The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL)
Cruise line, counted shipboard and shoreside. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-11. Ranked 12 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing counts 96,500 shipboard, 9,900 shoreside and 1,600 private destination employees, 108,000 in all, so the patterns follow those counts (a) with the shipboard split by description (c).
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 22% now, 30% at the end of 2027, 33% at the end of 2028, 34% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 34% desk work, 20% people work and 46% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 59% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 30% becomes checking a model's work and 9% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
108,000 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). The filing's table counts 4,450 U.S. based shoreside employees; the shipboard and private destination employees are all international.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, our three global cruise brands employed approximately 108,000 employees spanning across our shipboard fleet and shoreside locations.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation | 45% | By stated counts (a): 96,500 shipboard employees, 89% of the total; the split within that count between the ships' marine and service work is by description (c). |
| Traveler Accommodation | 45% | By stated counts (a) within the 96,500 shipboard employees: the hotel, restaurant and entertainment work aboard, the share by description (c). |
| Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services | 9% | By stated counts (a): 9,900 shoreside operations employees, 4,450 U.S. based and 5,450 international, the offices that sell and run the cruises. |
| Amusement Parks and Arcades | 1% | By stated counts (a): the filing counts 1,600 employees at private destinations such as its Perfect Day and Royal Beach Club collections. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Shipboard 96,500 with 87% under collective bargaining agreements; shoreside 11,400 full time and 50 part time; shipboard employees from about 140 countries, mostly the Philippines (34%), Indonesia (17%) and India (16%); shoreside 45% in the U.S. and 37% in the Philippines.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL, 117,000 employees)22% now, 34% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
4 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in 4 sentences: data analytics and AI brought into revenue management and maintenance modeling, and emerging technologies including AI as a business, compliance and reputational risk.
- “We have continued to expand digital capabilities into our operations and have increased our focus in bringing data analytics and artificial intelligence into our processes to provide better insights for revenue management as well as in how to model our maintenance or operational actions.”
- “Our use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, may present business, compliance and reputational risks.”
- “The Company depends on technology and automated systems, including emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence ("AI"), to operate its business, including but not limited to, computerized reservation systems, ship operations and crew scheduling systems, shipboard internet services, cloud-based technologies, technical and business operations systems and commercial websites and applicat...”
- “The attacks can encompass a wide range of methods and intent, including phishing attacks, generative artificial intelligence impersonation, illegitimate requests for payment, theft of intellectual property, theft of confidential or non-public information, installation of malware, installation of ransomware and theft of personal or business information.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 108,000 | 2026-02-11 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 106,000 | 2025-02-14 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 98,200 | 2024-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 102,500 | 2023-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 85,000 | 2022-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | not read | 2021-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 85,400 | 2020-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 77,000 | 2019-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 66,000 | 2018-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 66,000 | 2017-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 66,000 | 2016-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 64,000 | 2015-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 64,000 | 2014-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 62,000 | 2013-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 6,300 | 2012-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 5,200 | 2011-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 4,900 | 2010-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 4,400 | 2009-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 4,461 | 2008-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 4,329 | 2007-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 3,800 | 2006-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 3,670 | 2005-03-14 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 3,400 | 2004-03-15 | 20-F |
| 2002-12-31 | 2,700 | 2003-03-24 | 20-F |
| 2001-12-31 | 2,600 | 2002-04-08 | 20-F |
| 2000-12-31 | 2,700 | 2001-04-17 | 20-F |
| 1999-12-31 | 2,400 | 2000-04-04 | 20-F |
| 1998-12-31 | 2,300 | 1999-04-02 | 20-F |
Limits of this reading
- The split of the 96,500 shipboard employees between marine work and hotel work rests on description (c); the filing counts them as one group.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000884887-26-000007, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 22% now and 33% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. employ?
- 108,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 4% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 4 industry staffing patterns, the largest Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation; by those patterns the work is about 34% desk work, 20% people work and 46% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s annual report say about AI?
- 4 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.