I was really excited to hear the news that the Royal Princess will be coming back to Southampton next year. There are so many exciting things happening in the UK cruise market next year I think it will be a busy one!!
We have Britannia & Anthem launching both sailing from Southampton. Then Royal Princess will also be sailing from Southampton. Then the newest Princess Ship Regal Princess will also have some UK sailings. What with all the other ships that call Southampton home it really is going to be busy.
Some of you that know me will know that I grew up just outside of Southampton and many years ago I worked for P&O Cruises in Southampton. I always remember the days when the ships were in I could see them from my desk. Last time I went off on a cruise was November now for anyone that was on the same cruise the Queen Marry 2 26th November you will know the traffic getting into Southampton was bad, really bad!! So this has got me thinking the more ships coming into Southampton the busier it will be with cruisers. What about the roads? Can they cope? In my opinion NO!! In November my cruise departure was delayed over 2 hours to enable all the passengers to get on board. Thumbs up to Cunard for delaying the cruise however this really could be a thing of the future. The main reason people like to cruise from the UK is the convenience and how stress free it is. It’s not really stress free if your worried you will not make it on board because you are stuck in traffic!!
So Southampton…..What are your plans for the future? Easier access to the cruise terminals? Maybe you need to think about scrapping that one way system down by Ocean Terminal? What are your thoughts?