Norwegian Cruise Line Posts Bigger Loss, Sees Demand Improving

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd , whose Encore ship is set to mark the company’s return to sailing from U.S. ports over the weekend, reported a bigger quarterly loss on Friday as the pandemic had brought the cruise industry to a standstill.

An over yearlong suspension imposed by U.S. health officials forced cruise operators to raise billions of dollars, with some of them even pledging ships and private islands to stay afloat.

Cruise operators have been sailing from U.S. ports again in recent weeks with mostly vaccinated guests and crew after lengthy talks with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“2022 booking and pricing trends continue to be very positive driven by strong pent-up demand,” Norwegian Cruise said.

Net loss widened to $717.8 million in the second quarter ended June 30, from a loss of $715.2 million, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)