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Cruise fans in Southern California have another prime option to go to Mexico.

This week, Royal Caribbean executives announced that the line’s massive, amenity-packed Ovation of the Seas will relocate to Los Angeles for Mexico cruises beginning in May 2025. It will be the largest Royal Caribbean ship ever to be based in the city.

Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bailey and senior vice president for sales Vicki Freed made the announcement Tuesday during a preview event for the line’s new Utopia of the Seas, as reported by several media outlets present at the event, including Seatrade Cruise And travel weekly.

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Officials said the 4,180-passenger ship will join Royal Caribbean’s 3,388-passenger Navigator of the Seas on the voyage from Los Angeles, according to reports. Navigator of the Seas also runs trips to Mexico.

Ovation of the Seas’ new tour from Los Angeles will range in length from three to six nights, Bailey and Freed said. As of late Thursday, the voyage had not yet been posted on the Royal Caribbean website.

The deployment marks a major expansion for Royal Caribbean on the west coast and is a last-minute switch for the ship. Ovation of the Seas was originally slated to launch out of Tianjin, China next summer with the Chinese market in mind.

Currently, Ovation of the Seas sails out of Seattle to Alaska and will soon transfer to Sydney for fall and winter voyages to ports in Australia and New Zealand. After that trip was to go to Tianjin.

Earlier this year, Royal Caribbean announced plans to move Quantum of the Seas, from the same series as Ovation of the Seas, to Los Angeles in fall 2025 – it is still scheduled to begin sailing from Los Angeles in October 2025.

At 168,666 tons, Ovation of the Seas will be one of the largest cruise ships of any cruise line to be docked in Los Angeles.

Among ships departing from Los Angeles, only Norwegian Cruise Line’s 3,998-passenger Norwegian Encore is larger — and only by a small one. The Norwegian Encore measured 169,116 tons.

When measured by tonnage, the other two Norwegian ships that sail seasonally from Los Angeles, Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy, are slightly smaller than Ovation of the Seas. They measure 168,028 tonnes and 167,725 tonnes respectively.

Other large ships that sail regularly from Los Angeles — including Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Firenze and Carnival Panorama — are significantly smaller than Ovation of the Seas.

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Ovation of the Seas will be the first of Royal Caribbean’s popular Quantum class of ships to sail year-round from Los Angeles.

Unveiled in 2014, the Quantum Class is recognized as one of Royal Caribbean’s most innovative series of ships. In addition to a wide range of restaurants, bars and showrooms, the five ships in this class feature some of the most unusual attractions you’ll find at sea, including a skydiving simulator and a bumper car pavilion.

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Royal Caribbean operates Quantum Class ships out of Seattle to Alaska during the summer, but a Quantum Class ship is never based in California to Mexico.

Notably, Royal Caribbean’s decision comes just three months after startup cruise brand Virgin Voyages announced its first Los Angeles sailing in 2025. Virgin Sailing Line’s next new ship will be on the 2,770-passenger Brilliant Lady.

Cruise giant Carnival also recently added a new ship to the Los Angeles area. One of its newest ships, Carnival Firenze, began sailing from the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles County in April.

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