50% of NCLH guests asked for refunds on canceled cruises

About half of all guests on canceled Norwegian Cruise Line
Holdings (NCLH) sailings through April 17 have requested cash refunds, the
company said on Monday. 

The parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises
and Regent Seven Seas Cruises said that as of March 31 it had $1.8 billion in
advanced ticket sales, which included approximately $850 million for previously
announced cancellations through June 30 and about $350 million for cruises
scheduled for the remainder of 2020. 

To persuade customers to forgo a cash refund, all three lines are offering future cruise credits typically
for 125% of the cruise fare paid. 

NCLH said it has experienced “meaningful softness in
near-term demand and elevated cancellations” and that advanced bookings for the
remainder of 2020 were “meaningfully lower than the prior year with pricing
down low-single digits.”

However, the company said people are still booking cruises
and that booking trends indicate demand for cruise vacations in both “the
medium and longer term.” The company said 2021 bookings are essentially flat with
pricing down in the mid-single digits.

“Norwegian continues to take future bookings for 2020, 2021
and 2022, and receive new customer deposits and final payments on these
bookings,” NCLH said. 

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, NCLH said that 2020 was off
to a strong start with all three of its brands entering the year “in a record
booked position and at higher prices on a comparable basis. For the first two
months of the year, ships sailed full at prices that were higher than prior
year despite healthy capacity growth of approximately 7%.” 

NCLH withdrew the first-quarter and full-year 2020 guidance
it had provided earlier this year due to the “rapidly evolving impacts from the
pandemic, the temporary suspension of sailings globally and the uncertainty and
fluidity of the ongoing situation” and said it expects to report a net loss for
both the first quarter and the entire year.

“If the temporary suspension of sailings is further
extended, the company’s liquidity and financial position would likely continue
to be significantly impacted,” NCLH said.