Cruise company stocks are surging in April despite the coronavirus pandemic

U.S. cruise line stocks popped on Tuesday after Carnival CEO Arnold Donald said in an interview that customers are already booking trips for 2021.

Flashback: The comments mirrored what Donald told me in an interview last month for "Axios on HBO" that the company had interest from potential customers until it shut down operations.

• "All the way up until the day we paused people wanted to cruise."

The intrigue: Carnival's stock has risen 30% so far this month.

• The stock rose 8% on Tuesday (a week after a 20% gain) and has seen a gain or loss of less than 5% on just one trading day this month.
• Other cruise companies also saw major surges in their stock prices Tuesday, with Royal Caribbean rising 13.4% and Norwegian Cruise Line gaining 8.7%.

But, but, but: Carnival's stock price is still down 75% since the beginning of the year.