Royal Caribbean leaves Carnival behind in terms of fleet size

Royal Caribbean is now leading in Ocean Cruise Lines in terms of fleet size. The Miami-based cruise brand this week caught up with longtime rival Carnival Cruise Line, measured to the ships by the delivery of a 25th vessel - the 4,180 passenger Odyssey of the Seas.

The addition of the 16-deck, 1,138-foot-long ship - one of the largest cruise ships ever created - joins Royal Caribbean's status as the world's biggest cruise line. Even before this week, Royal Caribbean already possessed about 18% more passenger capacity than Carnival because its ships are on average larger and have more people. But the two lines were tied when the size of the fleet came with 24 ships each.

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Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival have withdrawn their fleet size over the previous year as they lowered prices to stay floating during the coronavirus shutdown. But Royal Caribbean has dumped fewer ships than Carnival, helping it to draw the latter line in fleet size.

In the coronavirus shutdown, Carnival had 27 vessels - one more than Royal Caribbean, which had 26 ships.

Carnival has since withdrawn four of its older vessels while scoring a single vessel, the 5,250 passenger Mardi Gras. Royal Caribbean has removed only two vessels from its fleet.

The development of Odyssey of the Seas at a shipyard in Germany was delayed by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Ordered long before the outbreak began and has been under construction since early 2019, it was originally slated to debut in November but it was about 5 later.

Odyssey of the Seas is the second vessel in Royal Caribbean's Quantum Ultra-class ships - elongated versions of three Quantum Class vessels that debuted in 2014.

The first Quantum Ultra Class vessel, Spectrum of the Seas, debuted in 2019 and is committed to the increasing Chinese sailing business. It sails from Shanghai. Odyssey of the Seas will be the first Quantum Ultra Class ship to be exchanged to an American and European audience and sail in the two regions.

Originally from Civitavecchia, Italy (the port of Rome), Odyssey of the Seas would sail from May on Mediterranean voyages open to a worldwide audience. But because travel to many European countries is still limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ship is diverted to Israel to conduct an unusual series of voyages to the Greek islands and Cyprus from Haifa, Israel, which is only available to Israeli residents. The voyages will be from Israel for the first time with a large sailing line.

Israel has seen its COVID-19 cases drop in the wake of one of the world's fastest deployments of the COVID-19 vaccine. The country takes on average less than 500 new cases a day.

Odyssey of the Seas is only the second Royal Caribbean ship to start operating anywhere in the world since the coronavirus pandemic came to a halt in March 2020. The line already operates a single ship from Singapore for Singapore residents only. Odyssey of the Seas is also likely to be one of only a handful of cruise ships sailing around the world.

Odyssey of the Seas is the 13th biggest cruise vessel ever built. While not quite as large as Royal Caribbean's record-breaking Symphony of the Seas (the world's largest cruise ship), it has all the amenities of a huge variety, including several pool areas, a children's park, and such entertainment as an aerial dive simulator, a surfing simulator and a buffer pavilion.

In addition, Odyssey of the Seas offers a variety of cabin classes for something for everyone, ranging from small, 166-square-foot interiors without a window to massive, two-deck high Royal Loft Suites that are nearly 10 times as large.

After departing from Israel for the summer, Odyssey of the Seas will reposition in November to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to operate cruises to the Caribbean.

Note that the increasing of a new vessel to Royal Caribbean offers it only the largest fleet among cruise companies focusing on ocean-going ships. There are cruise lines like Viking that mostly drive riverboats that have more vessels. But river cruise ships are recognised a separate section in the cruise business. Sea vessels are on average much smaller than ocean-going vessels, and usually measure only a few hundred meters long and carry less than 200 passengers.