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Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship departs from Port Canaveral
Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship departs from Port Canaveral (Paul Hennessy/Getty Images)

Carnival shares glide higher as the cruise giant orders $2 billion worth of new ships

The world’s largest cruise operator is beefing up its fleet as it rides a wave of record bookings.

Nia Warfield

Carnival shares jumped as much as 7% in Tuesday’s market rally, snapping a recent losing streak as travel stocks bounce back from consumer spending jitters.

The bounce comes a day after Carnival announced a $2 billion order for two new ships for its German brand AIDA Cruises — the most popular cruise line in that country. The new midsize vessels, built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, are set for delivery in 2030 and 2032. Carnival is sailing with its largest fleet ever of 29 ships and plans to introduce five more by 2028.

The big ship buy comes just weeks after Carnival sailed past Q1 estimates with record profits, but issued a softer full-year outlook, sending shares lower. Still, the cruise operator is expanding its fleet as it scores record bookings, fueled by a mix of first-time guests, brand switchers, and loyal customers willing to pay premium prices.

Rival cruise lines Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line also jumped during the travel sector rally.

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GM has reportedly rehired more than 100 former Cruise employees, 18 months after shuttering the robotaxi unit

GM has rehired more than 100 employees it let go early last year when it shuttered Cruise, its former robotaxi business, according to reporting by The Information.

The hiring spree, which also includes employees from Nvidia and Uber, is geared toward ramping up GM’s plans for personal-use self-driving vehicles and not robotaxis. The former had been the focus of Cruise, prior to GM shuttering it in 2024.

Reporting last fall revealed that GM was attempting to rehire some former Cruise employees, but the scope of that effort wasn’t clear. More than 1,000 employees were laid off when the automaker scrapped Cruise, which it invested $10 billion into.

Google’s Waymo, Cruise’s former chief rival, is now worth $126 billion after a $16 billion funding round earlier this year. The company says it’s serving 500,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US.

Reporting last fall revealed that GM was attempting to rehire some former Cruise employees, but the scope of that effort wasn’t clear. More than 1,000 employees were laid off when the automaker scrapped Cruise, which it invested $10 billion into.

Google’s Waymo, Cruise’s former chief rival, is now worth $126 billion after a $16 billion funding round earlier this year. The company says it’s serving 500,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US.

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