How Royal Caribbean's Financial Domination Could Continue in 2026

2026-01-03 12:30:00 ET

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) has treated investors quite well lately, with the cruise line stock outperforming the broader market in 2025. The first article in this series explored the recent history of the cruise business and Royal Caribbean's place in it. Here, you'll get a closer look at the financial performance that has helped support Royal Caribbean shares for the past five years while still leaving shareholders more room to run higher.

Throughout the 2010s, Royal Caribbean was able to grow its business slowly but steadily, with solid gains in revenue and net income. However, that all changed in 2020, when the pandemic's impact slashed the cruise company's sales by more than 80%. Royal Caribbean had to endure another year of closures in 2021, and it was only in 2022 that reversals of government travel restrictions allowed the business to start recovering. During the three years from 2020 to 2022, Royal Caribbean lost over $13 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

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