(Reuters). -Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. forecasted Wednesday a return in profitability for the second half 2022 as the U.S. tourist and travel industries recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.

As many cruise ships anchor offshore with no passengers last year, operators reported billion-dollar losses. But the pent-up leisure travel demand and roll out of COVID-19 vaccinations helped cruise lines to pull in thousands again.

In the beginning of this year, U.S. health officials allowed sailings to be resumed but with reduced occupancy.

Guest with high household savings are also spending on expensive tickets, luxury products and services onboard the ships. This helps cruise companies make up lost sales from occupancy restrictions.

Norwegian Cruise had a third-quarter occupancy of 57.4% as of September 30. According to Norwegian Cruise, occupancy would return to normalized levels during the second half next year. It will also be operating its entire fleet.

Oceania Cruises parent also confirmed that overall cumulative booked positions for 2022 are in line pre-pandemic record levels at higher prices and at lower prices. This is despite the COVID-19 Delta variant affecting bookings for fourth quarter 2022 and early 2022.

Norwegian Cruise anticipates its fourth-quarter average cash burn to rise from $275 million in quarter three to $350 million.

Bigger rival Royal Caribbean Last week, the (NYSE:) Group forecasted a return of profitability by 2022.

Norwegian Cruise suffered in the third quarter due to customers being hesitant about taking cruises. The company also spent heavily on preparing ships for future voyages.

According to Refinitiv International Business Economics, Norwegian Cruises’ total revenue of $153.1 Million was below estimates of $198.4million. The adjusted per-share loss was $2.17, which is also higher than the estimates of $2.09.

Norwegian Cruise shares fell by 2% during premarket trades