Carnival Corporation (CCL: sentiment, chart, options) was bombarded by call speculators on Tuesday, after the cruise guru received a bullish brokerage note at Wedbush Morgan. During the course of the session, the security saw 9,835 calls cross the tape nearly seven times its average daily volume of fewer than 1,500 contracts.

Most of the traders appear to have been initiating bullish positions in the January 2010 series of options. More specifically, the January 35 call saw more than 8,800 contracts change hands 89% of which traded at the ask price, implying they were likely bought. The out-of-the-money 35 strike is now the clear home to peak call open interest in the back-month series, with close to 13,250 calls outstanding.

As a result of the influx in call open interest, CCL's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) gravitated lower overnight from 1.38, in the 58th annual percentile, to a more optimistically aligned 1.11, in the 45th annual percentile. In other words, near-term option traders are now more bullishly biased than usual toward CCL.

Further reflecting the escalating optimism among option players is the latest data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). The stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 0.85 ranks in the 78th percentile when compared to similar readings taken during the past year, suggesting that speculators on the ISE/CBOE have bought to open CCL calls at a much more rapid pace than usual lately.

At last check, CCL has added 1.8% to hang out in the $32.75 region.