Is Royal Caribbean Stock Increasing Your Market Risk?

By James Park · Markets Editor

November 4, 2026· 3 min read

Is Royal Caribbean Stock Increasing Your Market Risk?

November 4th, 2026 · by Trefis TeamRCLYTD+14.1%SPYYTD+11.2%XLYYTD-1.3%Analyze RCL →For questions about this article or underlying research, email help@trefis.com.

Royal Caribbean (RCL) has agreed to buy half of Sandals and Beaches Resorts. Current and prospective shareholders likely already have money that follows the broader market. The cruise operator’s daily moves pile on top of whatever those broader holdings do. So when the market has a good or a bad day, does Royal Caribbean make that day bigger for you?

_Image from Pixabay Yes, Royal Caribbean Moves Further Than The Market

Over the past year to November 3, 2026, a $10,000 holding in Royal Caribbean gained about $103 on the average day the S&P 500 rose. On those days the index gained 0.634%. When the index fell 0.606% on the average down day, that same holding lost about $97. In both directions, the stock moved about 1.6 times as far as the index.

Royal Caribbean’s volatility, a measure of how widely its price swings over a year, was 47.8% over the past year against 12.8% for the S&P 500. By a different measure, beta, the stock moved 1.71% for each 1% move in the index. Royal Caribbean therefore adds to the market risk you already carry rather than steadying it: on the days your other holdings fall, the stock has tended to fall further.

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Will Royal Caribbean Keep Swinging This Hard?

Royal Caribbean does not simply follow the market, and its swings are not new. The company recorded a yearly volatility of 48.6% over the past five years. Its correlation with the S&P 500 was 0.46 over the past year. That figure measures how closely the two move together on a scale where 1 means fully in step. In April 2026, the index rose 10.4% while the stock fell 4.2%.

The cruise business itself looks steady, with revenue rising 8.8% in fiscal Q3 2026 from a year earlier. During its October 27, 2026 call, management raised its full-year forecast and said booking volumes since the previous call had grown in the mid-teens from a year earlier.

On top of that business, Royal Caribbean has made a large bet that is not yet proven. Management agreed to pay about $3 billion for half of Sandals and Beaches Resorts, a Caribbean all-inclusive resort owner. The company expects the deal to close in early 2027. Management said the stake will add little to 2027 earnings, so the deal’s results will take time to show.

Has Royal Caribbean Stock Paid You For Its Swings?

Partly. Over the five years to November 3, 2026, Royal Caribbean returned 29.6% a year including dividends, compared with 11.7% for the S&P 500. The stock’s yearly volatility over that time was 48.6%, against 17.0% for the index.

Over those five years, Royal Caribbean earned 0.609 of yearly return for each unit of yearly swing, calculated by dividing its return by its volatility. The S&P 500 earned 0.688. So you made more in total from Royal Caribbean, but less for each unit of swing than from the index.

If the past year is a guide, a Royal Caribbean holding will tend to gain more than the market on an up day and lose more on a down day, though the stock can move the other way on any single day. And if you already own other bets on people spending on holidays, such as hotels, airlines or other cruise lines, Royal Caribbean adds to that same bet rather than spreading it.