Bright times on the horizon for Southampton?

There have been a few announcements of late that are directly involving the UK’s busiest port, Southampton and what can only point to a pretty bright future being predicted for the UK cruise market.

The first announcement came in the way of P&O, who during the summer have all bar one of their fleet based from Southampton, confirming they have ordered a second super ship to add to the fleet. Their current largest ship Britannia is due to be knocked from her place as the company’s largest with delivery of a big sister due for completion in 2020. This will be followed a short 2 years later by a sister to the 5,200 capacity ship.

This is quite some increase to P&O’s capacity, with Britannia having a capacity of just over 3,600.

Carnival must be impressed with the performance of the British cruise market to invest so heavily in the fleet, and I can’t help but wonder if one of the smaller older ships in the fleet could be sold on.

The 2nd announcement that also pricked the ears, was the news that Royal Caribbean plan to base one of their Quantum Class ships in Southampton after the recovery of the Pound vs The Dollar has changed the plans they had in place. Post Brexit it was thought the slump in the Pound would cost the cruise giant $50 million. With a resurgent Pound there is increased hope from the cruise lines that the UK will still have a wealth of cruisers that has seen the industry continue to grow for over a decade.

So, new ships and an improvement on another, future is indeed looking good!