October 2026
Largest Cruises Public Companies in the US
Benchmark revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples for public comps like
Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Viking Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Lindblad Expeditions.
 | Royal Caribbean is the world's second-largest cruise company by revenues, operating 69 ships across five global and partner brands in the cruise vacation industry. Brands the company operates include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea. The company also has a 50% investment in a joint venture that operates TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The selection of brands in the portfolio allows Royal to compete on the basis of innovation, quality of ships and service, variety of itineraries, choice of destinations, and price. The company completed the divestiture of its Azamara brand in 2021, plans to launch its new Celebrity River Cruise brand in 2027, and is set to operate eight private destination locations by 2028 (up from three currently). | $282 | -2% | $75B | $98B | 5.5x | 13.9x | ||
| Carnival is the largest global cruise company, with nearly 100 ships in service. Its portfolio of brands includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard Line in the United Kingdom; Aida in Germany; Costa Cruises in Southern Europe. It recently folded its P&O Australia brand into Carnival. The firm also owns Holland America Princess Alaska Tours in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Carnival's brands attracted nearly 14 million guests in 2025. | $26 | -9% | $39B | $63B | 2.4x | 9.2x | ||
| Viking Holdings Ltd is a travel company, with a fleet of 92 small ships, which view as floating hotels. It offers travel experiences on all seven continents in all three categories of the cruise industry river, ocean, and expedition cruising. The Group defines its products based on the type of cruise offering and language of the cruise service. The River segment provides river cruises outside the United States to English-speaking passengers. The Ocean segment offers ocean cruises to English-speaking passengers. Other include operating segments that are not individually reportable, consisting of expedition cruises for English-speaking passengers (Expedition), Mississippi River cruises for English-speaking passengers, and Viking China, which includes cruises for Mandarin. | $82 | +34% | $36B | $39B | 6.0x | 22.7x | ||
| Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is a cruise company headquartered in Miami, Florida, domiciled in Bermuda and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It owns three cruise brands: Norwegian Cruise Line, which began in 1966 as Norwegian Caribbean Lines and sells resort-style Freestyle Cruising; Oceania Cruises; and the all-inclusive luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The holding company was incorporated on February 21, 2011 ahead of an IPO completed in January 2013, when Norwegian Cruise Line was owned by Genting Hong Kong, Apollo Management and TPG Capital; Apollo and Genting sold their last shares in December 2018. In 2014 it bought Prestige Cruise Holdings, parent of Oceania and Regent, for $3.025 billion including assumed debt. The group operates 35 ships with about 75,000 berths sailing to roughly 700 destinations, has 16 more ships on order for delivery from 2026 to 2037, expected to carry about 3 million guests in 2025 and employs more than 44,500 team members. It earns ticket revenue and onboard spending from passengers and reported total revenue of $9.8 billion in 2025, up 3.7%, with GAAP net income of $423.2 million. John W. Chidsey was appointed president and chief executive in February 2026. | $16 | -31% | $7.1B | $22B | 2.2x | 8.6x | ||
| Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc provides expedition cruising and adventure travel services. The company operates in two segments: Lindblad and Land Experiences, of which Lindblad generates the vast majority of its revenue. It offers itineraries that feature up-close encounters with wildlife, nature, history, and culture, as well as promote guest empowerment and interactivity. It operates expeditions on intimately-scaled ships and interaction between guests, crew, and the teams of scientists, naturalists, researchers, and photographers that participate in the expeditions. Lindblad operates a fleet of twelve owned expedition ships and five seasonal charter vessels under the Lindblad brand. | $36 | +200% | $2.4B | $2.7B | 3.5x | 31.0x | ||
| Median | $36 | -2% | $36B | $39B | 3.5x | 13.9x |
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