Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Appoints Marc Kazlauskas as President of Norwegian Cruise Line
Rhea-AI Summary
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH) named Marc Kazlauskas as President of Norwegian Cruise Line, effective Jan. 19, 2026. Kazlauskas has more than 30 years of senior leadership experience across sales, operations and innovation in travel. His prior roles include CEO of Avoya Travel and President/Managing Director roles at FROSCH and Chase Travel Group, where he led multi‑billion‑dollar operations (noted as $11 billion in sales at Chase Travel Group). Management and company statements highlight current robust booking trends, the upcoming debut of Norwegian Luna, a pipeline of newbuilds through 2036, and enhancements to the private island Great Stirrup Cay.
Positive
- Appointment effective Jan. 19, 2026
- Executive with 30+ years travel leadership experience
- Led operations at a company with $11 billion in sales
- Company cites robust booking trends
- Pipeline of newbuilds through 2036
- Upcoming debut of Norwegian Luna and Great Stirrup Cay enhancements
Negative
- None.
Market Reaction 15 min delay 49 Alerts
Following this news, NCLH has gained 6.65%, reflecting a notable positive market reaction. Our momentum scanner has triggered 49 alerts so far, indicating elevated trading interest and price volatility. The stock is currently trading at $20.52. This price movement has added approximately $582M to the company's valuation.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus (15 min delayed). Upgrade to Silver for real-time data.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
Key travel and cruise peers also gained, with moves from 0.6% (VIK) to 4.16% (RCL), broadly consistent with NCLH’s 2.78% rise, but momentum scanners did not flag a coordinated sector-wide move.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 02 | New culinary concepts | Positive | +2.2% | Oceania Sonata to debut two new specialty culinary concepts in 2027. |
| Nov 17 | New ship reveal | Positive | -4.2% | Oceania Sonata class ship details released, emphasizing luxury and dining. |
| Nov 14 | Ship christening | Positive | -1.4% | Oceania Allura christened in Miami with inaugural celebratory voyage. |
| Nov 10 | Onboard art launch | Positive | -0.2% | Immersive digital art experience launched aboard Oceania Allura. |
| Nov 10 | Newbuild order | Positive | -0.2% | Confirmed 2033 delivery of third Prestige‑Class ship for Regent brand. |
Recent brand and fleet development news has often seen muted or negative next-day price reactions, with only one of the last five largely positive updates aligning with a positive move.
Over the past month, NCLH focused on fleet expansion and brand enhancements across its Oceania and Regent Seven Seas brands. Highlights include the christening of Oceania Allura, unveiling the new Sonata Class ship debuting in August 2027, and confirming a 2033 delivery for a third Prestige‑Class ship. These operationally positive milestones produced mixed price reactions, with four of the last five events followed by slight declines. Today’s appointment of a new Norwegian Cruise Line president fits into this broader pattern of long-term growth positioning.
Market Pulse Summary
The stock is up +6.7% following this news. A strong positive reaction aligns with the stock’s pre‑news gain of 2.78% and elevated volume at 1.63x average, suggesting investors were receptive to leadership and strategy developments. Recent history shows largely positive operational news sometimes met with weak price follow‑through, so any sharp upside move could have faced consolidation risk. Existing long‑term debt of $13,645,263 thousand and ongoing fleet investment remained key factors when assessing durability of any rally.
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Kazlauskas brings decades of experience leading global travel companies and delivering guest-centric innovation
MIAMI, Dec. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) today named travel industry veteran Marc Kazlauskas as President of Norwegian Cruise Line (Norwegian), effective Jan. 19, 2026. He joins the company with more than 30 years of senior leadership experience across sales, operations, and innovation in the global travel industry.
Kazlauskas most recently served as CEO of Avoya Travel, one of the largest travel companies in the U.S. and a leading travel platform and host agency. Prior to this, he served as President of FROSCH and Managing Director of Chase Travel Group, a JP Morgan Chase company, one of the world’s leading travel companies with more than
“Marc is a proven leader with deep commercial expertise and an unwavering commitment to the guest experience,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. “His appointment comes at a pivotal time for the Norwegian Cruise Line brand as we continue to see healthy demand for cruise, execute on our newbuild program and make significant progress on major initiatives, including enhancements to our private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay. Marc will be instrumental in further advancing the brand’s long-term performance and growth.”
