Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of December 31, 2025, it operated 69 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Cost Leadership PositionOperating margin at 94.1th percentile with strong OpEx control demonstrates cost leadership.
Scale Supporting ProfitabilityProfitability at scale is strong (score 0.73), demonstrating competitive advantages.
Key risks
Liquidity ConcernsLiquidity is concerning (score 0.00), raising questions about short-term obligations.
Revenue Volatility Signals Weak StickinessRevenue volatility is high (stability score 0.18), suggesting weak customer stickiness.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ranks #7 of 20
scored companies in Travel Services by moat score — the top 35%.
The widest moat in the group is Booking Holdings Inc. Common St (BKNG)
at 76/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near RCL in Travel Services
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 97
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 38
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 65
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 41
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 78
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
What is Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s moat score?
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) scores 59 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #7 of 20 scored companies in Travel Services, the top 35%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 19 companies in Travel Services. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (97/100) and its weakest is Customer Stickiness (38/100).
How does Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. compare with other Travel Services companies?
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ranks #7 of 20 scored companies in Travel Services by moat score. The widest moat in Travel Services is Booking Holdings Inc. Common St (BKNG) at 76/100. The companies ranked closest are Viking Holdings Ltd (VIK) at 62 just above it and MakeMyTrip Limited (MMYT) at 58 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 19 companies in Travel Services. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and RCL scores: Pricing Power (46), Cost Advantage (97), Customer Stickiness (38), Capital Efficiency (65), Resilience (41), Scale & Market Position (78). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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