Middle East Cruise News

Wonder of the Seas Dubai cruise potentially back on with Asia deployment

Wonder of the Seas, the new Oasis-class cruise ship being built for Royal Caribbean International, may yet cruise from Dubai as originally planned before the pandemic, according to new itineraries released by the line.

Royal Caribbean has confirmed that Wonder of the Seas is still scheduled to homeport in Asia, sailing from Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2022, meaning that a repositioning cruise from her shipyard in Europe to China via the Suez Canal and Middle East is still likely.

Wonder of the Seas will homeport in Shanghai and Hong Kong

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Wonder of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship in the world when she’s launched in early 2022. She’s currently under construction at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in France, but Royal Caribbean have now opened bookings for her inaugural season in Asia.

The ship will be 4% larger than her sister ship Symphony of the Seas, and will be the sixth Oasis-class ship in the fleet. At 228,081-gross tons, she will carry 6,988 passengers and will be 20% larger than any other class of cruise ship afloat.

Wonder of the Seas will be even larger than Symphony of the Seas (pictured)

If 6,988 passengers sounds like the ship will be crowded, remember that her total passenger common areas will add up to the equivalent of nine football fields (not including her cabins). Her sister ship Symphony of the Seas features 12 restaurants, 20 bars a theatre, casino, ice rink, video arcade, sports court and one of the largest spas at sea.

These ships also include a whole host of at sea attractions, such as the Ultimate Abyss slide, the FlowRider surf simulator, the Perfect Storm waterslides, and even a ZipLine across an area of the ship modelled on New York’s Central Park.

Oasis of the Seas was the first of this class of ships to feature a zipline across Central Park

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If Wonder of the Seas does cruise from Dubai, therefore, it will be a truly landmark moment for the Middle East cruise industry, but this has not been confirmed by Royal Caribbean so we can only speculate for now about the route she’ll take from Europe to Asia.

Wonder of the Seas’ Asian season

Wonder of the Seas will homeport in Shanghai and Hong Kong from March, 2022 to January, 2023. She will initially cruise roundtrip from Shanghai between March and November, 2022, on a range of short and week-long itineraries.

The majority of cruises from Shanghai will be short cruises of four nights, calling in Naha or Fukuoka. There will also be two five-night cruises at Fukuoka and Kagoshima, or Fukuoka and Kumamoto. Another option brings guests to Naha and Ishigaki.

Wonder of the Seas will also sail a number of longer cruises in the summer of 2022 from Shanghai, such as an eight-night itinerary visiting the Japanese cities of Kobe, Osaka, Shimizu and Tokyo.

In November, Wonder of the Seas will move to Hong Kong and homeport at the advanced Kai Tak Cruise Terminal for a November, 2022 to January, 2023 cruise season featuring a mix of short Japanese and Vietnamese cruises, as well as longer 9-day options featuring South Korea.

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