Even bigger! Giant Royal Caribbean ship is the largest ever to call Los Angeles home
Los Angeles residents have a new way to cruise to Mexico.
On May 31, Royal Caribbean repositioned the massive Ovation of the Seas to the Port of Los Angeles for Mexico cruises.
"We are here in a big way," said Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president for sales, at a Q&A on a preview sailing of the new route for media and travel agents. She meant that both literally and figuratively.
The 4,182-passenger Ovation of the Seas is the first Royal Caribbean Quantum Class ship based in Los Angeles — and also the largest ship ever to sail out of that port based on capacity. (At 168,666 gross tons, it's just slightly smaller than the 169,116-ton Norwegian Encore, also based there.)
Launched in 2016, Ovation of the Seas is one of Royal Caribbean's five Quantum Class ships and includes amenities like indoor skydiving, bumper cars and the North Star observation capsule that lifts passengers 300 feet above sea level.
The Mexico itineraries out of Los Angeles on Ovation of the Seas range from three to eight nights in length and visit ports such as Catalina Island, California, and Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
This repositioning also marks a major West Coast expansion for Royal Caribbean, which previously only sailed the 3,368-passenger Navigator of the Seas from Los Angeles to Mexico. Navigator will continue sailing from Los Angeles until October 2026.
"When we say West Coast is the 'best coast,' we're coming out strong," Freed said.
This October, Quantum of the Seas (another Quantum Class ship of a similar size to Ovation) will also begin to sail from Los Angeles to Mexico. The slightly smaller 3,602-passenger Voyager of the Seas will also sail from Los Angeles starting in October 2026.
Freed also announced the 2,143-passenger Serenade of the Seas will sail from San Diego to Mexico starting in October 2026 for the winter season. This will mark Royal Caribbean's return to San Diego after a long absence. The three-to-seven-night itineraries will include stops in Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, as well as La Paz, Mexico, which will be a new destination for the brand.
Royal Caribbean originally planned for Ovation of the Seas to sail out of Tianjin, China, this summer, but it ultimately decided to move the vessel to Los Angeles as part of this West Coast expansion.
Ovation of the Seas sailed from Japan before arriving in Los Angeles on May 31. After its first summer season sailing from Los Angeles to Mexico, Ovation of the Seas will relocate to its Asian home dock in Singapore from October 2025 to March 2026. From May to September 2026, Ovation will return to its typical summer season sailing to Alaska, but this time from Seward, Alaska, and Vancouver, British Columbia, instead of Seattle. In September 2026, Ovation will return to Los Angeles, where it will remain until April 2027.
Royal Caribbean isn't the only cruise line expanding its presence in Los Angeles. Virgin Voyages will launch its first Los Angeles sailings in 2026 on board the brand-new Brilliant Lady, which can accommodate 2,770 passengers.
In 2024, Carnival Cruise Line began sailing one of its newest ships, Carnival Firenze, from the Port of Long Beach, just a few miles from the Port of Los Angeles.
The West Coast cruise market to Mexico is certainly heating up. Hopefully, that will mean all kinds of deals for potential passengers to take advantage of ... or at least more convenient sailing dates for more travelers.
Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:
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