Norwegian Cruise Lines Warns of Possible Bankruptcy

What is the future of Harvest Caye in southern Belize? As you know, the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc in the entire tourism industry across the globe, when no sail orders were imposed and cancellations came fast and furious. This morning, one of the biggest investors in the local industry, Norwegian Cruise Lines, said it sees “substantial doubt about its future, and warns of possible bankruptcy as it seeks to raise two billion U.S. dollars” to keep afloat. NCL is facing losses for the period ending March thirty-first and foresees that the coronavirus outbreak is expected to continue to impact its operations, growth, reputation and cash flows.  These factors, it says, have raised substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Now, NCL, invested heavily in 2016 at Harvest Caye, in the range of fifty million dollars, which had to close when cruise ship cancelled sailing at the start of the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered no sailings in March and has extended the order to July twenty-fourth. A possible bankruptcy decision by NCL is likely to affect the operations in southern Belize and have an overall impact on the entire industry. Harvest Caye is heavily promoted by NCL as a premier destination. We reached out to the cruise lines today, there was no comment up to news time but we do note that Colin Murphy of its destination department, retired in April.  On the flipside Carnival Airlines announced it will begin sailing on August first with eight ships from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston.