Norwegian Cruise Line sees record quarterly revenue, sets upbeat profit guidance

Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:NCLH) surged in Thursday’s premarket trading as strong booking trends, record quarterly revenue, and a better-than-expected profit outlook for the year set the stock up to open at a 6-month-high.

“Demand has rebounded across all three of our brands, with bookings now ahead of historical levels in recent months and continued strength in onboard spend. This performance reflects the strength of our offerings across the fleet, along with our disciplined focus on driving both return on investment and return on experience,” CEO Harry Sommer said.

In the second quarter, Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) earned a profit of $0.51 per share, a 31% improvement from a year ago and in-line with both the company’s and Wall Street’s expectations. Total revenue increased by more than 4% to $2.5B, $60M below expectations but the highest quarterly revenue reported for the cruise operator. Adjusted EBITDA of $694M also exceeded the company’s expectations.

In addition to increased sales, costs improved as well, with gross cruise costs per capacity day down 3%.

Norwegian (NYSE:NCLH) also reported strong bookings in the quarter currently ahead of historical levels in recent months, reflecting a strong rebound in demand following early-April softness for third-quarter long-haul, extended European itineraries. The company’s advance ticket sales balance, including the long-term portion, ended the second quarter of 2025 at an all-time record high of $4.0B.

For FY25, Norwegian reiterated its full year EPS guidance with adjusted earnings expected to be $2.05 per share, up 16% from 2024 and 2 cents better than estimates. Adjusted EBITDA guidance was also left unchanged at $2.72B, up 11% from the prior year.

Net yield is expected to increase by 2.5% year-over-year, versus prior guidance of up 2.0% to 3%. Adjusted net cruise cost excluding fuel per capacity day is expected to grow ~6% on a constant currency basis, versus prior guidance of 0% to 1.25%.

The results, coupled with Royal Caribbean’s (RCL) raised guidance earlier this week is giving a lift to the sector with RCL fractionally higher, and Carnival Corporation (CCL) and Viking Holdings (VIK) both up 1% into Thursday’s open.