Royal Caribbean's CEO made over $10 million in 2022 — 705 times more than company's median worker

• Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty made $10.76 million in 2022, regulatory filings show.
• Meanwhile, crew members onboard Royal Caribbean's ships made a median annual wage of $15,264.

Royal Caribbean Group's CEO Jason Liberty made over $10 million in 2022, approximately 705 times the median annual wage of the cruise giant's shipboard crew members, regulatory filings show.

Liberty was paid a base salary of $1.2 million and a bonus of $2.3 million, along with about $7 million worth of long-term incentive equity awards. Combined with his shares in the company, his 2022 compensation is estimated to equal around $10.76 million.

Liberty took over as CEO from 33-year veteran Richard Fain at the beginning of last year. In 2021, Liberty received a compensation package of $13 million in his previous role as chief financial officer.

Meanwhile, crew members working onboard Royal Caribbean's ships took home a median yearly salary of $15,264 in 2022, according to the company's estimates. That number includes tips billed directly to guests but excludes cash gratuities. The company's various lines employed some 84,059 people as of December 2022, the company said.

"The dollar amounts include (among other items) unpaid amounts of equity compensation that may be realizable in future periods, and as such, the dollar amounts shown do not fully represent the actual final amount of compensation earned or actually paid to either individual during the applicable years," Royal Caribbean said in its filing.

A spokesperson did not respond to a request for further comment.

The cruise industry was singled out for its drastic pay inequity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in thousands of lost jobs for crew and multi-million dollar bonuses for chief execs. Royal Caribbean did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Cruise ship employment contracts typically range between six months and 10 months long. Under international maritime law, crew may work a maximum of 14 hours a day and 72 hours a week without guaranteed days off.

The median annual salary of American workers was $55,640 in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a single cruise ship, crew members may represent over 100 countries around the world. With a large group of workers coming from developing nations in Asia, the Caribbean, and South America, cruise lines are able to pay their shipboard employees much lower wages than their land-based colleagues in Miami.

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