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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: Harry Summer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line joining

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Speaker 2: us right now. And Harry, there's been so much talk

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Speaker 2: here about the bump that we've seen in this industry,

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Speaker 2: the bump that we've seen out of Norwegian specifically here.

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Speaker 2: Is there any sense here that that's fading now?

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. No,

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Speaker 3: we do not see any fading. Consumer demand continues to

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Speaker 3: be very very robust. You know when we reported our

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Speaker 3: Q one earnings and reiterated again in our investor Day

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Speaker 3: last month, we see demand at all time highs occupancy

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Speaker 3: at all time high, future book positions at all time high,

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Speaker 3: all on higher pricing. We are very very encouraged by

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Speaker 3: the American consumer.

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Speaker 2: When we look at the American consumer and we look

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Speaker 2: at their sensitivity to prices and inflation and the like. Here,

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Speaker 2: how sticky do you feel the cruise line business is?

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's always been these anecdote said the people

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Speaker 2: who love cruises will always cruise no matter the economic conditions.

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Speaker 2: Is that really true?

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Speaker 4: So?

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Speaker 3: Certainly, listen, there are two different sets of people. There

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Speaker 3: are people that are store cruisers, that are avid cruisers.

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Speaker 4: And absolutely we see them coming back.

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Speaker 3: Our repeat rate is ad or near high levels compared

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Speaker 3: to where we were on a pre COVID basis. But

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Speaker 3: at the same time, we are attracting a record number

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Speaker 3: of new to cruise as well, especially in the younger demographics,

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Speaker 3: which are our.

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Speaker 4: Fastest growing segments.

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Speaker 3: You cruising at some point the associated with a slightly

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Speaker 3: older client out and now we're seeing younger people in

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Speaker 3: their thirties and forties coming.

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Speaker 4: To cruising and record numbers also, which we're very pleased with.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's really interesting the breakdown of your demographic. When

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Speaker 1: we look at the American consumer and demand from them,

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Speaker 1: there is a perception among investors that the more indebted

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Speaker 1: cruise lines and I look at your debt to asset ratio,

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Speaker 1: it is higher than your peers, they are a levered

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Speaker 1: consumer discretion name, and that may seem more vulnerable to

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Speaker 1: any weakness in middle class spending. Is that view wrong?

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Speaker 3: You know, I'm not necessarily sure if that view is wrong,

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Speaker 3: but you have to sort of think about where demographic

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Speaker 3: is as well. You know, within our portfolio, we have

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Speaker 3: three brands in our Reaching cruise line, which is one

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Speaker 3: of the more higher end consumer brands, and then we

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Speaker 3: have an Oceanic Cruise brand, which is more of an

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Speaker 3: upper premium brand, and then Reaching Seven Sea Cruises, which

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Speaker 3: is a luxury brand, and of course our portfolio in

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Speaker 3: their respective segments, they are the highest price and therefore

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Speaker 3: track the highest quality demographic customer.

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Speaker 4: You know, we are not looking at low end consumers.

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Speaker 3: We're looking at high middle class, lower upper class consumers

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Speaker 3: that seem to be doing very very.

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Speaker 4: Well in the current consumer market.

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Speaker 3: But there is the second piece to it that also

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Speaker 3: point out in that the value proposition between us and

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Speaker 3: a hotel vocation has never been higher.

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Speaker 4: You know, the typical cruise adr average yeald per.

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Speaker 3: Night is about thirty to forty percent less than an

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Speaker 3: equivalent hotel vocation.

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Speaker 4: Despite the fact that cruise is off for.

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Speaker 3: More well, not just transportation and macvitality, we also have meals,

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Speaker 3: entertainment and other onboard amenities. So good value, upper consumer

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Speaker 3: demographic and good value versus the hotel industry.

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Speaker 1: All point is in the right direction, right, And they're

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Speaker 1: definitely a group of investors who liked that story, who

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Speaker 1: buy that thesis and are bullish on cruise line operators.

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Speaker 1: Yet when I look at your stock over the past

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Speaker 1: twelve months, up about two percent versus up twenty five

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Speaker 1: percent for Carnival and sixty eight percent for Royal Caribbean.

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Speaker 1: What do you attribute that difference to. Why the underperformance?

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Speaker 3: You know, I think about a year ago, we had

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Speaker 3: slightly higher aspirations for twenty twenty three that we were

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Speaker 3: able to achieve and that closed a little bit of

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Speaker 3: disappointment in the financial community. But I think at this

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Speaker 3: point we have to sort of put that behind us

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Speaker 3: and focus on for twenty twenty four. You know, since

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Speaker 3: coming out with our initial guidance for twenty four, we've

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Speaker 3: now raised it twice, just a few weeks apart from

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Speaker 3: each other, because our top line revenue number continues is

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Speaker 3: to overachieve our expectation, and we'll speak consensus. So I

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Speaker 3: agree we might have gotten a little bit ahead of

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Speaker 3: our skis in twenty three, which didn't do well for

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Speaker 3: our stock in the back half of last year. But

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Speaker 3: now coming into this year, we are absolutely seeing a

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Speaker 3: rebound off of that.

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Speaker 4: Our stocks up eight percent in the last month, which

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Speaker 4: we're very very happy with.

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Speaker 3: We about a month ago we discussed our long term

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Speaker 3: goals on our Investor Day for twenty five and twenty six,

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Speaker 3: which seems to be resonating very well in the market

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Speaker 3: as well.

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Speaker 1: All right, good stuff, Harry, really appreciate your joining us today.

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Speaker 1: Harry Summer is President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line