Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:NCLH) (Norwegian), a
leading global cruise company, today announced the launch of a new
partnership with Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA), the world’s largest
online and mobile commerce company.
The two companies will leverage Norwegian’s expertise in
providing exceptional vacation experiences and its innovative and
award-winning cruise offerings along with Alibaba’s unparalleled
insights into the wants and needs of the Chinese consumer to
deliver the cruise industry’s most-customized product for the local
China market. Utilizing Alibaba’s expansive ecosystem for
engaging consumers, the two companies will look to further increase
the awareness in China of the unique offerings of a cruise
vacation. They plan to make it the preferred vacation choice among
Chinese travelers in what is forecasted to become the cruise
industry’s second-largest source market. The companies will also
collaborate to provide Alibaba customers with new and unique
online-to-offline (O2O) experiences at sea across Norwegian’s
China-based and global fleet.
The announcement comes as Norwegian prepares to enter the
Chinese cruise market in June 2017 with the introduction of its
most innovative ship to date – the 3,850 passenger Norwegian Joy -
the first premium cruise ship designed and constructed specifically
for Chinese travelers. Norwegian Joy will be the 25th ship in
Norwegian’s fleet across its three brands - Norwegian Cruise Line,
Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
"We are pleased to partner with Norwegian Cruise Line on this
tremendous initiative,” said Michael Evans, President of Alibaba
Group. “Our expanded relationship is another example of how Alibaba
is
helping international brands to reach Chinese consumers
through our robust data,
marketing and technology. We look forward to
further strengthening our collaboration with Norwegian in the
future.”
Alibaba operates the world’s largest online and mobile
marketplaces. Alibaba is much more than an e-commerce company,
offering a wide range of products and services to its nearly half
billion monthly active users. In China, people live, work and play
on Alibaba, buying local and overseas products, and enjoying its
entertainment and lifestyle services – travel, food delivery and
social networking.
"Since launching our first cruise over 50 years ago, Norwegian
has grown to become one of the most storied names in leisure travel
with groundbreaking innovations that have shaped the modern cruise
industry," said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive
officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. "Our partnership
with Alibaba will combine Norwegian's history of innovation in the
cruise industry and our entry into the Chinese cruise market with
Norwegian Joy with Alibaba's extensive knowledge of China's
consumer base and its unique ecosystem which continually reaches
consumers in new and ever-expanding ways."
“The partnership with Alibaba complements our strong, existing
relationships with our loyal travel agents to provide unmatched
insight into what Chinese travelers look for in a vacation
experience,” said David Herrera, President, NCLH China. “The
combination of Norwegian’s expertise in delivering memorable
vacation experiences, Alibaba’s insights into Chinese consumer
behavior and our travel agents’ knowledge of the preferences of
Chinese travelers will create a cruise product unequaled in
China.”
Norwegian took delivery of Norwegian Joy on April 27, after
which the ship began her repositioning from the shipyard in
Germany to her home port of Shanghai. Her inaugural and
christening gala ceremony will take place on June 27 in Shanghai,
featuring the ship’s Godfather, ‘King of Chinese Pop’, Wang
Leehom.
About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.
(Nasdaq:NCLH) is a leading global cruise company which operates the
Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas
Cruises brands.
With a combined fleet of 25 ships with
approximately 50,400 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more
than 510 destinations worldwide. The Company will introduce seven
additional ships through 2025, and has an option to introduce two
additional ships for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
Norwegian Cruise Line is the innovator in cruise
travel with a 50-year history of breaking the boundaries of
traditional cruising. Most notably, Norwegian revolutionized
the cruise industry by offering guests the freedom and flexibility
to design their ideal cruise vacation on their schedule. Today,
Norwegian invites guests to enjoy a relaxed, resort style cruise
vacation on some of the newest and most contemporary ships at sea
with a wide variety of accommodation options, including The Haven
by Norwegian®, a luxury enclave with suites, private pools and
dining, concierge service and personal butlers. Oceania Cruises
offers an unrivaled vacation experience renowned for the finest
cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the
globe. Expertly crafted voyages aboard designer-inspired, intimate
ships call on ports across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New
Zealand, the South Pacific and the Americas. Celebrating its 25th
anniversary in 2017, Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers the
industry’s most inclusive luxury experience aboard its all-suite
fleet. A voyage with Regent Seven Seas Cruises includes round-trip
air, highly personalized service, exquisite cuisine, fine wines and
spirits, unlimited internet access, sightseeing excursions in every
port, gratuities, ground transfers, a pre-cruise hotel package for
guests staying in concierge-level suites and higher and beginning
in summer 2017, business class air will be provided for all
roundtrip air originating from the U.S. and Canada.
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business
anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of
commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live
at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102
years.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this release constitute forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws
intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established
by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All
statements other than statements of historical facts contained in
this release, including, without limitation, those regarding
details and expectations for our newbuild program and expected
financing, our business strategy, financial position, plans,
prospects and objectives of management for future operations
(including development plans and objectives relating to our
activities), are forward-looking statements. Many, but not all, of
these statements can be found by looking for words like "expect,"
"anticipate," "goal," "project," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will,"
"may," "forecast," "estimate," "intend," "future," and similar
words. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future
performance and may involve risks, uncertainties and other factors
which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements
to differ materially from the future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied in those forward-looking
statements. Examples of these risks, uncertainties and other
factors include, but are not limited to the impact of: adverse
general economic and related factors, such as fluctuating or
increasing levels of unemployment, underemployment and the
volatility of fuel prices, declines in the securities and real
estate markets, and perceptions of these conditions that decrease
the level of disposable income of consumers or consumer confidence;
the risks and increased costs associated with operating
internationally; an impairment of our tradenames or goodwill which
could adversely affect our financial condition and operating
results; our efforts to expand our business into new markets;
adverse events impacting the security of travel, such as terrorist
acts, acts of piracy, armed conflict and threats thereof and other
international events; breaches in data security or other
disturbances to our information technology and other networks; the
spread of epidemics and viral outbreaks; adverse incidents
involving cruise ships; changes in fuel prices and/or other cruise
operating costs; our hedging strategies; our inability to
obtain adequate insurance coverage; our substantial indebtedness,
including the ability to raise additional capital to fund our
operations, and to generate the necessary amount of cash to service
our existing debt; restrictions in the agreements governing our
indebtedness that limit our flexibility in operating our business;
the significant portion of our assets pledged as collateral under
our existing debt agreements and the ability of our creditors to
accelerate the repayment of our indebtedness; our ability to incur
significantly more debt despite our substantial existing
indebtedness; volatility and disruptions in the global credit and
financial markets, which may adversely affect our ability to borrow
and could increase our counterparty credit risks, including those
under our credit facilities, derivatives, contingent obligations,
insurance contracts and new ship progress payment guarantees;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; our inability to
recruit or retain qualified personnel or the loss of key personnel;
future changes relating to how external distribution channels sell
and market our cruises; our reliance on third parties to provide
hotel management services to certain ships and certain other
services; delays in our shipbuilding program and ship repairs,
maintenance and refurbishments; and other factors set forth under
"Risk Factors" in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form
10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings by
the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The above
examples are not exhaustive and new risks emerge from time to time.
Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs,
assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections regarding our
present and future business strategies and the environment in which
we will operate in the future. These forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date made. We expressly disclaim any
obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or
revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to
reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any
change of events, conditions or circumstances on which any such
statement was based, except as required by law.
Investor Relations Contact
Andrea DeMarco
(305) 468-2339
InvestorRelations@nclcorp.com
Media Contact
Vanessa Picariello
(305) 436-4713
PublicRelations@ncl.com
Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024