Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Announces Plans for New, State-of-the-art Staff Training Facility

Norwegian Cruise Line Center of Excellence to attract and train top talent to meet staffing demand and growth

MIAMI, March 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., a leading global cruise company, today announced plans for the development and construction of the Norwegian Cruise Line Center of Excellence, a new state-of-the-art shipboard team member training facility near Manila in the Philippines.

Norwegian Cruise Line Center of Excellence Norwegian Cruise Line Center of Excellence

The 200,000-square-foot Center of Excellence will serve both new and existing shipboard team members across the Company and will provide training for various onboard service areas.  The world class training campus will enable the Company to fully immerse trainees in their coursework, reduce onboard training time and further improve upon the already industry-leading service levels.

The facilities have been designed to provide trainees with realistic work and living experiences aboard a cruise ship, which will include replicas of staterooms, a shipboard galley, a casino floor, a full service bar as well as safety and security training areas.  Slated for 2020 completion, the center will provide annual training for as many as 8,000 shipboard team members each year. 

“As the Company continues to grow and execute on our disciplined newbuild pipeline with eleven ships on order through 2027, the Center of Excellence will enable us to train and develop shipboard staff to meet the growing demand for top talent and to provide our guests with the high level of service and best-in-class vacation experience they have come to expect,” said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. “With our global fleet of 26 ships carrying over 2.5 million guests a year, this new facility will give us the ability to fully immerse shipboard team members in their coursework and ensure we continue to provide exceptional vacation experiences for our guests.”

The Company has secured a 7.2 acre parcel of land near Manila, where it plans to develop the center. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2019 with the Center of Excellence slated to open its doors in late 2020. 

The Company currently sources approximately 65 percent of its shipboard talent from Southeast Asia and anticipates an even higher demand for personnel from the region in the coming years.  The central location of the Philippines, as well as its high percentage of multi-lingual citizens, has proven to be an ideal location for the Company’s training and development facility.

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 26 ships with approximately 54,400 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more than 450 destinations worldwide. The Company will introduce eleven additional ships through 2027.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release constitute 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 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: 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; the spread of epidemics and viral outbreaks; our expansion into and investments in new markets; the risks and increased costs associated with operating internationally; breaches in data security or other disturbances to our information technology and other networks; changes in fuel prices and/or other cruise operating costs; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; overcapacity in key markets or globally; the unavailability of attractive port destinations; evolving requirements and regulations regarding data privacy and protection and any actual or perceived compliance failures by us; our indebtedness and restrictions in the agreements governing our indebtedness that limit our flexibility in operating our business; the significant portion of our assets pledged as collateral under our existing debt agreements and the ability of our creditors to accelerate the repayment of our indebtedness; 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; delays in our shipbuilding program and ship repairs, maintenance and refurbishments; our reliance on third parties to provide hotel management services to certain ships and certain other services; future increases in the price of, or major changes or reduction in, commercial airline services; amendments to our collective bargaining agreements for crew members and other employee relation issues; our inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage; future changes relating to how external distribution channels sell and market our cruises; pending or threatened litigation, investigations and enforcement actions; our ability to keep pace with developments in technology; seasonal variations in passenger fare rates and occupancy levels at different times of the year; 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 by Norwegian with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The above examples are not exhaustive and new risks, uncertainties and other factors may 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 contained herein 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.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

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Released March 21, 2019