RCL vs APO Comparison

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).

Apollo is one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, with $938.4 billion in total assets under management, or AUM, including $709.1 billion in fee-earning assets, at the end of 2025. The company has two core operating segments: asset management and retirement services. Apollo operates with scale in each of its major product lines—private equity (with $128.4 billion in total AUM and $75.0 billion in fee-earning AUM), real estate/real assets ($60.8 billion/$27.6 billion), and credit ($749.2 billion/$606.5 billion). Apollo has a distribution profile that is likely not too far off from the industry averages—with 84% of its assets held by institutional investors and 16% by high-net-worth clients.