Odyssey of the Seas Marks Five Years Since Pandemic-Era Delivery
Bahamian paratriathlete Erin Brown served as godmother at the Port Everglades christening on November 13, 2021, giving a blessing of safekeeping.
Royal Caribbean International’s Odyssey of the Seas has completed five years in the fleet, following delivery from Meyer Werft on March 31, 2021. The 4,200-passenger ship did not begin carrying guests until July 31, 2021. A pandemic-era warm layup altered its original inaugural program.
Odyssey of the Seas was the fifth and final ship in Royal Caribbean’s Quantum series, closing a build cycle that began with Quantum of the Seas. Across the five ships, Meyer Werft put the program at a combined 840,000 tons, with 11,000 kilometers of cable, 2,000 kilometers of piping and 10,500 passenger cabins.
The 169,300-gt ship was built at Meyer Werft’s Papenburg yard in Germany and is 347.1 meters long. Odyssey of the Seas is part of the Quantum Ultra class, with published double-occupancy capacity of about 4,200 passengers and onboard features including North Star, RipCord by iFLY and SeaPlex.
Pandemic-era delivery changed the inaugural season
Royal Caribbean initially planned to place Odyssey of the Seas in Haifa for seven- to nine-night sailings visiting the Greek Isles and Cyprus. That deployment was replaced with a Fort Lauderdale-based summer program to the Caribbean.
The ship’s christening followed at Port Everglades on Nov. 13, 2021. Bahamian paratriathlete Erin Brown served as godmother and gave a blessing of safekeeping for the vessel and those sailing aboard.
Deployments shifted between Europe and the New York market
After its Caribbean start, Odyssey of the Seas moved into European summer service, offering cruises to the Greek Islands, Turkey and Italy. Beginning with the 2024-25 winter season, Royal Caribbean repositioned the ship to the New York City metropolitan area for Caribbean and Bahamas cruises.
For 2026, Royal Caribbean has the ship scheduled for another Eastern Mediterranean summer season from Civitavecchia, the port serving Rome. In early November, Odyssey of the Seas is due back in Bayonne for another season from Royal Caribbean’s Cape Liberty cruise terminal.
