NCLH Brands Eyeing Test Cruises as Soon as January

There’s lots of work to do, and the situation remains fluid, but test cruises required by the CDC could begin in January for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands, CEO Frank Del Rio said Tuesday.

“It’s not a race for us. We want to get this 100 percent right with flawless execution,” he said in a conference call with financial analysts. “There’s still a lot to learn, and nuances on how to execute those orders and how to implement the 74 recommendations (from the Sail Healthy Panel) seamlessly. Those are complex issues. What kind of testing, how often do we test?”

“Don’t pin me down to exact dates, but there’s a chance some companies could start trial cruises in December,” Del Rio said. “We don’t foresee wanting to do so until January. … We’re very reluctant to give you a date when the first trial sailing begins.”

The conference call took place as the company released third-quarter 2020 results showing an adjusted net loss of $638.7 million, or 2.35 per share, compared to adjusted net income of $481.5 million and $2.23 per share in the same period in 2019.

While progress is being made, Del Rio said he is looking at 2021 as “a transition year” and 2022 as the first full year since 2019 to operate the full fleet the entire year. “2021 is the road to normalization and 2022 is normalization,” he said.

One analyst asked if the CDC’s lifting of the no-sail order boosted bookings.

Del Rio said the CDC news came late Friday. “We didn’t see much of an uptick, much of anything, given the CDC news,” he said. “Most consumers don’t follow that level of details. Then the vaccine was something that made huge news and the stock market hit an all-time high. That was front and center of consumers’ minds.”

Pfizer announced on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine was showing more than 90 percent efficacy among participants without evidence of prior infection. Stocks soared.

“Over the last 24 hours, bookings were pretty good, better than the previous four or five Mondays,” Del Rio said. “I think that’s attributable to the vaccine news, since we don’t have any promotion or marketing. I do think that was positive news.”

He noted that the vaccine may take some time and Pfizer won’t be the only developer. More therapeutics are showing progress, as are new and faster ways to test. “We now have some wind at our back,” Del Rio said. “The encouragement level hasn’t been this high in a long time.”