Royal Caribbean Blog

If there was an over-arching theme to Royal Caribbean Group's earnings call on Monday, it was the notion that its customers want to cruise as soon as it becomes available again.  

The phrase "pent up demand" was used a number of times throughout the call to characterize what Royal Caribbean sees as a public that wants to make up for lost vacation time in 2020 due to the current global health crisis.  

Over the course of the hour-long call, the phrase "pent up demand" was used five times.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley was the first to bring it up, saying it was a combination of a reflection of bookings and personal belief.

"I'm kind of hopeful that we're going to see a lot of pent up demand. And certainly when you look at our bookings by quarter in '21, there's a lot of activity as we move into the summer."

"And I think a lot of people have written off this summer. They've decided that there's not going to be a big summer vacation for all of the reasons that we know. But people certainly want to have a vacation next year."

The notion of this built-in demand has made up for a lack of direct advertising that has been cut out since the start of the shutdown.

Royal Caribbean Group Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty saw an upward trend into mid-2021 of increased bookings.

"You see this kind of line as you kind of get into the early to mid part of the second quarter, where there's just strong demand for for the season and beyond. It's almost as if the consumer has somewhat kind of focus on that's when it will be. It will be time for them to to deal with this pent up demand that Michael had had talked about."

Willingness to pay more

Not only are consumers eager to cruise again, they are willing to pay more.

Cruise line executives talked how pricing for 2021 cruises is averaging higher than 2020, and people are still paying it.

"There's strength in the Caribbean, European products, Alaskan products and so forth," Mr. Liberty said,  "So it's not just one thing, but it's it's really clear as we get kind of mid to two and beyond that, there is there's high demand and our consumers are willing to pay at or above the historical level."

"The patterns that we're seeing is with strength and our guests are willing to to pay more than what they paid for same time last year in 2019."

This phenomena is also in part because guests have an extra 25% future cruise credit to spend, and Mr. Liberty believes this may slow down once the FCCs start being used up.

How many people have used their FCCs?

There was an interesting breakdown at the end of the call about how guests are using their future cruise credits, and the breakdown of customer deposits on hand.

Royal Caribbean indicated they have $1.8 billion in customer deposits. Mr. Liberty said about $900 million of that is in FCCs, and about 40-45% are non-refundable FCCs.

"And so far there's been about a third of those [125% non-refundable credits] FCCs that have been applied, " Mr. Liberty noted, "there's been about about 20 percent [Cruise with Confidence credits] that has been applied to date."

Royal Caribbean Group executives talked about some of the hottest cruise topics being discussed these days during a conference call with Wall Street investors.

This routine meeting focuses on the financial outlook for the company, but it also provides tremendous insight into what we can expect from a guest standpoint.

During the hour-long call, the Royal Caribbean Group answered questions and commented on a variety of topics of interest to cruisers.

Selling older ships?

The big question cruisers have asked over the last few weeks is if Royal Caribbean has any plans to sell ships, and that exact question was asked by an investor.

Royal Caribbean Group Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty spoke on evaluating plans to sell ships in the future, but nothing planned for now.

Mr. Liberty said Royal Caribbean typically sells one to two ships per year, but nothing to report today.

"This time we are evaluating opportunities to to sell ships or to take other actions with ships."

"If we don't think we have a good plan for that ship, for it to be generating sizable returns or it's difficult to make it a strategic fit to our brand by modernizing and so forth, we have looked to to to sell the ships."

"We're valuating all all options, but of course, we've put a lot of money into these ships. These ships do exceptionally well, and so it's a difficult decision to depart with ship because they generate so much cash."

New ships and projects delayed or cancelled

One interesting anecdote came at the beginning of the call, when Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain gave an update on its big-money expenditures to indicate these are being pushed back.

In order to reduce expenses and improve cash conservation goals, spending on new projects has been hitting the brakes, according to Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain.

"On top of all these efforts, most of our capital projects have been delayed or canceled because we don't know how long it will take to get beyond this epidemic."

"These are painful, but these are necessary decisions, I have to say that these five months have been the longest five months any of us can remember now since the crisis began."

No rush to start cruising immediately

While many cruise fans are very eager for cruises to resume, Royal Caribbean Group executives were insistent that they while they are equally eager to resume operations, they will only do so when it is safe to do so.

Mr. Fain emphasized the important of getting it right before cruises start up again.

"But it's fair to say that there is still a lot of uncertainty against this backdrop. We will not rush to return to service until we are confident that we have figured out the changes that we must make to offer our guests and crew strong health and safety protocols with the enjoyable experience that they rightly expect."