“I am honored to join Norwegian Cruise Line at such an exciting moment,” said Marc Kazlauskas, incoming president at Norwegian Cruise Line. “The momentum already underway sets NCL up for continued success, and I look forward to building on the company’s strong performance alongside its incredible team. With robust booking trends, the upcoming debut of Norwegian Luna, as well as the company’s strong pipeline of newbuilds through 2036 and major enhancements to Great Stirrup Cay, the company is well positioned for future success. As I step into this new role, I’m deeply grateful for my time at Avoya Travel and the remarkable people who’ve helped shape my journey leading to this exciting next chapter.”
Before Kazlauskas' time at Avoya and FROSCH/Chase Travel Group, he held leadership roles at Insight Vacations, where he oversaw U.S. operations and drove triple-digit revenue and profit growth, and at Tauck World Discovery, where he led worldwide sales. He began his travel-industry career at Orient Cruise Line, previously part of the Norwegian Cruise Line portfolio. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for Signature Travel Network and has served on advisory boards for major global airlines and travel companies.
About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) is a leading global cruise company that operates Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. With a combined fleet of 34 ships and more than 71,000 berths, NCLH offers itineraries to approximately 700 destinations worldwide. NCLH expects to add 14 additional ships across its three brands through 2036, which will add over 39,200 berths to its fleet. To learn more, visit www.nclhltd.com.
About Norwegian Cruise Line
As the innovator in global cruise travel, Norwegian Cruise Line® has been breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising for 59 years. Most notably, the cruise line revolutionized the industry by offering guests the freedom and flexibility to design their ideal vacation on their preferred schedule with no assigned dining and entertainment times and no formal dress codes. Today, the company continues to deliver curated, effortless experiences that cater to every type of traveler – from seasoned cruisers to families of every size. With award-winning entertainment, globally inspired dining and thoughtfully designed accommodations, including solo staterooms, Club Balcony Suites, and The Haven by Norwegian®, the brand's exclusive ship-within-a-ship concept, NCL ensures every guest enjoys a seamless and personalized journey. To further deliver guests with more value, the Company's signature Free at Sea™ package provides added benefits and inclusions such as unlimited open bar; specialty dining credits; high-speed Wi-Fi; shore excursions credits; and with select sailings guests can enjoy free airfare as well as third and fourth guests sail free. Its fleet of 20 contemporary ships sail to nearly 350 of the world's most desirable destinations, including Great Stirrup Cay, the company's private island in the Bahamas and its resort destination Harvest Caye in Belize.
For additional information or to book a cruise, contact a travel professional, call 888-NCL-CRUISE (625-2784) or visit www.ncl.com. For the latest news and exclusive content, visit the NCL Newsroom and follow Norwegian Cruise Line on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @NorwegianCruiseLine; and Twitter @CruiseNorwegian.
Norwegian Cruise Line is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. To learn more, visit www.nclhltd.com.
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, our expectations regarding our results of operations, future financial position, expected fleet additions, including expected timing thereof, the impact of macroeconomic conditions and recent global events, strategy, growth and future performance 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, tariff increases and trade wars, 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 and the impacts of port and destination fees and expenses; future increases in the price of, or major changes, disruptions or reductions 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” in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 release, 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.
Media contact:
NCLHMedia: NCLHMedia@nclcorp.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0f2750af-0757-4bd2-85b3-7999dc97f1b1
FAQ
When does Marc Kazlauskas start as President of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH)?
What experience does Marc Kazlauskas bring to NCLH?
How is the company describing demand and fleet plans for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH)?
Did Marc Kazlauskas lead large operations prior to joining NCLH and what scale was noted?
Will Kazlauskas oversee enhancements to Great Stirrup Cay at Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH)?
