Earned & PaidRoyal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean spent $693M on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 13.2% on the year before. That's 3.9% of revenue.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “We increase brand awareness and market penetration of our cruise vacation brands in various ways, including the use of communication strategies and marketing campaigns designed to emphasize the qualities of each brand, especially among target groups. Our marketing strategies…” 10-K, Feb 11, 2026
Say vs do
We found no statement about the size of Royal Caribbean's marketing budget on its earnings calls or in its 10-Ks, so here is its record against its peers.
What they said
No statement about the size of its marketing budget.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $693M | +13.2% | 3.9% |
| FY2024 | $612M | +20.9% | 3.7% |
| FY2023 | $506M | -0.6% | 3.6% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 5 other Travel advertisers we track (Booking Holdings, Expedia, Airbnb, Marriott, Carnival): last year +13.2% (median +0.6%).
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “In addition, our Global Brands target repeat guests with exclusive benefits offered through their respective loyalty programs, including loyalty status match across our brand portfolio.” 10-K · Feb 11, 2026 · source
- Creative campaigns “We have a promotional campaign that'll be ready to go soon, and we'll be very excited to visit multiple cities and start talking about Discovery.” Michael Bayley on the earnings call · Jan 29, 2026 · source
- SEO & AI search “The costs for SEO and other related marketing activities has gone up there's been an inflation or demand elements that have caused that to go up in our teams have done I think a very great job in finding efficient ways to do that.” Jason Liberty on the earnings call · Nov 3, 2022 · source
In the news
- Departure Lounge becomes a national sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign Travel Weekly · Sep 28, 2026 · sponsorship