Over the past 45 days, as several cruise ships have had severe outbreaks of COVID-19 onboard and in many cases have been stranded for days before finding a place willing to let them dock and offload passengers, CruiseCompete.com has recorded a 40% increase in its 2021 cruise bookings compared to 2019, the company told the Los Angeles Times.

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The site's president said based on available data, demand for post-pandemic cruise bookings is still strong, an encouraging sign for cruise lines currently taking a huge financial hit and seeing their market value plummet.

The Times also noted that a recent analysis by Swiss bank UBS found that over the past 30 days, the number of cruise bookings for 2021 has increased by 9% compared to the same period in 2020, including a substantial number of people booking new cruises. instead of simply rebooking canceled cruises.

Indeed, UBS reported that 76% of people who had a canceled cruise in 2020 chose to accept credit for a future cruise in 2021, versus 24% who accepted a refund.

The LA Times also cited a survey of 4.600 cruise customers conducted by CruiseCritic.com, in which 75% of respondents said they planned to continue to book cruises at the same rate as before the coronavirus outbreak ended, compared to 24% who said they planned to book cruises less frequently.

One of the Harris Poll poll released March 31  also found that while demand for cruises is still expected to recover at a slower rate than other travel methods such as hotel and airline bookings, only 22% of respondents said it would take "a year or more" for longer. time “before they go back on a cruise.

The two largest outbreaks have occurred on the Diamond Princess and Ruby Princess cruise ships, both operated by the Carnival Cruise Corporation. After the outbreaks, Carnival saw its share price plummet by 80%.

More recently, the ships Holland America MS Zaandam and MS Rotterdam docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after an outbreak aboard the Zaandam sickened dozens of passengers and resulted in four deaths.

See all confirmed cases on cruise ships around the world

Following multiple onboard coronavirus outbreaks, the CDC has banned Carnival, Norwegian Cruises and Royal Caribbean cruise lines from sailing U.S. waters until at least July. These three companies alone account for $60 billion of the cruise market.

And because the vast majority of cruise lines aren't incorporated or headquartered in the US to avoid corporate taxes, the industry as a whole has been largely excluded from the $2 trillion economic stimulus package President Donald Trump signed in March.

Now that cruise lines have had to cancel voyages or sail empty ships, employees at lines including Holland America, Princess Cruises and Australia-based P&O Cruises are facing cutbacks and layoffs, Mark Matousek reported to the press on Friday.

“Cruise lines, as evidenced by the stocks, are in a world of pain right now with no clear light at the end of the tunnel,” Patrick Scholes, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, recently told Meghan Morris of Business Insider, adding that “millions of dollars” asks about the dollar “for the survival of these cruise lines is when they can start operations again.

While cruise lines have taken a huge financial hit and are facing serious challenges getting back on track after the crisis, the loyalty of their customer base and increased bookings, even amidst a pandemic that has spread to cruise ships, show a slice of hope for an industry in trouble.