"We believe that our health is healthy. Return to service program will help get us there."

"Humbled and surprised" at 2021 bookings

Ever since the cruise shutdown began in March, Royal Caribbean has seen a tremendous amount of loyalty from its repeat customers.  

Once again, this quarter saw substantial bookings being made by past cruisers, which have largely buoyed the company's bottom line.

Mr. Fain started off the call with the surprising trend continuing, "We have been both humbled and surprised with the amount of bookings we're seeing for 2021, with literally no marketing efforts, and frankly, very little good news."

"The tone of our bookings, especially as we get into the second half of 2021, has been encouraging."

Since Royal Caribbean's last earnings call, Mr. Liberty noted bookings have averaged more than double the levels seen during the first eight weeks of the global cruise suspension.

He also noted good or bad news has an effect on bookings.

"The cadence of demand has generally been determined by the news cycle, we've received higher levels of bookings prior to the news regarding a surge of COVID-19 cases, and a decline thereafter."

"Bookings have been softer for the first quarter, but quite strong for the summer and back half of 2021."

China or Australia cruises could start first

While cruises from North America are stuck in limbo due to government regulations, the possibility of cruises resuming elsewhere first was broached during the call.

Royal Caribbean has no firm plans yet, but there is a possibility cruises could start up in places like China or Australia first, and even later this year.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley noted that while cruise operations are suspended until November, Australia and China are the exceptions.

"It may well be possible that we'll resume operations in China and potentially Australia before the end of October."

"But it's uncertain, and I not make any statements that that's going to happen, but there's some possibility.

Timeline for working with the CDC

The major obstacle for Royal Caribbean to resuming cruises where most of its customers are located is getting cruises back in North America, and questions were asked about when that might occur.

Specifically, analysts wanted to get a sense of how Royal Caribbean's Healthy Sail Panel recommendations arrival by the end of this month will coincide with the CDC's request for public comment on cruises restarting.

Mr. Bayley gave his view on the general timeline, "So the timing kind of starts to come together with with all of the public comment concluding towards the end of September, our work concluding towards the end of August. We think that that is some good opportunity in terms of how that comes together."

"I think it's important to to note that, as we know, there's just a huge amount of uncertainty with with how this will play out, and obviously, one of the biggest dynamics is, what's occurring with COVID itself."

Royal Caribbean Group reported its second quarter 2020 financial results on Monday with a $1.6 billion loss for the quarter.

The Company reported US GAAP Net Loss for the second quarter of 2020 of $1.6 billion or $7.83 per share compared to US GAAP Net Income of $472.8 million or $2.25 per share during the same time last year.

The 2020 results include a non-cash asset impairment loss of $156.5 million.  

The Company reported Adjusted Net Loss of $1.3 billion or $6.13 per share for the second quarter of 2020 compared to Adjusted Net Income of $532.7 million or $2.54 per share in the prior year.  The Net Loss for the quarter is a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business.

State of Royal Caribbean's business

In addition to the quarterly results, Royal Caribbean group provided a business update on what initiatives and changes it is doing during this shutdown.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO touted its work with the Healthy Sail Panel to be ready to start up operations when the time is right.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is posing an unprecedented challenge to our industry and society. Our teams are working tirelessly to return to service soonest and doing so by developing new health and safety protocols to protect the well-being of our guests, crew and destinations we visit." 

"In the meantime, we are using this time to refine our operations to be as efficient as we can while providing the great experiences that so many people are eagerly awaiting."

Cash flow update

With the cruise lines shutdown and another quarterly loss, many investors are curious about the cash flow situation.

Royal Caribbean Group has prioritized its liquidity, "working to ensure it is well positioned for recovery." As of June 30, 2020, the Company had liquidity of approximately $4.1 billion all in the form of cash and cash equivalents.

Since the last earnings call, Royal Caribbean Group has

• The issuance of $1.0 billion of priority guaranteed notes and $1.15 billion of convertible notes;
• The issuance of GBP 300 million of commercial paper in the UK providing over $370 million of additional liquidity;
• Completed a $0.9 billion 12-month debt amortization holiday from all export-credit backed facilities;
• Amended over $11 billion of commercial bank and export credit facilities to provide covenant waivers through the fourth quarter of 2021; and
• Further reduced operating expenses due to the fleet layup measures and actions to decrease sales, marketing and administrative expenses.

