Travel Roundup: Carnival's Piracy Concerns, Station Casinos Gets 30 Days, American Airlines Blames Recession and More

Carnival Corp. addresses piracy concerns – Carnival Corp. said it is working with the U.S. military and British Ministry of Defence to protect passengers and crew from pirate attacks. Piracy became a growing concern since Somali pirates took an American freighter captain hostage off Africa’s coast earlier this month. In 2005, a cruise ship sailing under Carnival’s Seabourn brand was attacked by pirates off the Somali coast. A Carnival spokesman said that the company has no scheduled ships venturing near Africa’s eastern coast, but may have specialty cruises near the location. [Source: Associated Press]

Station Casinos Inc. gets 30-day reprieve from lenders — Station Casinos Inc. won a 30-day extension from lenders, allowing debt negotiations to continue instead of filing bankruptcy. The reprieve allows the company a month to restructure its financing with lender approval. Station hasn’t made a bond interest payment since February and lenders granted forebearance in exchange for higher interest rates during the negotiations. The casino operator was taken private by Colony Capital LLC in 2007. The company had $5.78 billion in long-term debt at the end of 2008. [Source: Bloomberg]

American’s $375 million loss blamed on recession — AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines Inc., reported Wednesday that it lost $375 million in the first quarter of 2009 because the recession dampened consumer demand. AMR said it lost $1.35 per share on revenue of $4.84 billion, compared to a net loss of $341 million, or $1.37 a share, on revenue of $5.70 billion in first quarter 2008. While rising oil prices caused problems in 2008, 2009’s declining revenues resulted from AMR’s decision to cut flight capacity. [Source: Dallas Morning News]

Holland America Line introduces new Alaskan cruise itinerary — Holland America Line  introduced a new 14-day Alaskan Adventurer cruise itinerary for 2010 which joins its three other cruises — the Alaskan Explorer, Glacier Discovery and Glacier Bay Inside Passage. The new schedule offers eight ships and 149 total departures from May 3 through September 24, 2010. [Source: Holland America]