Royal Caribbean Group

Royal Caribbean Group, formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is an American global cruise holding company incorporated in Liberia and based in Miami, Florida, US. It is the world's second-largest cruise line operator, after Carnival Corporation & plc. As of July 2020, Royal Caribbean Group fully owns four cruise lines: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises, and Silversea Cruises.[2] They also hold a 50% stake in TUI Cruises and 49% stakes in Pullmantur Cruises and the now-defunct CDF Croisières de France.[3][4] Previously Royal Caribbean Group also owned 50% of Island Cruises, but this was sold to TUI Travel PLC in October 2008.[5]

This article is about the holding company that owns several cruise lines. For its subsidiary cruise line, see Royal Caribbean International.

Royal Caribbean Group
Public
Traded asNYSE: RCL
S&P 500 Component
ISINLR0008862868
IndustryHospitality, tourism
Founded1997 (1997)
FounderArne Wilhelmsen 
HeadquartersMiami, Florida, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Richard D. Fain
(Chairman, CEO)
Jason Liberty (CFO)
ServicesCruises
Revenue US$9.49 billion (2018)[1]
US$1.89 billion (2018)[1]
US$1.81 billion (2018)[1]
Total assets US$27.69 billion (2018)[1]
Total equity US$11.10 billion (2018)[1]
Number of employees
77,000 (2018)[1]
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.rclcorporate.com

History
Royal Caribbean headquarters.

Royal Caribbean Group was formed as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 1997 when Royal Caribbean Cruise Line purchased Celebrity Cruises. 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 Royal Caribbean International and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was established as the new parent company of both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.[6]

A third brand under Royal Caribbean Cruises ownership was formed in 2000 when Island Cruises was created as a joint venture with First Choice Holidays. Island Cruises became an informal cruise line on the British and Brazilian markets.[7]

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 Celebrity Cruises.[8] It followed this with the formation of CDF Croisières de France in May 2008 to serve the French-language market.[9]

Royal Caribbean also has an interest in TUI Cruises, a joint venture with TUI AG,[10] 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.[11] In October 2008, Royal Caribbean Cruises rationalized their holdings by selling their share of Island Cruises to TUI.[5]

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.[12] 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,[2] and began the process of changing their name to Royal Caribbean Group.[13]

Subsidiaries

Royal Caribbean International
Main article: 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, Florida, United States, it is the largest cruise line by revenue and second largest by passengers counts. In 2018, Royal Caribbean International controlled 19.2% of the worldwide cruise market by passengers and 14.0% by revenue.[14] It also operates the four largest passenger ships in the world. As of July 2019, the line operates twenty-six ships and has six additional ships on order.

In August 2020, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines officially dropped the word "Cruise" from the name and changed it to Royal Caribbean Group.[15] It has also adjusted their logo slightly,[16] with the name change effective immediately.[17]

Celebrity Cruises
Main article: Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida[18] 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 1997. Celebrity's signature logo is an "Χ" displayed on the funnel of Celebrity ships, and is the Greek letter chi, for "Chandris".[19][20]

Azamara

Silversea Cruises
Main article: Silversea Cruises

In July 2018, Royal Caribbean Group purchased two-thirds of Silversea Cruises, a Monaco-based cruise line. They purchased the remaining shares in July 2020.[21] Silversea Cruises operates as a subsidiary of Group.[22]

Other significant investments

Pullmantur Cruises
Main article: Pullmantur Cruises

Pullmantur Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain.[23] 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.-based Royal Caribbean Group,[24] but Royal Caribbean later sold a 51% stake in the cruise line to Spain-based investment firm Springwater Capital, retaining a 49% stake.[25]

Pullmantur Cruises is the largest Spain-based cruise line. The company mainly markets to Spanish passengers, although cruises are also sold by some travel operators outside the Spanish-speaking world. Some of the company's ships operate an "all-inclusive" product, where some extras, such as brand alcoholic beverages, are included in the cruise price.[24] Originally, most Pullmantur ships do not operate cruises for the company during the northern hemisphere winter season. Instead, they are either laid up or under charter to other cruise lines, such as the Brazil-based Viagens CVC.[24]

On 22 June 2020, due to the economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pullmantur's owners announced they had filed for reorganization of Pullmantur under Spanish insolvency laws.[26]