Of interest to cruise fans, Royal Caribbean has $11.3 billion of committed credit facilities that are available to fund ship deliveries originally planned through 2025.

Royal Caribbean's estimated monthly cash burn is about $250 million to $290 million per month during a prolonged suspension of operations. 

This range includes all interest expenses, including the increases driven by the latest capital raises. It also includes ongoing ship operating expenses, administrative expenses, hedging costs, expected necessary capital expenditures (net of committed financings in the case of newbuilds) and excludes cash refunds of customer deposits, commissions, debt obligations and cash inflows from new and existing bookings.

The Company is considering ways to further reduce its average monthly cash burn under a further prolonged out-of-service scenario and during re-start of operations.

2021 Cruise bookings

While 2020 bookings have been significantly hit by the cruise shutdown, 2021 looks much better.

Royal Caribbean Group indicated 2021 cruise bookings are trending well and is within historical ranges.

The Lift & Shift program, along with Future Cruise Credit offers have proven popular with guests, with 40% of 2021 bookings coming from these options.

For the booking period since our last business update, approximately 60% of the 2021 bookings are new reservations.

Pricing for 2021 bookings is relatively flat year-over-year when including the negative yield impact of bookings made with future cruise credits; it is slightly up year-over-year when excluding them.

As of June 30, 2020, the Company had $1.8 billion in customer deposits of which approximately $300 million correspond to fourth quarter 2020 sailings. Approximately 48% of the guests booked on cancelled sailings have requested cash refunds.

Happy Sunday! We hope you are having a great weekend! Now it is time to sit back, relax, and catch up on all the Royal Caribbean news from the week!

Earlier this week, Royal Caribbean announced it would once again extend the cancellation of most of its cruises through October 31, 2020 due to the current health crisis.

The extra month of cancelled cruises affects North American and European sailings, although Australian sailings are not affected by this announcement.

Royal Caribbean also added an an additional pause to their China itineraries through September 13, 2020.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley answered some frequently asked cruise questions this week.
• Wonder of the Seas now looks like it will debut sometime in 2022.
• Who is maintaining Perfect Day at CocoCay while there are no cruises?
• 4 interesting facts from Norwegian Cruise Line's second quarters earnings
• Why you should send your comments to the CDC so cruises can restart.
• The big questions for Royal Caribbean's earnings call next week
• Should you take your kids out of school for a cruise vacation?
• Those sites claiming to list cruise ships for sale aren't legit.
• How to avoid the most irritating lines on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
• Royal Caribbean's CEO explained why overnight stays at Perfect Day at CocoCay did not happen.
• Top 5 things to look for in a good travel agent for your cruise vacation.
• Do all Royal Caribbean cruises qualify for Cruise with Confidence?
• Royal Caribbean Group amended some of its loans for more flexibility.
• MSC Cruises released new onboard policies and procedures to keep guests safe.
• Royal Caribbean ships headed back to Bahamas after Tropical Storm Isaias passed.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 366th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where Matt & Billy debate if the cruise lines are being treated fairly by the CDC.

Ever since the cruise industry effectively shut down, there have been some people who believe cruise lines are being held to a different standard than the rest of the travel industry.

Please subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! 

New RCB Video: 5 lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — 5 lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Top 10 cruise questions first time cruisers are too shy to ask

When you are new to something, there may be a hesitation to ask questions out of fear of looking foolish.

Cruises are a very welcoming type of vacation, but there are definitely some traditions and unwritten rules that you should be aware of before you step foot onboard.

If you are among the many people going on your first cruise, here are the top questions newbies have but are too shy to ask (so I will answer them for you).

Just like the supermarket, DMV, baseball games and so many other aspects of life, waiting in a line on a Royal Caribbean cruise is going to happen sooner or later.

Perhaps part of Royal Caribbean's plans once cruising resumes is to implement new means to spread guests out in order to enforce social distancing, but you will likely run into an extended wait during your cruise.

While you cannot avoid waiting at all, there are some easy ways to mitigate these lines and reduce your stress at the same time.

Lines getting back on a ship

When you return to your cruise ship after a fun day on a shore excursion, lines can develop at the gangway to get back onboard the ship.

Usually in the afternoon when most tours wrap up, many guests return to the ship and lines can develop, with often times there being lines that lack shade.

The easiest strategy is to find a spot in the port area where you can sit down in the shade and keep an eye on the line while enjoying the port area.  Quite often, there are bars and restaurants set up near the pier that you could enjoy a drink while seeing when the line shortens.

