A high administration change is on the horizon at Royal Caribbean Group, as longtime chairman of the board Richard Fain, thought-about a pioneering visionary throughout the cruise {industry}, is because of step down from the publish in late 2025.
Fain has held the highest govt place since 1988, overseeing the Royal Caribbean model and paving the best way for the group to accumulate Superstar Cruises in 1997 and Silversea Cruises in 2020.
The corporate additionally holds a 50% stake in a three way partnership that owns TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. All collectively, the 5 manufacturers function 67 cruise ships throughout the globe.
Fain will stay a member of the board of administrators. Changing him as chairman will probably be Jason Liberty, who has served as Royal Caribbean Group’s president and CEO since January 3, 2022.
Whereas Fain’s management enormously expanded Royal Caribbean Group’s manufacturers and scope of operations throughout the previous three-plus many years, maybe his biggest achievements lie within the revolutionary imaginative and prescient he had for the cruise trip product.
It was beneath Fain’s administration, as an illustration, that the industry-defining Oasis and Icon lessons of ships had been envisioned, designed, and launched for the Royal Caribbean model, as was the Edge class that has elevated the Superstar Cruises’ product.
“It’s time to hand the wheel to the subsequent technology of outstanding expertise at RCG, and I’m very assured that beneath Jason’s robust management, the Royal Caribbean Group will speed up to even better heights within the years forward,” mentioned Richard Fain, longtime chairman of Royal Caribbean Group.
Liberty, who was named group president and CEO in 2022, will step into the chairman’s function someday throughout the fourth quarter of 2025, the corporate’s June 6, 2025 announcement acknowledged.
Learn Additionally: What Are the Totally different Royal Caribbean Ship Lessons?
“Richard’s management has been nothing in need of transformative. Beneath his management, the Royal Caribbean Group has change into the main trip firm – with {industry} main manufacturers, ships, locations and folks,” mentioned Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group.
“I’m honored and humbled to have been elected as Chairman and CEO and I look ahead to persevering with to create and ship the final word trip expertise for our company and delivering elevated long-term worth for our shareholders,” Liberty added.
Liberty, who joined Royal Caribbean Group in 2005, beforehand labored in roles together with govt vice chairman and chief monetary officer.
Trying Again at Government’s Main Accomplishments
By the point Richard Fain relinquishes his function as chairman of the board at Royal Caribbean Group in late 2025, he may have presided over the debut of Royal Caribbean’s second Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas.
The 5,600-guest ship, sister to Icon of the Seas, which launched in 2024, is ready to enter service in August 2025. It will likely be the final new-build introduction throughout Fain’s chairmanship. Star of the Seas is sort of accomplished and will probably be christened at Port Canaveral in a gala ceremony with music icon Diana Ross serving as godmother.
Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class, a six-ship collection that started with Oasis of the Seas in 2009 and continues to develop, is arguably the {industry}’s most revolutionary creation.
It launched, for instance, the notion of themed neighborhoods onboard cruise ships and represented the biggest cruise ships ever constructed, at 226,838 gross tons.
The latest within the class is Utopia of the Seas, which entered service in 2024.
In the present day, the model’s Icon class represents the {industry}’s largest ships, at 248,663 gross tons and in a position to accommodate 7,600 company with all berths occupied.
A number of the themed neighborhoods from Oasis class are additionally featured on Icon class ships, corresponding to Central Park and Royal Promenade, whereas new ones have been added.
Beneath Fain’s management, Superstar Cruises launched the primary of 4 Edge-class ships in 2018, and because the 2020 acquisition of luxurious line Silversea Cruises, the mum or dad group has facilitated 4 new ships for the fleet, together with three new-builds and one buy.
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