How cruise stocks performed in 2024How cruise stocks performed in 2024

2024 saw Viking break into the publicly traded arena and almost double its share price, Royal Caribbean soar to an all-time high of nearly $259, Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings close out the year in the mid-20s and Lindblad often trading in double-digits.

Walt Disney Co. regularly cited Disney Cruise Line as a contributor to higher earnings.

RCL's dividend

Reinstating its dividend in July, Royal Caribbean Group became the first — and so far, only — cruise operator (apart from Walt Disney Co.) to do so post-pandemic. In a holiday gift to investors, Royal Caribbean in December hiked the dividend 38%, to 55 cents per share from 40 cents.

After trading as high as $258.70 on Dec. 9, RCL closed the year at $227 for a market capitalization topping $62b.

Viking's 83.58% return

Viking priced its IPO at $24 and debuted on the New York Stock Exchange May 1 at $26.15 in a float that was 2024's second highest by funds raised, $1.77b, according to Dealogic (after the $5.1b on the NASDAQ in July by Lineage, the world's largest cold-storage warehousing company).

Nearly doubling in six months, VIK hit a 52-week high of $47.63 on Nov. 27 and ended 2024 at $44.06 for a return of 83.58%. Viking's market cap was more than $19b, third highest of the cruise companies, behind much larger Carnival.

Related:Royal Caribbean Group raises dividend by 38%

Carnival

CCL shares traded as high as $27.17 on Dec. 5 before closing the year at $24.92. Carnival's market cap was nearly $32.6b.

NCLH

NCLH reached a high of $28.64 on Dec. 2. Shares closed at $25.73 Dec. 31, making for a market cap of $11.3b.

LIND

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, which includes several land-based companies, reached a 2024 high of $14.34 on Nov. 8, and ended the year at $11.86 for a market cap of more than $646m.