Another strategy is to plan to return to the ship significantly earlier or later than most others. If you come back early, you sacrifice time in port but can pretty much walk back onboard.  Likewise, if you wait until the last couple of hours your ship is in port, you may find shorter lines since most others have returned.

One last option is if you bought The Key (or are a Star or Sky Class guest or Pinnacle member), you can take advantage of Fast Track boarding. 

Crowded Windjammer buffet

Dreaming of a lovely breakfast with a cup of coffee, bagel, lox, cream cheese and pile of bacon to go with it? So is everyone else on the ship, and that leads to a busy buffet.

The best way to avoid lines in the Windjammer buffet is to either have breakfast early (before 8:30am) or late (after 10am).

If you like your 9am breakfast, then consider an alternative option for breakfast such as:

• Cafe Promenade
• Johnny Rockets (Oasis Class ships only)
• Park Cafe
• Solarium Bistro
• Coastal Kitchen (suite guests only)

These locations are vastly less crowded and allow you to get in and out with substantially less waits.

Waiting to get into the main dining room

If you have traditional dinner, you will inevitably find a lot of guests waiting outside the main dining room doors for them to open. 

Rather than join the masses and stand around, seek out an entertainer in one of the nearby bars, or play a few games in the casino. 

There is usually something else going on nearby, and that way if you wait until a few minutes after the doors open, you will find no wait to get in.

Waiting to get off the ship on the last day

Admittedly I do not have a great way around this line, but there are some ways to make it easier on yourself.

The last day of your cruise is when everyone has to get off the ship, and you are almost certainly going to encounter a line somewhere.  Not only is there a line to get off the ship, but everyone is tired from waking up early and disappointed their cruise is over.  It is a recipe for a lot of grumpy people.

The best strategy for an easy disembarkation is to stay in a suite.  Suite guests get escorted off the ship by the Suite Concierge and it is the simplest (albeit expensive) approach.

If staying in a suite is not practical, you should either plan to be among the first off the ship or the last.  Even if you wake up at 6am and get ready to go bright and early before the ship even docks, you will be waiting around with the other early birds.

The problem with waiting to be among the last get off the ship is there is nothing to do onboard.  You are requested to leave your staterooms by a certain time, and all the venues are closed.  So you could sit around on the pool deck one last time and enjoy the ocean breeze while the line winds down.

Muster drill

This used to be a quagmire of people trying to leave their muster stations, but Royal Caribbean has solved this for everyone.

Royal Caribbean recently announced an electronic muster drill process it will implement when cruises resume known as Muster 2.0.

Rather than going to a muster station, standing around and listening to safety instructions, guests can use mobile devices and interactive stateroom TVs to learn important safety information.

One on the cruise ship, guests have a set time (indicated by a timer in the app) during which muster drill must be completed by all of the passengers.

So rejoice that we will never have to deal with this problem again.

The global health crisis has forced Royal Caribbean to cancel most of its cruises through November 30, 2020.

Like all cruise lines operating in North America, Royal Caribbean is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to come up with a strategy to start cruises again.

Cancelled sailings

Here is a summary of the cancelled cruises:

• All sailings through November 30, 2020.
• European & Transatlantic sailings through the end of November.
• Australia sailings through December 31st, 2020.
• Odyssey of the Seas sailings from November 5th, 2020 through April 17th, 2021 are cancelled due to issues at the shipyard and in the supply chain.
• February 14, 2021 Jewel of the Seas cruise.
• Quantum of the Seas sailings departing December 2nd, 2020 – March 22nd, 2021

Guests on any of these cancelled sailings were given the option of getting a 100% refund, 125% future cruise credit, or even moving the reservation to next year at the same price.

Royal Caribbean has a goal to resume cruises on December 1, 2020 (although that date may change).

Will my cruise be cancelled?

If you still have a cruise booked and wondering what are the chances it will sail, the short answer is no one really knows.

While there are still many 2020 and 2021 cruises scheduled to sail, Royal Caribbean is still evaluating ways to make those cruises occur.

At this point, there is not nearly enough information available to have insight into what Royal Caribbean (or any cruise line) is looking for in order to resume sailings.

While it stands to reason the further out your cruise is, the more time you have for the global health situation to improve, it is impossible to quantify or wager a guess as to which sailings may or may not occur.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has begun looking for comments from the public on cruise lines resuming passenger operations, and cruise fans will want to have their voice heard.

Ever since the CDC opened up the means for the public to comment and submit questions for use in formulating a new policy for cruise ships, many have wondered if it is worth it to fill out the form.