TUI Cruises
Main article: TUI Cruises
Former logo

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. The company started operations in 2009 and competes with AIDA Cruises for the German market. It targets German-speaking customers who opt for a premium cruise experience. The onboard product, including food, entertainment and amenities, is custom-tailored for German tastes and German is the main language used onboard its ships.[27][28]

In February 2020 TUI announced the sale of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten to TUI Cruises.[28] It was finished in July 2020.[29]

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.[30]

Former brands

Lobbying

Royal Caribbean Group and its subsidiaries engage political lobbyists in jurisdictions where it holds interests. For example, in South Australia it engaged FIPRA Australia.[31]

Other companies owned by Royal Caribbean Group
  • Wamos Air (formerly Air Pullmantur, 19% share)

References
  1. "ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD. 2018 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  2. "Royal Caribbean Group Acquires Remaining Interest in Silversea". www.rclinvestor.com. Miami, Florida: Royal Caribbean Group. PRNewswire. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  3. "Investor Relations Overview". Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  4. Newman, Doug (30 April 2008). "Celebrity Galaxy to Be TUI Cruises' First Ship". At Sea with Doug Newman. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  5. "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to Sell Its Interest in Island Cruises to First Choice Holidays Ltd". Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  6. Plowman, Peter (2006). The Chandris Liners and Celebrity Cruises. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 219. ISBN 1-877058-47-5.
  7. "Island Cruises ownership" (PDF). Island Cruises press material. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  8. "Celebrity Cruises Presents New, Deluxe Cruise Line: Azamara Cruises". Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. Press Release. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  9. Cruise Business Review: Royal Caribbean starts new cruise line dedicated to French market Archived 2008-03-19 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 14. 10. 2007
  10. "TUI AG and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. announce joint venture to serve German cruise market". Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. Press Release. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  11. "Tui Travel plc Begins Trading on the London Stock Exchange" (PDF). TUI Travel PLC press release. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  12. "Holistica". Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  13. Kalosh, Anne (9 July 2020). "Have you noticed? It's now Royal Caribbean Group". seatrade-cruise.com. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  14. "2018 Worldwide Cruise Line Market Share". cruisemarketwatch.com. Cruise Market Watch. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  15. Jibilian, Isabella. "Royal Caribbean Cruises has officially changed its name after quietly dropping the word 'cruises' and tweaking its logo". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  16. Sloan, Gene. "Surprise! Royal Caribbean Cruises just changed its name, without telling anyone". The Points Guy UK. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  17. www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2020/07/31/royal-caribbean-cruises-ltd-rebrands-name-logo.html. Retrieved 10 August 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. "Contact Us." Celebrity Cruises. Retrieved on 20 January 2010.
  19. Maritime Matters: Sun Vista, retrieved 29. 11. 2007 Archived 16 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Ulrich, Kurt. (1997). Monarchs of the sea : the great ocean liner. London: Taurus Parke Books. p. 177. ISBN 1-86064-373-6.
  21. "Royal Caribbean Group acquires the remainder of Silversea". travelweekly.com. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  22. "ROYAL CARIBBEAN COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF SILVERSEA CRUISES SHARES | Silversea". www.silversea.com. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  23. "Legal Notice Archived 2015-04-25 at the Wayback Machine." Pullmantur. Retrieved on 13 May 2015. "Pullmantur, S.A CIF A28261337. Located on, number 2 Mahonia Street, Madrid 28043." and "Pullmantur Cruises S.L. CIF B84581701. Located on, number 2 Mahonia Street, Madrid 28043."
  24. Newman, Doug (27 August 2007). "Cruise Ship Reviews > Pullmantur". Cruise Critic. The Independent Traveler, Inc. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  25. Royal Caribbean (10 May 2016). "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. And Springwater Capital Announce Joint Venture" (Press release). Miami, Florida and Madrid, Spain: Royal Caribbean. PRNewswire. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  26. "Pullmantur Files for Reorganization". Cruise Industry News. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  27. "Royal Caribbean and TUI AG complete joint venture for TUI Cruises". Cruise Industry News. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  28. "Tui bündelt Kreuzfahrt-Geschäft in Gemeinschaftsunternehmen mit Royal Caribbean Cruises". Manager-Magazin. 7 February 2020.
  29. https://hansa-online.de/2020/02/featured/145205/tui-verkauft-50-von-hapag-lloyd-cruises-an-royal-caribbean/
  30. "Royal Caribbean CEO hints at future plans for Freeport, Bahamas resort purchase". Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  31. "South Australian Register of Lobbyists - FIPRA Australia" (PDF).
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