Royal Caribbean is the latest cruise behemoth to take out billions of dollars in credit to cope with coronavirus disruption, bringing the borrowing limit among the big three cruise majors to almost $7bn.
Richard Fain-led Royal Caribbean Cruises has entered into a $2.2bn, 364-day secured term loan facility to boost its liquidity amid uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
This credit, backed by JP Morgan, Bank of America, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs, brings the New York-listed owner's liquidity to $3.6bn through other credit mechanisms, cash deposits and financing.
Royal Caribbean took out $550m in credit initially on 10 March.
"This is a period of unprecedented disruption for the cruise industry," chief financial officer Jason Liberty said in a statement.
"We continue to take decisive actions to protect the company's financial and liquidity positions as they enable us to keep focused on our guests, our crew and our long-term plans."
Arnold Donald-led Carnival Corp last week took out $3bn in credit through a 2019 multi-currency loan over the next six months to insulate itself against virus-driven market uncertainty.
A week earlier, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings secured $675m in credit against its 4,200-berth Norwegian Epic (built 2010) for the same reason, bringing its credit limit to $1.55bn.
The three cruise majors have taken out these huge credit extensions while idling their combined fleets of 194 ships for one month as of 16 March to help prevent the virus from spreading.
MSC Cruises, which posted a 2019 profit of €405m ($439m) on Friday, also suspended its fleet of 23 ships for one month. It has €900m in credit secured in 2019 but has not announced extending that credit line.
Viking Cruises and Carnival's Princess Cruises initiated temporary fleet suspensions almost two weeks ago.
US Vice President Mike Pence met cruise major executives this month to discuss the virus' financial impact.
Members of Congress and US environmental groups last week urged that any financial help from Washington would come with requirements to improve environmental practices.
