Oasis of the Seas
Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis-class mega cruise ship Wonder of the Seas won’t be cruising from Dubai in 2021 after all, the cruise line has confirmed.
The ship is currently under construction in France and will be the largest cruise ship in the world when launched. She was meant to begin a season of cruises from Shanghai, China in mid-2021, but will be replaced with Spectrum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas instead.
Rendering of Wonder of the Seas
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Wonder of the Seas was expected to offer a grand repositioning voyage between Dubai and China next year, like Spectrum of the Seas did in 2019 on her way to Shanghai, but those plans have now been shelved.
“The coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented impact on the global cruise ship industry and the construction of the new Wonder of the Seas was delayed due to the impact of it in shipyard operations,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement issued in the Chinese market.
“We look forward to the arrival of Wonder of the Seas after the epidemic has been brought under control,” the statement added, leaving the door open to the possibility of a cruise from Dubai by the world’s largest cruise ship in 2022.
Wonder of the Seas’ construction in Europe has been delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic
Instead of deploying Wonder of the Seas in China for 2021, Royal Caribbean will instead be sending Spectrum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.
Spectrum of the Seas will be based in Shanghai from January to November sailing four to eight-night cruises visiting 12 different ports in Japan.
From December 2021 to January 2022, Spectrum will be based in Hong Kong, operating four to nine-night cruises to Vietnam, Japan and other destinations.
Spectrum of the Seas will cruise from Shanghai in 2021 instead
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The 2019-built ship is the latest in Royal Caribbean’s game-changing Quantum Ultra-class line-up.
The much older Voyager of the Seas will be based in Tianjin from May to October. The 1999-built vessel will offer four to seven-night cruises to 10 different destinations in Japan.
Voyager of the Seas recently underwent a major refurbishment
Although older than Spectrum, she was recently refurbished at a cost of US $100-million and is a veteran of the Asian cruise season, having homeported in the region nine times already.
Together, the Spectrum and Voyager will offer a total of 111 cruises from Chinese ports in 2021.
With cruises ranging from four to nine nights, the ships will offer 35 different itineraries, visiting 26 Asian destinations.
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