MS Ovation of the Seas is a cruise ship operating for Royal Caribbean International (RCI). The vessel is the third ship in the Quantum class, which surpasses RCI's earlier Freedom-class ships by over 14,000 GT, becoming the second largest class of passenger ships behind RCI's Oasis class ships on a gross tonnage basis. The Ovation mainly sails from Tianjin during the northern summer season and repositions to Sydney during the southern summer season.

Concept and construction

On February 11, 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 fall 2014. At the time, the project was code-named "Project Sunshine". On February 29, 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 January 31, 2013, RCI announced that the official name of the new class of ships was the Quantum class.

Ovation of the Seas, the third vessel in the Quantum class, was laid down by Meyer Werft on March 5, 2015. Before the first piece of 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 will eventually be formed of 74 blocks. The first section was launched on June 20, 2015.

Ovation of the Seas was delivered on April 8, 2016. Ovation of the Seas entered service on April 14, 2016.

Service history

Ovation of the Seas arrived from Hamburg to the Port of Southampton, UK on April 10, 2016, to begin a series of inaugural events, including press previews and a limited number of "Shake-down" and mini cruises for VIP's, 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 May 3, 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.

Beginning in the spring of 2019, the ship will reposition to Seattle during the summer season, where she will sail 7-night cruises to Alaska.

The ship's christening ceremony was June 24, 2016 in Tianjin; the ship's godmother is Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.