The company behind Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Silversea is getting into the resort business. On 23 September, Royal Caribbean Group and Sandals Resorts announced a joint venture that will see the cruise giant pay roughly $3 billion for a 50-percent stake in Sandals and its family-focused sister brand, Beaches. The deal is expected to close in early 2027, with committed debt financing already arranged through Morgan Stanley.
For those who don't follow corporate travel news, here's why it matters: Sandals runs adults-only all-inclusive resorts across the Caribbean, while Beaches caters to families. Royal Caribbean Group, meanwhile, already operates cruise lines, private island destinations and a river-cruise arm. Put the two together and you get a single company that can, in theory, sell you a cruise, a resort stay, or a mash-up of both — think a few nights at a Beaches resort in Jamaica tacked onto the front of a Caribbean sailing.
That's the pitch, at least. No combined cruise-plus-resort packages have been announced yet, and neither have changes to loyalty schemes, though the companies say they may explore linking Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor-style programme with Sandals' Sandals Select rewards. Existing bookings, resort operations and loyalty programmes are all expected to carry on as normal in the meantime.
The money side is telling: the $3 billion price works out to roughly 10 times forward EBITDA, and Royal Caribbean expects the deal to add to earnings in 2027 — a signal this is about growth, not a rescue. The Stewart family, which founded Sandals, stays firmly in control day to day. Adam Stewart remains executive chairman and will co-lead the joint venture's board alongside Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty, who framed the move as the next step in building a 'vacation platform'.
So who should care? Practically everyone who likes a Caribbean escape. If the partnership delivers, holidaymakers could eventually compare and book cruises and all-inclusive resort stays through more connected platforms, with pre- and post-cruise resort add-ons that don't require juggling two separate companies. It also means fresh investment flowing into Sandals and Beaches properties — new resorts, renovations and expanded experiences are explicitly on the agenda.
If you have a Sandals honeymoon or a Beaches family trip already booked, nothing changes for now. If you've been loyal to Royal Caribbean ships but curious about land-based all-inclusives, the odds that the two worlds start talking to each other just got a lot better. Watch this space through 2026 and 2027 as the deal closes and the first joint offerings appear.
Story source: Porthole Cruise.
