The new cruising arm of luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton sent out emails to clients saying its 6-times-delayed first ship, the 298-passenger Evrima, had successfully completed sea trials.
Originally, Evrima was scheduled to begin sailing 2+ years ago, in February 2020. However, problems at the Hijos de J. Barreras shipyard in Vigo (Spain Galicia), where Ritz-Carlton Evrima was initially under construction, led to a couple of significant delays to her building in 2020 that pushed back her debut by 14 months.
4 more delays announced in 2021-early 2022, all blamed on the COVID crisis, subsequently pushed back the company’s debut by another 16 months.
The arrival of Evrima is currently 30 months behind schedule. Supply chain issues/staffing shortages related to the COVID crisis caused delays for cruise ships on order at other companies but, in most cases, the delays amounted to a few weeks/months.
Evrima, which is still unfinished, was moved in 2021 to a new shipyard facility in Santander (Spain Cantabria), specializing in ship conversions/repair projects. The Santander yard has been finishing the cruise ship.
In March 2022, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection revealed that the company’s next 2 ships after Evrima would be built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire (STX France). The two newbuilds, which will be larger than Evrima, are due to debut in 2024 & 2025.
The Ritz-Carlton Evrima’s inaugural voyage was scheduled for August 6 since the 6th delay for the vessel’s arrival was announced in March 2022. According to a spokesperson for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, the ship was still “on track” to debut on that date and begin service with a 7-night cruise from Piraeus-Athens (Greece), visiting the islands of Amorgos, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Spetses in Greece, and Bodrum in Turkey.
From April through to November 2023, the newbuild will sail in the Mediterranean with calls at Melilla (Spanish Morocco), San Sebastian de la Gomera (Canary Islands), Praia (Santiago Island, Cape Verde), Mindelo (Sao Vicente Island, Cape Verde), and Catania (Sicily Italy).