Lindblad Expeditions should be seeing the benefits of ramping occupancy up soon on its two new blue-water polar expeditions, the 126-guest National Geographic Endurance and Resolution.

“The new ships that we built, the Endurance and the Resolution, which are getting just absolutely rave reviews from our guests are performing really, really well. The reality of those ships, is however they are larger ships,” said Craig Felenstein, CFO. “And as you ramp occupancy on those ships, the margin flow-through is magnificent.”

Felenstein, speaking on the company’s year-end and fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday, said the gross profit margin on the new ships was attractive.

“So, the gross profit margin on those ships should be somewhere well north of 50 percent, trending toward 60 percent, as they get to the occupancy levels that we would traditionally expect for those ships,” he said. “We’re still building to that and as a result, the marginal ships will be lower until the occupancies get all the way up to those levels for full year. So those are really the two driving factors that you’re seeing today.”

Of note, the company averaged 75 percent occupancy for the full year 2022.