Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Releases 2019 Stewardship Report

Company Releases Fourth Annual Stewardship Report

Company Receives ‘B’ Score from CDP, Above the Sector, Regional and Global Average

MIAMI, Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) (the ”Company”), a leading global cruise company which operates Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, today published its 2019 Stewardship Report as part of the company’s global sustainability program, Sail & Sustain. The Company is also pleased to announce it has been recognized for its environmental disclosure and transparency by achieving a ‘B’ climate change score from CDP, a global environmental nonprofit which evaluates 9,600 companies worldwide annually. The Company’s ‘B’ score is an improvement to prior year and is higher than the Marine Transport sector average of ‘C’, Global average of ‘C’ and North America regional average of ‘D’.

The 2019 Stewardship Report highlights the Company’s key advancements in Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) since its last published report as well as impactful initiatives underway, including:

• Establishment of the Technology, Environmental, Safety and Security (TESS) Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors to oversee matters related to corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
• Creation of a dedicated ESG department to enhance overall strategy, strengthen ESG disclosures and coordinate closely with departments across the organization including Health, Medical, Safety and Environmental Operations, Human Resources, Legal and Supply Chain.
• Strong focus on reducing single-use plastics through initiatives including Norwegian Cruise Line becoming the first major global cruise company to be plastic water bottle free through its partnership with JUST Goods, Inc.
• Strengthened commitment to maintaining the Company’s culture of diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace through its partnership with the Florida Diversity Council, diverse hiring initiatives and recent launch of diversity, equality and inclusion online training, including unconscious bias training.
• Relaunched Hope Starts Here hurricane relief campaign in partnership with All Hands and Hearts and donated $3 million of cash and in-kind donations to assist in emergency relief efforts after Hurricane Dorian.
• Continued participation from team members who donated over 1,000 hours giving back to the community through events such as beach clean ups, Habitat for Humanity, and dinner services at the Camillus House Campus emergency housing facility.
• Launched numerous philanthropy initiatives including the Giving Joy campaign which recognized hardworking teachers and the Encore Moments campaign which celebrated everyday heroes.
• Increased spend with diverse vendors in the United States by 36% in 2019 as compared to 2018 as part of the Company’s commitment to facilitate and encourage the growth of small and diverse suppliers.
• Established the Healthy Sail Panel in collaboration with Royal Caribbean Group, a group of 11 leading experts to help inform the cruise industry in the development of new and enhanced cruise health and safety standards in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
  

“Despite the public health challenges we currently face, our commitment to protect and preserve our oceans, the environment and the destinations we visit, while maintaining our culture of diversity, equality and inclusion in the workforce, remains at the very core of our everyday business operations,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “We are proud of our accomplishments to date and remain committed to driving a positive impact on society and the environment through the advancement of our global ESG strategy, while at the same time providing truly exceptional cruise vacation experiences to our guests.”

“Our annual stewardship report provides critical transparency to our key stakeholders around our Sail & Sustain initiatives and we strive for continuous improvement of our ESG disclosures,” said Andrea DeMarco, senior vice president of ESG, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “We are pleased to be recognized with an above average ‘B’ climate change score by CDP, whose annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely regarded as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency, for our efforts to be a leader in corporate sustainability.”

The 2019 Stewardship Report is part of the company’s global sustainability program, Sail & Sustain, which reflects the Company’s mission to continually improve its sustainability culture through fresh innovation, progressive education and open collaboration. The 2019 Stewardship Report can be found on the Company’s website at http://www.nclhltd.com/Stewardship.

About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: 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 28 ships with approximately 59,150 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more than 490 destinations worldwide. The Company has nine additional ships scheduled for delivery through 2027.

About the Healthy Sail Panel

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. in collaboration with Royal Caribbean Group established the Healthy Sail Panel (“HSP”), a group of 11 leading experts to help inform the cruise industry in the development of new and enhanced cruise health and safety standards in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The HSP, co-chaired by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Governor Mike Leavitt, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, consists of globally recognized experts from various disciplines, including public health, infectious disease, biosecurity, hospitality and maritime operations. The panel’s work, including 74 detailed recommendations across five key areas of focus, is informing the Company’s health and safety protocols and has been widely shared with the cruise industry and open to any other industry that could benefit from the HSP’s scientific and medical insights.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements, estimates or projections contained in this release 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 in this release, including, without limitation, those regarding our business strategy, financial position, results of operations, plans, prospects, actions taken or strategies being considered with respect to our liquidity position, valuation and appraisals of our assets and objectives of management for future operations (including those regarding our charitable, social, supply chain, or environmental programs and goals, expected fleet additions, our voluntary suspension, our ability to weather the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the length of time we can withstand a suspension of voyages, our expectations regarding the resumption of cruise voyages and the timing for such resumption of cruise voyages, the implementation of and effectiveness of our health and safety protocols, operational position, demand for voyages, financing opportunities and extensions, and future cost mitigation and cash conservation efforts and efforts to reduce operating expenses and capital expenditures) 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: the spread of epidemics, pandemics and viral outbreaks and specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic, including its effect on the ability or desire of people to travel (including on cruises), which are expected to continue to adversely impact our results, operations, outlook, plans, goals, growth, reputation, cash flows, liquidity, demand for voyages and share price; our ability to comply with the CDC’s Framework for Conditional Sailing Order and to otherwise develop enhanced health and safety protocols to adapt to the current pandemic environment’s unique challenges once operations resume and to otherwise safely resume our operations when conditions allow; coordination and cooperation with the CDC, the federal government and global public health authorities to take precautions to protect the health, safety and security of guests, crew and the communities visited and the implementation of any such precautions; our ability to work with lenders and others or otherwise pursue options to defer, renegotiate or refinance 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 potential future need for additional financing, which may not be available on favorable terms, or at all, and may be dilutive to existing shareholders; our indebtedness and restrictions in the agreements governing our indebtedness that require us to maintain minimum levels of liquidity and otherwise limit our flexibility in operating our business, including the significant portion of assets that are collateral under these agreements; the accuracy of any appraisals of our assets as a result of the impact of COVID-19 or otherwise; our success in reducing operating expenses and capital expenditures and the impact of any such reductions; our guests’ election to take cash refunds in lieu of future cruise credits or the continuation of any trends relating to such election; trends in, or changes to, future bookings and our ability to take future reservations and receive deposits related thereto; the unavailability of ports of call; future increases in the price of, or major changes or reduction in, commercial airline services; adverse events impacting the security of travel, such as terrorist acts, armed conflict and threats thereof, acts of piracy, and other international events; adverse incidents involving cruise ships; 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; any further impairment of our trademarks, trade names or goodwill; breaches in data security or other disturbances to our information technology 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; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; overcapacity in key markets or globally; our expansion into and investments in new markets; our inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage; 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 inability to recruit or retain qualified personnel or the loss of key personnel or employee relations issues; our reliance on third parties to provide hotel management services for certain ships and certain other services; our inability to keep pace with developments in technology; changes involving the tax and environmental regulatory regimes in which we operate; and other factors set forth under “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, many of these risks and uncertainties are currently amplified by and will continue to be amplified by, or in the future may be amplified by, the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. There may be additional risks that we consider immaterial or which are unknown. 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 expect to 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 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.