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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)


	☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024


	☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 001-35784

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE HOLDINGS LTD.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


Bermuda	98-0691007
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

7665 Corporate Center Drive**,** Miami**,** Florida 33126

(Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

(305) 436-4000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of each class		Trading Symbol(s)		Name of each exchange on which registered
Ordinary shares, par value $0.001 per share		NCLH		The New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ◻ No ⌧

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ⌧ No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.


Large accelerated filer ☒	Accelerated filer ◻
Non-accelerated filer ◻	Smaller reporting company ☐
	Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of June 30, 2024, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based upon the closing sales price for the registrant’s ordinary shares as reported on The New York Stock Exchange was $8.2 billion.

There were 439,944,822 ordinary shares outstanding as of February 17, 2025.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Portions of the Proxy Statement for the registrant’s 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after December 31, 2024, are incorporated by reference in Part III herein.

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE HOLDINGS LTD.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9
		Page

PART I
Item 1.	Business	8
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	30
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	44
Item 1C.	Cybersecurity	44
Item 2.	Properties	45
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	45
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	45

PART II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	46
Item 6.	[Reserved]	47
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	48
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	62
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	63
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	63
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	63
Item 9B.	Other Information	64
Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	64

PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	65
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	65
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	65
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	65
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	65

PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	66
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	79
Signatures		80

Terms Used in this Annual Report

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”) to (i) the “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to NCLH (as defined below) and its subsidiaries, (ii) “NCLC” refers to NCL Corporation Ltd., (iii) “NCLH” refers to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., (iv) “Norwegian Cruise Line” or “Norwegian” refers to the Norwegian Cruise Line brand and its predecessors, and (v) “PCI” refers to Prestige Cruises International Ltd., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, including Oceania Cruises Ltd. (“Oceania Cruises”) and Seven Seas Cruises Ltd. (“Regent”) (Oceania Cruises also refers to the brand by the same name and Regent also refers to the brand Regent Seven Seas Cruises).

References to the “U.S.” are to the United States of America, and “dollars” or “$” are to U.S. dollars, the “U.K.” are to the United Kingdom, “British Pound Sterling” or “£” are to the official currency of the U.K. and “euros” or “€” are to the official currency of the Eurozone.

This Annual Report includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as Adjusted Gross Margin, Net Cruise Cost, Net Cruise Cost Excluding Fuel, Adjusted Net Cruise Cost Excluding Fuel, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS. Definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures are included below. For further information about our non-GAAP financial measures including, detailed adjustments made in calculating our non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, we refer you to “Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Unless otherwise indicated in this Annual Report, the following terms have the meanings set forth below:

	●	2024 Exchangeable Notes. On May 8, 2020, pursuant to an indenture among NCLC, as issuer, NCLH, as guarantor, and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee, NCLC issued $862.5 million aggregate principal amount of exchangeable senior notes due 2024.

	●	Adjusted EBITDA. EBITDA adjusted for other income (expense), net and other supplemental adjustments.

	●	Adjusted EPS. Adjusted Net Income divided by the number of diluted weighted-average shares outstanding.

	●	Adjusted Gross Margin. Gross margin adjusted for payroll and related, fuel, food, other and ship depreciation. Gross margin is calculated pursuant to GAAP as total revenue less total cruise operating expense and ship depreciation.

	●	Adjusted Net Cruise Cost Excluding Fuel. Net Cruise Cost Excluding Fuel adjusted for supplemental adjustments.

	●	Adjusted Net Income. Net income (loss) adjusted for the effect of dilutive securities and other supplemental adjustments.

	●	Allura Class Ships. Oceania Cruises’ Vista and Oceania Cruises’ Allura.

	●	Berths. Double occupancy capacity per cabin (single occupancy per studio cabin) even though many cabins can accommodate three or more passengers.

	●	Breakaway Plus Class Ships. Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Joy, Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Encore.

	●	Capacity Days. Berths available for sale multiplied by the number of cruise days for the period for ships in service.

	●	CDC. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

	●	Dry-dock. A process whereby a ship is positioned in a large basin where all of the fresh/sea water is pumped out in order to carry out cleaning and repairs of those parts of a ship which are below the water line.

	●	EBITDA. Earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation and amortization.

	●	EPS. Earnings (loss) per share.

	●	GAAP. Generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S.

	●	Gross Cruise Cost. The sum of total cruise operating expense and marketing, general and administrative expense.

	●	Gross Tons. A unit of enclosed passenger space on a cruise ship, such that one gross ton equals 100 cubic feet or 2.831 cubic meters.

	●	IMO. International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency that sets international standards for shipping.

	●	IPO. The initial public offering of 27,058,824 ordinary shares, par value $0.001 per share, of NCLH, which was consummated on January 24, 2013.

	●	Net Cruise Cost. Gross Cruise Cost less commissions, transportation and other expense and onboard and other expense.

	●	Net Cruise Cost Excluding Fuel. Net Cruise Cost less fuel expense.

	●	Net Yield. Adjusted Gross Margin per Capacity Day.

	●	Occupancy Percentage. The ratio of Passenger Cruise Days to Capacity Days. A percentage greater than 100% indicates that three or more passengers occupied some cabins.

	●	Passenger Cruise Days. The number of passengers carried for the period, multiplied by the number of days in their respective cruises.

	●	Prestige Class Ships. Regent’s Seven Seas Prestige and one additional ship on order.

	●	Prima Class Ships. Norwegian Prima, Norwegian Viva, Norwegian Aqua, Norwegian Luna and two additional ships on order.

	●	Revolving Loan Facility. $1.7 billion senior secured revolving credit facility, among NCLC, as borrower, the subsidiary guarantors party thereto, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and collateral agent. The revolving credit facility was increased from $1.2 billion as of December 31, 2024.

	●	SEC. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

	●	Shipboard Retirement Plan. An unfunded defined benefit pension plan for certain crew members which computes benefits based on years of service, subject to certain requirements.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements, estimates or projections contained in this report are “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, or incorporated by reference, in this report, including, without limitation, our expectations regarding our results of operations, future financial position, including our liquidity requirements and future capital expenditures, plans, prospects, actions taken or strategies being considered with respect to our liquidity position, including with respect to refinancing, amending the terms of, or extending the maturity of our indebtedness, our ability to comply with covenants under our debt agreements, expectations regarding our exchangeable notes, valuation and appraisals of our assets, expectations regarding our deferred tax assets and valuation allowances, expected fleet additions and cancellations, including expected timing thereof, our expectations regarding the impact of macroeconomic conditions and recent global events, and expectations relating to our sustainability program and decarbonization efforts may be 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 factors, such as fluctuating or increasing levels of interest rates, inflation, 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;

	●	our indebtedness and restrictions in the agreements governing our indebtedness that require us to maintain minimum levels of liquidity and be in compliance with maintenance covenants and otherwise limit our flexibility in operating our business, including the significant portion of assets that are collateral under these agreements;

	●	our ability to work with lenders and others or otherwise pursue options to defer, renegotiate, refinance or restructure our existing debt profile, near-term debt amortization, newbuild related payments and other obligations and to work with credit card processors to satisfy current or potential future demands for collateral on cash advanced from customers relating to future cruises;

	●	our need for additional financing or financing to optimize our balance sheet, which may not be available on favorable terms, or at all, and our outstanding exchangeable notes and any future financing which may be dilutive to existing shareholders;

	●	the unavailability of ports of call;

	●	future increases in the price of, or major changes, disruptions or reduction in, commercial airline services;

	●	changes involving the tax and environmental regulatory regimes in which we operate, including new and existing regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions;

	●	the accuracy of any appraisals of our assets;

	●	our success in controlling operating expenses and capital expenditures;

	●	adverse events impacting the security of travel, or customer perceptions of the security of travel, such as terrorist acts, armed conflict, or threats thereof, acts of piracy, and other international events;

	●	public health crises and their effect on the ability or desire of people to travel (including on cruises);

	●	adverse incidents involving cruise ships;

	●	our ability to maintain and strengthen our brand;

	●	breaches in data security or other disturbances to our information technology systems and other networks or our actual or perceived failure to comply with requirements regarding data privacy and protection;

	●	changes in fuel prices and the type of fuel we are permitted to use and/or other cruise operating costs;

	●	mechanical malfunctions and repairs, delays in our shipbuilding program, maintenance and refurbishments and the consolidation of qualified shipyard facilities;

	●	the risks and increased costs associated with operating internationally;

	●	our inability to recruit or retain qualified personnel or the loss of key personnel or employee relations issues;

	●	impacts related to climate change and our ability to achieve our climate-related or other sustainability goals;

	●	our inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage;

	●	implementing precautions in coordination with regulators and global public health authorities to protect the health, safety and security of guests, crew and the communities we visit and to comply with related regulatory restrictions;

	●	pending or threatened litigation, investigations and enforcement actions;

	●	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;

	●	our reliance on third parties to provide hotel management services for certain ships and certain other services;

	●	fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;

	●	our expansion into new markets and investments in new markets and land-based destination projects;

	●	overcapacity in key markets or globally; and

	●	other factors set forth under “Risk Factors” herein.

The above examples are not exhaustive and new risks emerge from time to time. There may be additional risks that we currently consider immaterial or which are unknown. 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 expect to operate in the future. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements included in this report, which 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 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.

Solely for convenience, certain trademark and service marks referred to in this report appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to these trademarks and service marks.

WEBSITE REFERENCES

In this Annual Report, we make references to our website at https://www.nclhltd.com. References to our website through this Annual Report are provided for convenience only and the content on our website does not constitute a part of, and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report.

PART I

Next: Item 1. Business