The general public can submit comments until September 21 via the U.S. Federal Register. 

 Charles Sylvia is the Vice President of Industry and Trade Relations for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), and he spoke to travel agents earlier this week about the importance of letting the CDC know your thoughts.

 "Anyone with a pulse and an Internet connection can actually comment," Mr. Sylvia emphasized. "It's vitally important for all of you to comment from your point of view on cruise operations, what you think US cruise operations should look like, the resumption of cruise operations."  

 "This is your your only and best opportunity to tell the federal government what you're experiencing."

Ever since the CDC instituted a "No Sail" order to prevent cruise ships from offering passengers cruises from the United States, many cruise fans have lamented the order holding up the option for cruise lines to resume operations.

Mr. Sylvia indicated this Request for Information (RFI) from the CDC will used for cruise ship planning and infrastructure in the future, as well as the resumption of passenger operations.

"All the comments that are gathered will inform future public health guidance and preventative measures and related directly to the travel on cruise ships."

Anyone can comment on this subject, and cruise fans understand the strict measures cruise lines take to ensure the health and safety of their passengers, and the fact that cruise lines operate at a higher standard that imposed by regulators.

How to submit your comments to the CDC

You can submit comments online or via the mail.

To complete it online, visit the Federal Register's E-Rulemaking Portal by going to the U.S. Federal Register's website.

Be sure to use the Document ID to search for this page: CDC-2020-0087-0001.

The CDC will provide a lot of questions for you to consider, but it is up to you if you want to if you want answer all, some or none of the questions. 

You can submit your thoughts, and be sure to keep your answers free of insults or attacks on what has happened. Instead, focus on the future and explain why and how cruising should resume.

"And it's very, very easy...  to succumb to a pitfall of telling them some information, getting emotional, when you're when you're typing into the comments. And then that comment isn't considered," Mr. Sylvia warned.

Alternatively, you can mail comments to: Maritime Unit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS V18-2, Atlanta, GA 30329.  Include Docket No. CDC-2020-0087 included with the letter.

One of my top pieces of advice for any cruiser is to use a good travel agent, and the key word there is "good".

A reader recently asked me how do you find a good travel agent, so here are the top five things to look for in a good travel agent.

Ultimately, you are looking for someone that works well with you.  There are a lot of travel agents out there, and the key is to find one that not only takes payments and other requests, but works in a manner that you are expecting.

No fees

The one deal-breaker for me with any travel agent is no service fees for their services.

Travel agencies are paid by Royal Caribbean (and all cruise lines) a commission, and that is baked into the cruise fare. There is no additional cost to you for using a travel agent.

Some agencies will charge change fees or service fees when you make changes to the reservation, and frankly, I do not believe that is warranted.

Be sure to ask any travel agent if they charge any fees for their services before working with them.

How responsive are they?

As I said, a good travel agent is one that jives with your expectations, and the key is knowing what to expect in their turnaround time.

No travel agent is available 24 hours a day to handle requests, but it is fair to ask an agent on average what kind of processing time is realistic to expect.

It is important to get a sense of on average of how quickly they will make changes after requesting. Whether that's 24 hours, 48 hours or a week, make sure you are on the same page with the agent in timing to avoid frustrations later.

Dedicated agent or round-robin?

A good question to ask is if you will be assigned a specific agent, or will be taken care of by the next available agent.

Each agency works differently and there are benefits to both approaches.

A dedicated agent allows for a more personal relationship where they can get to know your preferences and needs and that has the potential to make the booking process easier and simpler since they really know you.

A round-robin agency means you have the advantage of getting serviced without relying on just one person's schedule.

Experience working with Royal Caribbean

A good question to ask a travel agent before working with them is their background working with Royal Caribbean.

No travel agent can have expert-level experience with every cruise line or destination, but it is nice to hear how well they know "the system."

Royal Caribbean has many nuances, and the more experience an agent has, the more confidence you can have that they will take good care of you.

In addition to the agent side of things, it is also nice to hear if they like to cruise with Royal Caribbean on their own.  A good working knowledge of the guest and service side of the cruise line is a great asset with any agent.

These days with cruise cancellations, future cruise credit changes and a slew of other new policies, rules and changes, having a good agent that knows the ins and outs of Royal Caribbean is a tremendous asset.

Price changes

Perhaps one of the most useful and commonly used services provided by a travel agent is pricing and re-pricing cruise fares.

You should ask what to expect in terms of the repricing process when there is a price change.

