Tag Archives: NCLH

The Big Three Cruise Corporations Continue to Burn Cash. Here’s How Much.

Posted on by
Reply

Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings are still burning through cash as some ships emerge from lay-up back into operations. 

Cash burn numbers may be up in the third quarter with added costs to reactivate ships, needed maintenance, potential drydocks, procurement, getting crew back and more.

Only one out of the three big cruise companies provided estimates on third-quarter cash burn, indicating it would be up close to 45 per cent. 

Carnival Corporation

For Carnival Corporation, the company’s cash burn for the first half of 2021 was $500 million per month, which was better than a previous forecast of $550. The improvement was mainly due to the timing of cash received from ship sales just before the end of the second quarter and some other small working capital changes.

With ships quickly relaunching, and a short booking window for cruises announced close to departure, the company said it will not provide a forecast for its third-quarter cash burn rate.

Independence of the Seas in Southampton Photo credit Dave Jones

Royal Caribbean Group

Royal Caribbean reported its average monthly cash burn rate for the second quarter of 2021 at approximately $330 million, slightly higher than the prior quarter as the company returned additional ships into operation. 

Similar to Carnival, Royal Caribbean would be not providing a forecast for the third quarter.

“The environment remains fluid, and for this reason, we are not providing a cash burn estimate or the related offsets generated by revenue and new customer deposits. I will highlight that the burn rate for the ships that are kept at layoff is expected to be consistent with our previous expectations,” said Jason Liberty, executive vice president and CFO, on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Norwegian Star in Mexico Photo Credit Dave Jones

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said its average cash burn in the second quarter was $200 million per month, higher than its guidance of $190 million driven by the announcement of additional ship relaunches in the company’s voyage resumption plan and the associated restart expenses.

“As for the third quarter, we expect our average monthly cash burn rate to increase to approximately $285 million as restart expenses accelerate with additional vessels entering service,” said Mark Kempa, executive vice president and CFO. “Restart expenses are primarily related to repositioning, provisioning and stopping of vessels, implementing new health and safety protocols and a measured ramp-up of demand-generating marketing investments.”

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings: Brand by Brand Restart Update

Posted on by
1

Building up its return to service, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings plans to have most of its fleet back in service by early 2022.

Here’s the latest, brand by brand: 

First sailing: July 25, 2021
Ships: Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Breakaway, Pride of America, Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Spirit
Regions: Mediterranean, Caribbean, Bermuda, Hawaii, West Coast, Bahamas, Panama Canal, Asia and Australia

According to its current plans, Norwegian Cruise Line will have 13 ships back in service by February 2022.

The first ship to resume cruising will be the Norwegian Jade, which is set to offer new itineraries from Greece starting on July 25. Later, in September, two additional vessels are entering service in Europe as the Norwegian Epic and the Norwegian Getaway resume their originally announced schedule in the Western Mediterranean.

The return to the United States and the Caribbean is set to start in August, with the Norwegian Bliss sailing in the Alaska. Gradually, more vessels are being reactivated, including in other destinations, such as Asia and Australia.

Oceania Cruises
First sailing: August 29, 2021
Ships: Marina, Riviera, Insignia and Sirena
Regions: Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Caribbean and World Cruise  

Norwegian’s upper premium brand, Oceania Cruises plans to reenter service in August. The company announced that it will resume cruise operations with the 1,250-guest Marina sailing in Scandinavia and Western Europe.

The vessel will resume her originally published voyage schedule, commencing on August 29, 2021, in Copenhagen.

Phased restart dates for the balance of the Oceania Cruises fleet are on the plans, with three additional ships resuming service between October 2021 and January 2022.

Regent Seven Seas
First sailing: September 11, 2021
Ships: Seven Seas Splendor, Seven Seas Explorer, Seven Seas Mariner, Seven Seas Navigator and Seven Seas Voyager  
Regions: Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Panama Canal and World Cruise

Regent Seven Seas Cruises announced its return to sailing with Seven Seas Splendor. The vessel will begin cruising from the UK in September, resuming its previously scheduled itineraries in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

The resumption plan for the rest of the fleet includes all vessels being reactivated until February 2022.

While most of the ships are set to sail previously announced itineraries in Europe or the Caribbean, the Seven Seas Mariner will offer a World Cruise. The vessel is poised to sail on a published Panama Canal itinerary, before starting the 120-night itinerary on January 5, 2022.

Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio: ‘Let Us Cruise’

Posted on by
Reply

“Just let us cruise, CDC,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), on the company’s Thursday earnings call, expressing his frustration with what he called ridiculous regulations and overreach by the agency.

“But is it not just the CDC (holding the industry back),” Del Rio added. “To be fair, the rest of the world has to open up as well – Europe, Asia and South America.

“How quickly we can return to normal will depend on travel restrictions being lifted and borders being opened.

“There are 50 million people who have not been able to cruise for the last year and a half and now want to cruise. There is pent up demand setting us up for a beautiful scenario to improve pricing.”

Forward bookings and pricing are up compared to 2019 which was a record year, Del Rio said. 

Part of Del Rio’s frustration comes from Norwegian submitting an “ironclad proposal” to the CDC on April 5 and has not yet received an answer, which also puts the mid-July return to service in jeopardy.

Among the impractical and onerous requirements, the CDC has released is that passengers must wear face masks onboard all the time, only lifting the mask to take a bite of food or a sip of a drink, according to Del Rio. He said he was hoping these requirements would not be applicable to fully vaccinated ships.

NCLH will require 100 per cent vaccinations of passengers and crew wherever the ships are sailing and do not plan to participate in the simulated sailing program of the CDC, Del Rio noted.

He said he was outraged that the cruise industry is being treated differently than airlines, casinos, etc. and said that cruise ships will be the safest place on earth.

“We will have 100 per cent vaccinated passengers and crew in addition to our SailSAFE program,” he said.