Harry Sommer, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said on the company’s second quarter earnings call that all three of its cruise brands will offer shorter itineraries in Europe in 2026.

In addition, overall deployment for the company in Europe will be down six percent in 2026, representing 19 percent of the company’s cruise mix. This year Europe account’s for 25 percent of the company’s deployment.

Sommer said: “We’ve also reduced the deployment in Europe for next year. This year in quarters two and three, I think we had about 31 and 44 percent, respectively, of our entire fleet in Europe.”

“Next year, quarters two and three go down to 26 and 38 percent. It’s not a significant decrease, but it’s a modest decrease,” Sommer added, explaining that the decrease, coupled with shorter itineraries, better reflects the consumer demand environment and the response to the change.

“We are in the optimal booked position for next year, not just in total but specifically for Europe, so we’re very happy,” he added.

“This year there was a bit of an idiosyncratic issue in that perhaps we didn’t have the optimum (third quarter) European itineraries. But there was a further headwind with the challenges that are well documented of what happened with consumer confidence in April,” Sommer noted.

He said that once May came along, the company saw a rebound and strong consumer demand even for Europe.

Mark Kempa, executive vice president and chief financial officer, explained on the call that the company expects occupancy to be approximately 105.5 for the third quarter and full-year guidance, primarily driven by some softness in bookings in early April from long-haul European sailings.

He added that demand improved as the quarter progressed and the company had maintained pricing growth..

Kempa later highlighted, though, that itineraries are put on sale two to three years ahead.