Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Says Sandals-Royal Caribbean Deal Can “Grow the Pie”

Calling it a visionary development for Caribbean tourism, Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) President Adam Ceserano said the proposed Royal Caribbean Group/Sandals partnership is an example of how collaboration across the wider vacation industry can create new opportunities for travellers, businesses, destinations and communities.

The FCCA says the proposed investment highlights the potential for cruise and land-based tourism partners to work more closely together, creating broader opportunities for travellers, destinations, businesses and communities across the Caribbean.

“This is the kind of forward-looking partnership that recognizes how people actually travel today,” said Ceserano. “Cruise and land-based vacations are not competing worlds. They are increasingly part of the same vacation ecosystem, and this announcement demonstrates the potential that exists when leading companies look beyond traditional industry boundaries and focus on creating more opportunities for the guest and greater value for destinations.”

Under the agreement announced earlier this week, Royal Caribbean Group plans to acquire a 50% equity interest in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately $3 billion. The companies said the transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions.

For FCCA, the announcement reinforces a broader message about the relationship between cruise tourism and the region’s land-based visitor economy. Travellers increasingly experience destinations in multiple ways and across multiple trips. A guest may combine a cruise with a pre- or post-cruise stay, return to a destination first discovered through cruising or choose different vacation experiences within the Caribbean over time.

Rather than viewing cruise and hotel tourism as separate sectors competing for the same traveler, Ceserano said greater collaboration can help expand the overall Caribbean vacation proposition.

“The opportunity is to grow the pie,” said Ceserano. “When cruise lines, resorts, destinations, attractions, restaurants, tour operators and other tourism partners work together, we can give travellers more reasons to experience the Caribbean, more reasons to return and more ways to engage with our destinations.”