With cruises restarting everywhere in the world except Australia New York City this weekend became home to one of the world’s largest cruise ships with Royal Caribbean’s giant Oasis of the Seas, with the report in The Points Guy saying that 5,000-plus-passenger mega-ship will be sailing out of the New York City area’s Cape Liberty Cruise Port.
Unveiled in 2009, Oasis of the Seas at 226,838 tons will be by far the largest cruise vessel ever to sail out of the region, with at the time of her debut, was nearly 50% bigger than the next biggest cruise ship and full of then-unprecedented features, with three separate deck-top pool zones a boardwalk-like amusement area; and a tree-lined “Central Park” to name a few and all part of seven distinct “neighborhoods”.
Oasis of the Sea remains one of the world’s three biggest and most-amenity-filled passenger vessels and only surpassed in size by two sister ships that have rolled out since 2016, and only by a tad, as she can still carry up to an amazing 6,699 passengers with every berth filled.
The first Oasis of the Seas sailing was scheduled for Sunday out of the New York City and was a non-revenue “test cruise” designed to show the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the ship is ready to resume operations, with Oasis of the Seas hasn’t sailed with paying passengers since March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, the CDC published a list of rules and requirements that cruise lines must follow if they want to restart cruises in U.S. waters, with among them, the CDC requires simulated test cruises with unpaid volunteers for any cruise vessel that plans to operate in U.S. waters without 95% of passengers vaccinated for COVID-19.
Unlike some cruise brands such as Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean hasn’t committed to operating ships with more than 95% of passengers vaccinated for COVID-19, citing a large number of families with children who are ineligible for vaccines among its customer base.
The initial sailing of Oasis of the Seas will be a six-night trip to Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas and the report says that assuming all goes well with the voyage, Oasis of the Seas will begin regular sailings with paying passengers out of the Cape Liberty Cruise Port on September 5 in jus a few weeks.
The restart of operations for Oasis of the Seas comes in the wake of a massive $165 million overhaul of the vessel, with the overhaul bringing Oasis of the Seas several major attractions that have debuted on other Royal Caribbean ships in recent years and proved highly popular with Royal Caribbean fans, with perhaps biggest among them being Perfect Storm, a trio of multistory waterslides that first debuted on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas in 2016 and can also be found on the line’s three-year-old Symphony of the Seas, which at 228,081 tons, Symphony of the Seas is the current size leader in the cruise world.
Oasis of the Seas also received a version of Harmony of the Seas’ Ultimate Abyss, the longest dry slide at sea. It drops from the Sports Zone on Deck 16 to the Boardwalk area on Deck 6.
The overhaul of Oasis of the Seas also made her slightly bigger than she was before, with in all, she has 16 passenger decks, is 1,187 feet long and is 215 feet wide.
The huge success of Oasis of the Seas and her sisters over the past decade helped to touch off a race to build bigger vessels among competitors, with over the past few years, rivals MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have both rolled out far bigger ships, and Carnival Cruise Line recently hit the supersize button with a giant new vessel, Mardi Gras.
Once she begins regular sailings with paying passengers, Oasis of the Seas is scheduled to operate seven-night departures out of Cape Liberty Cruise Port with stops at Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau in the Bahamas, and Port Canaveral, Florida, with fares for the voyages starting at only $578 per person, based on double occupancy.
Just a few miles southwest of Manhattan in Bayonne, New Jersey, the Cape Liberty Cruise Port is one of three main cruise ports in the New York City area.
A report from The Points Guy brought to you by John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor, Global Travel Media and Global Cruise News.
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