As trading starts to wind down for Tuesday, Aug. 16, shares of cruise line stocks are winding back up. As of 3:35 p.m. ET, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH) stock is sporting a 3.2% gain, followed by Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), which is rising 3.7%. Leading the whole pack higher, meanwhile, is industry bellwether Carnival (NYSE: CCL), up 4.6%.

And indeed, it turns out that Carnival is the source of today's good news -- because Carnival has announced it's sailing in the wake of Norwegian Cruise Line and changing its COVID-19 policies to attract more customers.

Last week, Norwegian announced that it's revising its SailSAFE health and safety protocols to "further align the Company to the broader travel, leisure and hospitality industry worldwide." Henceforth, guests under age 12 can board Norwegian ships without proving either vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results. Guests over the age of 12 who have been vaccinated will not have to present a negative COVID-19 test in order to board -- and unvaccinated guests will be able to board if they present a negative test. (Debarking may be a different question, however, as local regulations at Norwegian's ports of call will vary.)  

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Source Fool.com