Ovation of the Seas is a owned by Royal Caribbean International and the third ship of her class. The Quantum class is the third largest class of cruise ships behind MSC Cruises's Meraviglia class and Royal Caribbean International's by gross tonnage. Ovation of the Seas mainly sails from Seattle during the northern summer season and re-positions to Sydney during the southern summer season.
Concept and construction
On 11 February 2011, RCI announced that it had ordered a new class of ships from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, the first of which was scheduled to be delivered by autumn of 2014. At the time, the project was code-named "Project Sunshine". On 29 February 2012, the company announced that a second "Project Sunshine" ship had been ordered and would be delivered by Spring 2015. Just under a year later, on 31 January 2013, RCI announced that the official name of the new class of ships was the Quantum class. The first steel for the third vessel in the Quantum class was cut on 18 September 2014, the same day its name was announced to be Ovation of the Seas. The keel was laid down by Meyer Werft on 5 March 2015. Before the first piece of the keel was lowered into place, Adam Goldstein, President and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the holding company of RCI, placed a lucky coin in the dock. The keel was formed of 74 blocks. The first section was launched on 20 June 2015. , Western Australia in 2016 December. Ovation of the Seas was delivered on 8 April 2016, and entered service on 14 April 2016.
Service history
Ovation of the Seas arrived from Hamburg to the Port of Southampton, UK on 10 April 2016, to begin a series of inaugural events, including press previews and a limited number of "Shake-down" and mini-cruises for VIPs, specially invited guests and members of the public. The ship berths at the City Cruise Terminal in the Western Docks, where its fleetmates also dock when visiting the city. Following her entry into service, Ovation of the Seas departed on an inaugural 52-night Global Odyssey cruise from the Port of Southampton in the UK on 3 May 2016. The ship's ultimate destination on that cruise was Tianjin in China, where she homeported and operated a series of cruises to destinations in Asia. During the lower hemisphere summer of 2016–17, the vessel homeported in Sydney, Australia and the ship will return to the region again for both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. In the spring of 2019, the ship sailed to Seattle for the summer season, where she is sailing 7-night cruises to Alaska. The ship's christening ceremony was 24 June 2016 in Tianjin; the ship's godmother is Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.
Incidents
On 27 August 2019, a man suffering from a possible bowel obstruction was medically transported into a 5-foot Response Boat of the cruise ship and requesting a medical evacuation from Ovation of the Seas near Douglas.
On 9 December 2019, a volcanic eruption occurred on New Zealand's White Island while Ovation of the Seas was docked in the nearby Port of Tauranga. 47 people, including 38 passengers and crew from the ship, were on the island when it erupted, despite an increase in seismic activity in recent weeks. Twenty people on the island were killed and 27 were injured. A spokesperson said the line was "devastated by today’s events", and the ship remained in port until 11 December to assist with recovery efforts. The captain offered refunds to all passengers on board the ship.
In March 2020 thousands of passengers were ordered to self-isolate after disembarking from the ship in Sydney, Australia on 18 March due to COVID-19 fears. 79 passengers subsequently tested positively for the virus. As of 1 April, the ship was located off the coast of New South Wales. The International Transport Workers' Federation had called on the Australian government to allow the crew members to be disembarked so that could be flown to their countries of residence. They formed part of 15,000 crew members in 18 cruise ships sitting off the Australian coast during the pandemic. On 2 April, a 75-year-old former passenger died in Wollongong Hospital. The ship departed Australia on 4 April 2020 with its crew.
