NCL Holdings says cruisers eager for exotic sailings

Oceania Cruises' Marina.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) said that consumers are booking cruises to far-flung destinations in 2021, with Japan and Dubai among the top itineraries, along with several world cruise segments.

NCLH CEO Frank Del Rio said during the company's earnings call that for its Oceania and Regent brands, demand for those itineraries in the first and second quarters of next year indicates that people will be willing to take long-haul flights.

"And so, this notion that people aren't going to want to cruise to faraway places or exotic destinations, what we're seeing is defying that," he said. "So we're not seeing any particular area of strength other than these Japanese itineraries, these world cruise segments that are sold out, literally."

Del Rio also said during the call that he anticipates it would take about six months to resume service across its entire, three-brand fleet.

"The return to service of a phased approach of roughly five vessels per month is what we believe we operationally could handle in terms of bringing back the ships from cold lay-up, including re-crewing the vessels etc.," Del Rio said. "Given that we have 28 vessels if you bring back an average of five vessels a month, it's going to take about six months to get all ships back operating."

During the earnings call, Del Rio said that timeline assumes that the itineraries those ships would operate are available.

"So the six-month ramp-up assumes more than anything else our operational capability to ramp up and that the ports are open," he said.

Del Rio said that consumer demand is not a concern.

"We believe consumer demand and the bookings that follow are based on our ability to market, travel agents being back open again, the whole industry being back in operation as opposed to sitting idle," he said. "There is pent-up demand, let's not forget that. People only talk about the negative, but the fact that the industry has been shut down now over four months, there'll be pent-up demand. People will want to cruise again."

He also acknowledged that it will take time for cruising to come back to where it had been.

"We just have to be patient," he said, adding that "no one is more impatient than me. But I recognize that this is going to be a recovery effort that's going to take multiple quarters, perhaps multiple years to get back to the good old days of 2019."

$211M loss in the first quarter

NCLH reported an expected loss of $211.3 million for the first quarter of 2020, compared with income of $181.8 million one year prior. Revenue decreased 11.2%, to $1.2 billion, compared to $1.4 billion in 2019, for the quarter ended March 31.

NCLH said it had "taken decisive action to significantly strengthen our financial position" in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic, including the company's $2.4 billion capital raise, which Del Rio said positions the line "to weather an unlikely scenario of over 18 months of suspended voyages."

"Our guests continue to demonstrate their desire for cruise vacations," Del Rio said. "And we continue to experience demand for voyages further in the future across our three brands."

NCLH reported "significant softness in near-term demand and an elevated rate of cancellations for existing bookings."

But the company also said there "continues to be demand for cruise vacations, particularly beginning in the fourth quarter 2020 accelerating through 2021."

The company reported that slightly more than half of its guests booked on cancelled sailings had requested cash refunds instead of future cruise credits.

NCLH said that it had begun developing a comprehensive and multifaceted strategy to enhance its health and safety protocols, including "enhanced screenings, upgraded cleaning and disinfection protocols and plans for social distancing."

NCLH said it had furloughed approximately 20% of its shoreside workforce through July 31.