The Mariner of the Seas just completed 20 years in service.

Built at the Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Finland, the Voyager-Class vessel was delivered to Royal Caribbean International on October 31, 2003.

Two weeks later, after crossing the Atlantic for the first time, the Mariner of the Seas was named at a special ceremony in the United States.

The Paralympian athlete Jean Driscoll served as the ship’s godmother during the event, which took place in Port Canaveral on Nov. 14, 2003.

A few days later, the Mariner of the Seas kicked off a year-round program of week-long cruises to the Caribbean.

Departing from Port Canaveral every Sunday, the itineraries sailed to either the Western or the Eastern Caribbean, and visited popular destinations, such as Labadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Mexico, CocoCay, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and more.

The ship continued to sail similar itineraries through 2009, when it debuted on the West Coast. After repositioning via South America, the Mariner arrived in Los Angeles in February of that year, starting a series of seven-night cruises to the Mexican Riviera.

The year-round program, however, was short lived, and the Mariner was redeployed once again in early 2011.

Following a short season in Brazil, the vessel offered its first summer program in the Western Mediterranean and then returned to the Caribbean for cruises departing from Galveston.

Joining its sister ship Voyager of the Seas, the Mariner of the Seas arrived in Asia in mid-2013 for a year-round program in the region that included departures from China and Singapore.

After several years cruising exclusively in the Far East and Southeast Asia, the ship came back to the Western Hemisphere in 2018.

Upon returning to its original homeport in Port Canaveral a few years ago, the Mariner has been offering a series of four- and five-night cruises to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

In 2024, the ship is scheduled to return to Galveston for four- to seven-night itineraries to the Western Caribbean.