private home rents climbed 4.2% in the first quarter of this year, compared to a rise of 2.6% in the previous quarter, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
“Anecdotally, we know that perhaps there are some of those based in Hong Kong looking to relocate to Singapore, and this is contributing to the increase in rents,” said Leonard Tay, head of research at real estate agency Knight Frank Singapore.
To be clear, interest from Hong Kong is not the only reason for rising rents. Rental prices in Singapore were already moving higher during the pandemic due to demand from various sources, including young adults moving out of their parents’ homes and people looking for interim housing because of construction delays.

Hong Kong vs. Singapore travel rules

In Hong Kong, people arriving need to quarantine for at least seven days in a hotel and take multiple Covid tests. Singapore, however, has gradually dropped quarantine requirements since September. From Tuesday, vaccinated visitors will no longer need to take any Covid tests.
“[Hong Kong] just feels backwards,” said Benarr, who is group director of real estate at hospitality company The Mandala Group.
“What was once a progressive city, just feels like it’s no longer interested in being part of the international conversation,” he said.
The Briton is currently packing up his apartment in Hong Kong and moving to Singapore permanently.
In response to CNBC’s request for comment, Hong Kong’s Information Services Department pointed to a speech by Chief Executive Carrie Lam in late March, where she said Hong Kong needs to balance between virus risks and Covid measures.
This is to “enable the city to continue addressing the social and development needs of Hong Kong and the individual circumstances of our people,” she said.
“We couldn’t be too harsh with our people and the people’s tolerance has always been one of the factors that we need to consider in devising the best public health measure for Hong Kong.”

Surge in arrivals from Hong Kong

Visitor arrivals from Hong Kong to Singapore nearly doubled from January to February this year, according to Singapore’s tourism board.
That figure rose further in March, jumping more than 110% from February, official data shows.
Some of those arrivals intend to settle down in Singapore and have turned to co-living spaces or serviced apartments, according to industry players.
Singapore-based co-living start-up Hmlet said there was an “exponential” increase in bookings in January 2022, “which we attribute to demand from Hong Kongers anticipating the imminent tightening of public health protocols.”
Inquiries from Hong Kong jumped 25% from December 2021 to January 2022, Hmlet said.
“Booking pace from Hong Kong has dipped slightly in February and March but remained higher than previous months,” said Giselle Makarachvili, the company’s chief executive officer.
Hong Kong has a dynamic zero strategy for Covid and imposed strict measures from January in a bid to slow the spread of the virus, which included a ban on dining in from 6 p.m. daily.
The city tightened restrictions further in February, though they were eased slightly last Thursday.
Serviced apartments managed by Far East Hospitality also saw a spike in inquiries and bookings around the end of February, though that has since slowed, the company told CNBC.

Permanent relocation?

Some arrivals from Hong Kong are making bookings for as short as two weeks, while others are intending to stay for 12 months, according to data from Hmlet and Far East Hospitality.
“Based on our observation, most bookings from Hong Kong are for permanent relocation to Singapore,” Hmlet’s CEO said.
“Interestingly, we also noted a group of members whose original travel intent was for business but eventually converted to permanent stays,” Makarachvili added.
Around 70% of bookings from Hong Kong at Hmlet Homes were for three-month stays, the minimum required. The remaining 30% of bookings were for longer-term stays of between six and 12 months.
Some 80% of Hmlet Homes’ customers from Hong Kong are families with young children, the CEO added.

This indicates that while guests may relocate for work, they are looking to bring their families along as well.

Tan Chia Hui
head of operations for hotels and serviced residences, Far East Hospitality

Far East Hospitality has received a mix of bookings — from both travelers and businesses looking for interim accommodation for their employees, according to Tan Chia Hui, head of operations for hotels and serviced residences.
The corporate bookings are typically for a period of one to three months, and for bigger units with between two and four bedrooms, she added.
“This indicates that while guests may relocate for work, they are looking to bring their families along as well,” she said.
Co-working firm WeWork said its Singapore locations saw a nearly 13% jump in sales and inquiries from Hong Kong-based companies in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter.
JustCo said it hasn’t observed a substantial increase, but that international financial institutions in Hong Kong are seeking flexible workspaces in Singapore.

