The company, which owns Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, said that its booking position for next year was “meaningfully ahead” of 2019’s record levels with higher prices too.
The company resumed operations last week with Norwegian Jade sailing in the Greek islands, while US cruises are due to restart on Saturday (7 August) when Norwegian Encore departs from Seattle on an itinerary to Alaska.
Cruises from Florida are due to resume on 15 August with Norwegian Gem sailing from Miami. Although this is subject to ongoing court action against the state of Florida so that the cruise company can require all passengers to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
NCL Holdings expects to have 40% of its capacity operating by the end of September 2021 and 75% by the end of the year. All of the company’s 28 ships across the three brands are scheduled to back in operation by 1 April 2022.
Frank Del Rio, chief executive of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said: “As we recommence operations, we are putting health and safety at the forefront with our robust, science-backed SailSafe health and safety programme, including our 100% vaccination policy which applies across all voyages on our three brands.
“We are ready and eager to welcome guests back onboard and continue to see incredible strength in our booking trends for future cruises.
"Our team is working tirelessly to execute on our plan to return our full fleet to operation by April 2022 to capitalise on this unparalleled pent-up demand.”
NCL Holidays had advance ticket sales of $1.4 billion at the end of June, including around $800 million in future cruise credits.
The company made a net loss of $718 million in the second quarter of this year, and a $2.1 billion loss during the first half of 2021. Revenue between April and June fell to just $4.4 million as all voyages were suspended for the entire quarter across the three cruise brands.
