Keel Laid for Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s second Ultra Class cruise ship, received its first block as the keel was officially lowered into place on May 3, 2019.

Held at Neptun Werft shipyard, the keel laying ceremony signifies the beginning of the ship’s physical construction.

During the ceremony, a 79-ton block was lifted into the building dock with an 800-ton crane. Newly minted coins were placed under the keel, which then stays in place until the end of the construction.

The first steel parts for the Odyssey of the Seas were cut to size already back in February 2019.

Scheduled to be delivered by Meyer Werft in Papenburg in autumn 2020, Odyssey of the Seas will be one of the five largest cruise ships in the world with a gross tonnage of about 169,000 tons, according to the shipbuilder.

The construction of the next cruise ship for Royal Caribbean starts only a few weeks after Spectrum of the Seas was delivered by the shipbuilder.

The cruise company took delivery of the similar sister ships Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.