RCI-Royal Caribbean added another world record to its roster, as the brand carried the most people ever on a single Transatlantic crossing.
In addition to being currently the world's second-largest passenger ship (after the sistership Wonder OTS), Symphony OTS now holds the record for the most people on a Transatlantic crossing.
Symphony OTS arrived in Malaga (Spain) from Miami (Florida USA) over the weekend carrying a total of 7604 people (5350 passengers plus 2224 staff/crew) on a 12-night USA-Europe relocation voyage (RepositionCruises.com)
The liner, which was sailing at ~100% occupancy, started the record-breaking voyage on March 9th.
After this sailing, Symphony OTS is entering into a routine drydock (at Navantia shipyard in Cadiz) for hotel refreshes, some technical upgrades and other minor projects.
On April 16th, the vessel is scheduled to start a spring and summer European program based on 7-night Western Mediterranean roundtrips from homeports Barcelona (Spain) and Civitavecchia-Rome (Italy). The itineraries visit ports in France, Italy, and Spain. 2023 marks Symphony‘s first season in Europe in 5 years since the liner's debut in 2018.
According to information sent by one of our readers, Craig, the most people carried on a transatlantic voyage was by RMS Queen Mary during a sailing from July 25-30, 1943. In that sailing, the vessel carried 15,740 troops and 943 crew (Total = 16,683). Symphony’s new record for the most “pleasure cruisers” ever to transit the Atlantic is impressive, but clearly, it is well short of the record held by the Queen in terms of ‘people’ on board for a crossing.