NCLH reports ‘strong momentum’ as it...

Group chief highlights 'sustained robust demand' across all three lines

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has posted three consecutive quarters of record-breaking results, its earnings call heard.

President and chief executive Harry Sommer said the company, which operates Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, achieved its highest quarterly gross revenue and adjusted Ebitda in the company’s history for the last consecutive three quarters in 2024.

This has led to an upgrade in its full-year guidance for the fourth time this year.

He added: “Our strong momentum for the first half of the year, from a combination of the continued focus and execution by our teams on our strategic initiative and successful cost efforts, coupled with sustained robust demand, has continued into the third quarter, resulting in exceptional performance.”

NCLH said these topline growth figures were down to the “exceptionally solid demand and pricing” across all three cruise lines and in all regions, particularly for Alaska, Canada and New England sailings.

Sommer said: “The cruise consumer has continued to show strength. This resilience has allowed us to take advantage of the strong demand we experienced in the third quarter.”

Advanced ticket sales for the quarter were up 6% compared to the previous year and outpaced capacity growth, which Sommer attributed to “robust pricing, a dynamic deployment mix, increased pre-sale packages and capacity growth”.

NCLH also highlighted “stronger-than-anticipated” onboard revenue across the board, particularly shore excursions.

At the same time, pre-booked onboard revenue improved in the mid-single digits compared to last year and nearly doubling on 2019 levels was “another sign of consumer health and confidence”.

Looking to next year, Sommer said it was “essentially fully sold” on a cabin basis for the next 12 months and confirmed pricing and load was above or in line with this year’s levels across all four quarters and full-year next year.

However, yield was a more important priority for the company, as he added: “We don’t focus on record booked position, we focus on record yield.

“I can’t take booked position to the bank. I can only take book yield to the bank, and that’s 100% of our focus.”

In terms of new ships joining the fleet, Sommer confirmed NCL Aqua was “making excellent progress” towards its launch in early 2025 and called out Oceania Cruises’ Allura and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Prestige in the pipeline.

Sommer also mentioned NCL’s ‘More At Sea’ initiative and Oceania Cruises’ ‘Your World Included‘ which offer guests more onboard as helping “drive increased demand”.

He stressed NCLH was focussed on its 2026 targets, adding: “Longer term we will stick with moderate capacity growth, low to mid-single digit yield growth and low inflationary cost growth.”

To partner with NCL, email Rebecca Ransom, Business Development Manager Middle East, rransom@ncl.com, call/WhatsApp: +44 7961 300 729; for more information, visit www.ncl.com

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