Does the agent proactively check for price drops? Is it all up to you to find lower prices? If you do find a lower price, what is the best way to request a change?

There are no right or wrong answers to this, just a question of what works for you.

Throughout Royal Caribbean's suspension of sailings, there have been questions about the impact on many aspects of life at sea, including Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley was asked earlier this week who is maintaining the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas.

Mr. Bayley compared the upkeep of Perfect Day at CocoCay to any of Royal Caribbean's cruise ships, which all have an operational team to maintain things.

"We have an operating team that rotates through Perfect Day and the maintenance and management and engineering."

The shutdown has provided Royal Caribbean the opportunity to address an engineering issue that needed attention for a while.

In addition to finishing up some landscaping and painting work, there was a pressing need for a repair to Oasis Lagoon pool.

"We've also been conducting a fairly significant repair that we had to do on the Oasis Lagoon."

"We were struggling enormously with having to make a repair on the lagoon and we could never figure out when we could do it, but we knew we had to get it done at some point."

'We could never figure out when to do it because of Covid, obviously we have plenty of time, so that works."

Mr. Bayley also gave a quick update on the impact to the island by Hurricane Isaias, in which the island was spared any significant damage.

"At one point, it was looking as if we were really going to get hit badly. We took one of our ships, Grandeur, went to Perfect Day, and picked up 90 percent of the operating staff to keep them safe and move out of harm's way."

"There was a small team of seven who stayed on the island as the storm passed through. And we're up and about the following morning, and called us and said it's looking good, you know, tree down here and bit of damage here and there.

"But Perfect Day came through perfectly."

With Royal Caribbean's second quarter earnings report just days away, taking a look at competitor cruise line Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) quarterly earnings report from today may shed some light into what we could see next week.

NCLH posted an adjusted net loss for the quarter of $666.4 million in its second quarter, which includes the brands Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas.

While Royal Caribbean Group and NCLH are run differently, they have a lot of similarities and a lot of the same concerns among investors and cruise fans alike.

Millions in revenue instead of billions

It may be safe to assume nearly everyone knew this would be a bad quarter for any cruise line, but the question was how bad would it be.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings reported revenue for the second quarter of $16.9 million. That's revenue, not earnings. Revenue for the same quarter last year was $1.7 billion

That's a 99 percent plummet in revenue.  The net income reported was a loss of $715.2 million, compared to $240.2 million in the year prior. Earnings per share went from $1.11 to a loss of $2.99 year on year.

No plans to sell any ships

One trend that has emerged recently are cruise lines beginning to sell ships in order to drum up any kind of cash flow, but it looks like Norwegian has no plans for that yet.

Carnival has divested a number of ships across its brands and Royal Caribbean subsidiary Pullmantur recently had to get rid of Sovereign of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) President and CEO Frank Del Rio said they have no plans to sell ships.

We absolutely have no plans to divest of any of our vessels,” Mr. Del Rio said during an earnings call with Wall Street analysts.

"We love our capacity. We're the smallest of the big three cruise brands, we're always wanting more. We not only have the youngest fleet, but we have nine incredible vessels on order."

Surprised by demand for 2021 cruises

Something Royal Caribbean noted in their Q1 2020 earnings call is happening with NCLH as well: its loyal customers are not going anywhere.

Despite the nearly year-long shutdown and plenty of fear among consumers, people are still booking a lot of cruises for 2021.

"If you had told me that we were going to be facing these set of circumstances, and your question is, ‘Frank, would you be taking any bookings?’ I would have laughed at you. I’ll say, ‘Of course, not, who would book? It’s crazy,'" Mr. Del Rio said in response to a question on the company’s second quarter earnings call on Thursday.

"But people are booking. People are confident that we’re going to come back. People do want to cruise. They miss it. It’s a heck of a vacation experience, a heck of a vacation value. And so this is temporary. The question is how temporary is temporary."

Restart plans

Just like cruise fans, Wall Street wants to know when cruises might restart and Mr. Del Rio noted the next few months will be critical in determining that.

He talked about Norwegian's joint-effort with Royal Caribbean Group to develop the Healthy Sail Panel, which will offer its initial recommendations by the end of August.

Mr. Del Rio felt good about the cruise line's ability to return, but timing is not so easy to answer.

"People are confident we're going to be coming back. They miss it cruising. This is temporary. The question is, how temporary is temporary?"

Between the CDC extending its No Sail order through the end of September to cruise lines in Europe encountering COVID cases onboard, the industry is not certain when a restart could realistically occur.