The cruise industry is undeniably in a state of flux right now. Changes are being made to the rules in place for cruises, yet few companies are operating at full capacity right now. With that in mind, it makes sense to have a bit of a pessimistic outlook for the industry’s financial status. Multiple cruise lines have now reported their third quarter earnings for the year, giving us a much clearer picture of where cruises are at right now.
Lindblad Expeditions
The pandemic hit every cruise line hard. That wasn’t just limited to the biggest ones like Royal Caribbean, either. Small expedition lines like Lindblad also have had rough times since 2020. There is now a reason to rejoice, though. Lindblad reported their quarter three earnings, and the numbers are looking great. According to their CFO, Craig Felenstein, bookings have increased by 51% over the last year. It’s not just bookings for next year that are increasing, either. They noted that 2023 expedition cruises are just as popular, showing that there is a general trend in their figures. Speaking to that, Felenstein said, “What you’re seeing now is people getting organized around not only the latter part of the Antarctic season, which is a more compressed cycle but also out into next year and even next fall and winter.”
Royal Caribbean
Royal also gave a press release to update on their earnings in this quarter. While their numbers weren’t quite as optimistic as Lindblad’s, they still showed that there’s plenty of reason to believe that there is a strong demand right now. While COVID-19 has hit them hard, they made it clear that they expect to be “cash flow positive by spring and profitable for the full year 2022.” In terms of current bookings, things are looking much better in this quarter than last quarter, with September standing out in particular with a 60% increase compared to Q2 averages.
Norwegian Cruise Line
In a statement, Norwegian spoke about the impact that the Delta variant has had on bookings. They said that they have been down for itineraries at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. Sailings farther out than that, however, are doing markedly better. As of right now, they are expecting 2022 to be busier and more successful for them than 2019, a great sign that they are slowly getting back into the same shape as before the pandemic.
Are you feeling optimistic about the future of the cruise industry? Signs are confusing at the moment, but it’s always nice to see news like this that shows that we are slowly headed in the right direction.
