Cruise Industry Capacity Growth Concerns Have Been Debunked

Posted on 10 May, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

With the cruise industry set to grow at between 4 and 6 per cent per year according to the 2021 Cruise Industry News Annual Report, are there concerns about too many ships and weakened pricing?

No, according to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings President and CEO Frank Del Rio.

“I think that the narrative of too much capacity coming online pre-pandemic had pretty much been debunked,” he said, on the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “All the cruise line were taking on the new (ships), digesting that new capacity very nicely and increasing pricing. And so we always – our comeback always was, we only have 28 ships. There are many underserved markets that we simply don’t have ships to operate in.

“And so we’re eager to get our hands on our new vessels, all nine of them across the three brands. And what we’re seeing now within the pandemic is pricing is strong, demand is stronger than ever. I mean, to give you a nugget of data. The Oceania and Regent brands reached their 50 per cent load factor for 2022 over 100 days earlier than they did for the record year of 2019 … pricing power is there.”

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Cancels All April Cruises

Posted on 1 February, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings today announced an extension of its previously announced suspension of global cruise voyages as the company continues to work through its return to service plan to meet the requirements of the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”).

The suspension now includes all voyages on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises embarking through April 30, 2021.

The company will continue to work in tandem with global government and public health authorities and its Healthy Sail Panel expert advisors to take all necessary measures to protect its guests, crew and the communities visited.

Guests who are currently booked on cancelled voyages on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises or Regent Seven Seas Cruises are asked to contact their travel advisor or the cruise line for more information.

Norwegian Cruise Line To Repatriate All Non-Essential Crew

Posted on 1 February, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Joy pictured above.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings will repatriate all crew members that joined recently and are not part of the skeleton crew aboard the fleet, according to Crew Center who cites an announcement made at a meeting.

This announcement comes just a couple of months after Norwegian boarded thousands of crew members to prepare the ships for a resumption of service after the CDC regulations allowed for conditional cruising, which has now been pushed to at least May.

“(T)he crew onboard received a letter with all the details regarding the latest repatriation process,” Crew Center reported.

According to the Crew Center website, the repatriation will take place on two appointed ships: The Norwegian Joy and the Norwegian Encore.

The Joy will be gathering non-essential crew from the ships stationed in the Caribbean and then proceed to the Philippines; while the Encore will be collecting crew on its journey from Southampton to Asia.

“The repatriation process will be similar to the one that took place last year with crew transfers to the appropriate vessel, before the crew finally sails to their homes in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, with anticipated arrival to the final destinations in late March or early April 2021,” Crew Center wrote.

“This will be a long and sad journey for all the crew onboard as their hopes and dreams to be the first to set sail with guests onboard will not materialize at this point. They have made countless sacrifices, PCR tests, and quarantines to join the ships again to serve guests and ultimately provide for their family,” it added.

According to Crew Center, this decision did not come easy to Norwegian and was not in the company plan. The cruise line promised the crew members who are to be repatriated that they’ll be prioritized for new assignments “as much as possible.”