Returning Singaporeans

Singaporeans based in Hong Kong have made extended trips back home in recent months, citing the relative freedom that people in the Southeast Asian city now enjoy compared with Hong Kong.
“The main thing was the restrictions,” said a Singaporean who works in the banking industry, who requested anonymity as he did not have permission to speak to the media.
He remained in Singapore for about a month, where he said there was “some degree of normalcy.”
“There’s not much evolution in how [Hong Kong] is handling it, and therefore it doesn’t really give us much hope … that there will be any form of reform or change in the government’s strategy,” he said.
Another Singaporean, who wanted to be known only as Leung, said he bought a one-way ticket to Singapore when Hong Kong announced in February that it planned to test its entire population for Covid three times.
He said that at that point, he felt “the government [had] totally lost it, I have to get out of here.”

In the past, maybe I could have entertained … staying long enough to be a Hong Kong PR, but for now, I think with the current situation, it’s unlikely that I will do so.

Singaporean who works in banking

Some Singaporeans were also motivated to return to visit their home country to see family and friends.
One Singaporean, who works in finance in Hong Kong and declined to be named, said it was a good opportunity to visit loved ones, especially when the Covid situation in the Chinese city worsened earlier this year.
She said her friends used Singapore as a base for short-term business or personal trips to the U.S. and Europe since Singapore doesn’t require fully vaccinated travelers to be quarantined.
Leung regularly crosses the border into Malaysia to visit family, which would not be possible if he were in Hong Kong.

Too little too late?

As of Thursday, Hong Kong began allowing groups of four to gather at any one time, and restaurant operating hours were extended to 10 p.m.
But that’s “not something to celebrate,” said Leung, who works in a financial institution and returned to Hong Kong in April.
In Singapore, limits on social gatherings have been scrapped and social distancing is no longer required. Authorities also recently lifted the 10.30 p.m. cut-off for alcohol sales, and allowed bars and karaoke lounges to reopen again.
It’s great that Hong Kong’s rules are going to be less extreme, but there’s still a long way to go, said Leung.
“If this continues on in Hong Kong for, I don’t know, the next year or so, I think it will be a strong enough reason to leave,” he said.

The Singaporean who works in banking and remained in Singapore for a month said he doesn’t plan to leave Hong Kong immediately, but Covid and political upheaval in the city have made him think about his long-term plans to stay.
“In the past, maybe I could have entertained … staying long enough to be a Hong Kong [permanent resident], but for now, I think with the current situation, it’s unlikely that I will do so,” he said.
Similarly, Leung said he is not in a rush to move back to Singapore, but is open to the idea.
“If something comes along, the numbers are right, it aligns with my career goals, why not right? It’s a good time to move,” he said.

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Commodity prices continued to be a headwind for Ford Motor, CEO Jim Farley told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday, but the company has managed to offset them through its pricing strategy.
“We had a couple of really bad commodities that held up our most profitable units and we think that’s an area where we have upside in second quarter, second half,” Farley said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

Commodity prices continued to be a headwind for Ford Motor, CEO Jim Farley told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday, but the company has managed to offset them through its pricing strategy.
“The commodity pressure, the premium freight we’re seeing, I mean it’s really real. … The good thing is, our pricing has offset all of that. I believe we’re underearning as a company, so we have more costs to do this year, next year, next couple years,” Farley said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

Some of the commodities where Ford has seen higher costs include steel, aluminum, nickel, cobalt and lithium, according to Farley.
“We had a couple of really bad commodities that held up our most profitable units and we think that’s an area where we have upside in second quarter, second half,” he added.
Farley’s comments come as Wall Street fears that higher costs and supply chain snarls will strain General Motors’ and Ford’s earnings this year.
The chief executive also said that the company plans to take further pricing action, particularly on its electric vehicles. Farley told CNBC on Tuesday that he believes the company will be able to produce 150,000 F-150 Lightning EVs within the next year or so, even in the face of supply chain woes.
Ford reported better-than-expected revenue and earnings in its first quarter on Wednesday. Shares of Ford climbed about 1% after hours.

Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Ford.
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Arnold Donald’s decision to step down as Carnival CEO follows some investor pushback over his compensation package, CNBC learned.
Current COO Josh Weinstein, 48, has been picked to be new chief executive.
The leadership change comes as the cruise industry looks for a broader reset following the dark days of the Covid pandemic.

Carnival’s announcement Tuesday that Arnold Donald would step down as CEO of the world’s biggest cruise line came after some investors pushed back at a shareholders meeting earlier this month on metrics tied to the 67-year-old’s 2021 compensation package of $15 million, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC.
“End of an era,” said one investor who asked not be named. The company was not available to respond to a request for comment.

Donald — who will become vice chair, effective Aug. 1 — took the helm as chief executive nine years ago, two of which were spent keeping Carnival afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic by raising billions of dollars in debt and stock.
While Donald no doubt played a leading role in resurrecting the cruise industry from the depths of the pandemic, shares of Carnival have struggled to keep pace with rivals like Royal Caribbean, which about four months ago saw industry veteran Richard Fain step down as CEO after more than 33 years. The 72-year-old remains chairman.

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Carnival shares are down nearly 13% in 2022, slightly more than the 11.5% decline for the S&P 500 during the same year-to-date period, and they are off more than 35% over the past 12 months. In contrast, Royal Caribbean shares are up almost 3% on the year and down only roughly 9% over the past 12 months.
The leadership changes at both Carnival and Royal Caribbean will see a new guard step in to navigate the cruise giants through their next stages of recovery. At Carnival, current COO Josh Weinstein, 48, has been picked to be the new CEO. At Royal Caribbean, former CFO Jason Liberty, 46, stepped into the top job at the beginning of year.
“Change can be a good thing,” Stifel analyst Steven Wieczynski wrote in a recent note to clients.

In the coming weeks, shareholders will want to hear from Weinstein, who has been at Carnival for 20 years, about his game plan for the cruise line and how it may differ from Donald’s approach.
“He’s younger, he should bring in new energy,” Wieczynski told CNBC.

Arnold Donald, CNBC, Carnival Corp.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

As the head of the world’s largest cruise operator, Donald quickly became the face of the industry at the height of the pandemic when numerous ships with Covid-infected guests and crew were left stranded on board for days on end.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fought hard to keep its no sail order in place, Donald played a leading role in driving discussions with lawmakers, industry leaders and the White House in trying to change the course of that order.
As the economy started to rebound in 2021, the outlook for cruising remained bleak. But Donald, one of the few Black CEOs on Wall Street, remained defiantly optimistic about the industry.
At CNBC’s Evolve Global Summit last summer, Donald was asked if he ever doubted whether Carnival could make it through the storm. He said at the time, “I never doubted that we’d make it through, but … it was excruciating.”
At the time of Seatrade’s annual conference in the fall 2021, Carnival ships were slowly getting back to sea after a 15-month suspension. “We know where the road is headed, and the road is headed toward a very bright future,” Donald said during a panel discussion at the event. Fain, then-CEO of Royal Caribbean, was also on the panel and expressed similar optimism.
The pandemic wasn’t Donald’s first crisis. He joined Carnival in 2013, the year a fire knocked out power on the Carnival Triumph’s sanitation system, stranding more than 4,200 passengers and crew members at sea for days in miserable conditions. The previous year, one of Carnival’s ships, the Costa Concordia, capsized off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

Getty Images

In the five years of Donald’s tenure as CEO, Carnival’s stock price nearly doubled, reaching an all-time high of $72.70 per share in January 2018. Since then, shares have retreated due in part to the pandemic, trading at $17.41 per share as of Wednesday’s close.
However, demand for cruising is rebounding with Carnival revealing three weeks ago that it saw a record week of bookings in the company’s history.
“Demand for cruises is very strong in the back half of this year, and into 2023. Those who haven’t cruised for two years, they are ready to go,” Wieczynski said.
New data from the Cruise Lines International Association trade group also conveys people’s intent to cruise now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
As bookings rebound, Carnival has brought back nearly 75% of its ships, while also letting go of older, less fuel-efficient ships.
Analysts and investors are waiting to see when the cruise lines will become cash flow positive. Executives from both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have said that would happen sometime in the next few months.

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