Both Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises are following Carnival’s lead by securing their financial positions. By securing finances, cruise companies can dispel investors’ fears that they will not be able to survive the challenging months ahead.

Norwegian and Royal Caribbean are initiating debt relief terms offered to the cruise industry by Euler Hermes, the official export credit agency of Germany.

Norwegian is expected to receive approximately $386m of incremental liquidity through to April 2021, while Royal Caribbean is expected to generate around $250m, in addition to the $200 million of incremental liquidity previously disclosed with the implementation of debt relief across certain other Hermes-backed facilities.

Ben Cordwell, Travel & Tourism analyst at GlobalData, comments: “These steps are promising and necessary measures that need to be taken by cruise companies to survive months with little revenue. The big three cruise companies are undoubtedly the best placed to survive the impact of COVID-19 within the industry and this will take them a step closer to achieving that.”