Norwegian has its first profitable year since 2019, as cruises sail past prepandemic levels
Shrimp cocktails on deck… Norwegian Cruise Line is back with a vengeance. This week, the third-largest cruise company said its annual sales surged 32% from 2019, and it swung to a $166M profit after a $2B loss in 2022. Cabin occupancy more than doubled for the year, while daily revenue per passenger was up 17% from prepandemic levels. To help meet swelling demand, Norwegian added three new ships to its fleet — the most ever in a single year.
Port-hop: Norwegian’s CEO said cruise demand was “as robust as we have ever seen it,” and he forecast that profit would continue to surge.
High tide: Norwegian’s stock jumped as much as 20% on Tuesday, buoying shares of rivals like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which have also enjoyed record bookings.
Bingeing #UltimateWorldCruise… like it’s the Kardashians. It’s expected to be a banner year for cruises with nearly 36M passengers taking to the high seas. Cruises have long been popular getaways, but the rise of remote work and the post-pandemic travel boom have made them more attractive. Royal Caribbean’s nine-month Ultimate World Cruise (60+ countries) has become a TikTok sensation with millions of views. While cruise prices have risen with demand, they can be cheaper than comparable land vacays (think: a week with family at Disney World).
Cruises are peak “revenge travel”… The industry has come a long way since 2020, when travel halted and some ships hosted major outbreaks. Now people are thrilled to be packed with thousands of others on floating cities. Cruises let folks make up for lost time by packing several destinations into one voyage (breakfast in the Bahamas, dinner in Turks and Caicos). Travel sites are jumping on deck: Booking.com launched a cruise vertical with 10K sailings across 30 cruise lines and dozens of ports.