Royal Caribbean Group (RCG), the world’s second largest cruise shipping company, has reported a reduction in loss in the third quarter from the previous three months, but the fresh figure remains far weaker than the corresponding one from 2019.
Net loss narrowed to $1.3 billion in the third quarter from $1.6 billion in the previous three months. However, both figures compare badly with the $883.2 million net income RCG reached in the third quarter of last year.
At the end of September, RCG had $1.8 billion in customer deposits of which approximately 50% are future cruise credits (FCC) and $180 million correspond to fourth quarter 2020 sailings. The amount of deposits the company held had not changed in the quarter.
Approximately 50% of the guests booked on cancelled sailings have requested cash refunds, an increase of about two percentage points from 30 June.
“The cumulative booked position for sailings in the second half of 2021 is within historical ranges with prices that are down slightly year-over-year when including the negative yield impact of bookings made with FCCs and about flat when excluding them,” RCG said.
Since its last business update, more than 65% of the 2021 bookings are new and the rest are due to the redemption of FCCs and the "Lift & Shift" programme, the company said.