Odyssey of the Seas officially arrives in Israel

By: Alana DeRose

Royal Caribbean's newest ship Odyssey of the Seas has officially arrived in Israel for the first time.

The Oasis class ship sailed into Haifa, Israel at 7 am on Wednesday.

The ship will be in Haifa until Friday to be supplied and allow new crew members on the ship.

According to Royal Caribbean Blog, "This is the first time Odyssey has been to Israel, and the port of Haifa says Odyssey will return again to Haifa on May 12 for another two days to practice and restock."

A translated post from Israeli news site Ynet states "since the ship's crew has not yet been vaccinated, one of the goals is to get to Israel right now is to vaccinate the entire crew on the odyssey here, before receiving the passengers."

Ynet also reports that today's visit along with the following visit a few weeks later is for getting crew members on board fully vaccinated.

Starting this summer, Odyssey of the Seas will be offering cruises from Israel to other ports in the Eastern Mediterranean such as Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens Greece and Limassol, Cyprus.

Originally the Oasis class ship was set to sail out of Civitavecchia, Italy in May 2021 but due to the global pandemic it was redeployed to Israel.

However, the cruises will be the first ever cruises out of Israel by a major cruise line.

These summer cruises will only be available to Israeli residents whom are fully vaccinated.

Then Odyssey will cross over the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale offering six to eight night cruises to the Caribbean in November.