Royal Caribbean Group, formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is a global

cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

incorporated in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...

and based in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, United States. It is the world's second-largest

cruise line A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships that operate on ocean or rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of passengers. Though ...

operator, after

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

. As of January 2021, Royal Caribbean Group fully owns three cruise lines:

Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flo ...

Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in ...

, and

Silversea Cruises Silversea Cruises is a luxury cruise line headquartered in Monaco. Founded in 1994 by the Vlasov Group of Monaco and the Lefebvre family of Rome, it pioneered all-inclusive cruising with its first ship, ''Silver Cloud''. Since July 2020, it h ...

. They also hold a 50% stake in

TUI Cruises TUI Cruises is a cruise line based in Germany. It was formed in 2007 as a joint venture between the German tourism company TUI AG and the American cruise line operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., both of whom hold a 50% stake in the company. ...

and the now-defunct

Pullmantur Cruises Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U.S ...

and

CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France was a cruise line that catered to the France, French cruise market, with French as the primary language used on board. CDF was a subsidiary of Pullmantur Cruises, and offered cruises to the Mediterranean operating from mi ...

. Previously Royal Caribbean Group also fully owned Azamara Cruises selling the cruise line to

Sycamore Partners Sycamore Partners is a private equity firm based in New York specializing in retail and consumer investments. The firm has approximately $10 billion in aggregate committed capital. History Founding Sycamore Partners was founded in 2011 by Stefa ...

in January 2021, and 50% of

Island Cruises Island Cruises was a cruise line that was founded as a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and First Choice Travel PLC, each of whom owned 50% of the company. The company operated in Europe, the Caribbean, and South America, aim ...

, selling their stake to TUI Travel PLC in October 2008.

History

Royal Caribbean Group was formed as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 1997 when

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Fl ...

purchased

. The decision was made to keep the two cruise line brands separate following the merger; as a result Royal Caribbean Cruise Line was re-branded

and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was established as the new parent company of both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. A third brand under Royal Caribbean Cruises ownership was formed in 2000 when

was created as a joint venture with

First Choice Holidays First Choice Holidays Limited (trading as First Choice) is a British online travel agency and tour operator, headquartered in Luton, England. It is a subsidiary of TUI UK, itself a subsidiary of TUI Group, and its holidays are sold in TUI stores ...

. Island Cruises became an informal cruise line on the British and Brazilian markets. In November 2006, Royal Caribbean Cruises purchased Pullmantur Cruises based in Madrid, Spain. From there, the company expanded rapidly with the creation of Azamara Cruises in May 2007 as a subsidiary of

. It followed this with the formation of

in May 2008 to serve the French-language market. Royal Caribbean also has an interest in

, a joint venture with

TUI AG TUI Group is a German leisure, travel and tourism company. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to ...

, which began operations in 2009 aimed at a German-speaking market. TUI Cruises's subsidiary, TUI Travel, had a 50% interest in Island Cruises following their merger with First Choice Holidays in 2007. In October 2008, Royal Caribbean Cruises rationalized their holdings by selling their share of Island Cruises to TUI. In early 2019, Royal Caribbean announced in a joint venture with ITM Group the formation of Holistica, a company that intends to develop cruise destinations. The only known destination that the company is to develop is the Grand Lucayan Resort, located in Freeport after the hotel campus was sold to newly formed subsidiary by the Bahamian Government. On July 10, 2020, Royal Caribbean Cruises purchased the remaining shares of Silversea Cruises. That same month, it also changed its name to Royal Caribbean Group. It also adjusted its logo. Royal Caribbean sold Azamara Cruises to

in March 2021 for $201 million. In July 2022, Royal Caribbean Group received court approval to purchase Endeavor, a former Crystal Cruise ship, for $275 million. The ship will be renamed Silver Endeavour when it officially joins the Royal Caribbean's subsidiary, Silversea Cruises' fleet.

Subsidiaries

Royal Caribbean International

Celebrity Cruises

Silversea Cruises

Silversea Cruises is a luxury

headquartered in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. Founded in 1994 by the Vlasov Group of Monaco and the Lefebvre family of Rome it pioneered all-inclusive cruising with its first ship, ''Silver Cloud''. Since July 2020, it has been owned by Royal Caribbean Group.

Other significant investments

Pullmantur Cruises

TUI Cruises

Holistica

Holistica was formed in early 2019 after the purchase of the Grand Lucayan Resort in a joint venture by Royal Caribbean and ITM Group. Since the purchase, Royal Caribbean has announced that it is intended for the resort to be developed into a cruise destination that will benefit the local Freeport economy. It was also announced by the CEO of Royal Caribbean that Freeport Harbor will be developed into a cruise facility of choice.

Former brands

(50% share, owned 2000–2008) *

(2007-2017) * SkySea Cruise Lines (35%, 2016–2018) *

Azamara Cruises Azamara is a cruise line based in Miami, Florida, that operates four cruise ships on worldwide itineraries. History Azamara Cruises was founded in 2007 after two R-class ships from Pullmantur Cruises that would have gone to Celebrity Cruises wer ...

Other companies owned by Royal Caribbean Group

* Wamos Air (formerly Air Pullmantur, 19% share)

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=expanded Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Cruise lines Companies based in Miami Transport companies established in 1997 Offshore companies of Liberia