EMEA vice president of Royal Caribbean Ben Bouldin has said that he does expect Anthem of the Seas to come to the UK in 2020 and to enter dry dock in Europe once shipyards reopen.

Speaking at the cruise line’s first Café Royal webinar for trade partners, Bouldin said: “This is the focus of a lot of my time right now trying to work out when Anthem of the Seas will come back. Nothing’s guaranteed but I do use the word when rather than if because I do expect Anthem to come to the UK.

“I do expect it to have a marine dry dock in Europe although we are of course at mercy of when they open up currently. When that’s done, we can evaluate what’s left in the season and the opportunities we have in terms of sailings.

“It’s difficult to say when exactly she will be back, but I will keep you posted. No one would like to see her back this summer more than me so we are working on it.”

Anthem of the Seas was due to return to Europe this summer, sailing out of Southampton on European itineraries, before the global coronavirus outbreak.

The Royal Caribbean Quantum-class ship is also set to return to Southampton in 2021 as part of the line’s European programme, offering ex-UK itineraries to a range of destinations including Norway, the Canaries and the Western Mediterranean.

Bouldin continued: “Equally, I am very confident that we will have Anthem in great shape for 2021. We are seeing a lot of excitement about 2021, so much so that we’ve been a little bit harsh on our prices with Anthem so we’ve had a look at these for next year.

“We have been pushing out revised pricing for 2021 so that shows our confidence.”

Bouldin also said that he was confident that both Odyssey of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s second Quantum Ultra-class ship, and Wonder of the Seas, the line’s new Oasis Class ship, will meet their respective delivery dates.

Odyssey is due to launch in November 2020 and will sail from the United States, Fort Lauderdale, while Wonder is currently under construction and is planned for spring 2021, with her homeport in Shanghai, China.

He continued: “Odyssey will happen for sure. We are still seeing what her delivery date will be with the slow down in the shipyards, but she’s on her way for sure and we look forward to her being in Rome next summer.

“The same is true for Wonder of the Seas, which has plans to go to China and significant work is underway on that. Projects are in various degrees of process, but we hope to stay on course for the huge and exciting pre-development that we had.”

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