Cruise Industry
The UK’s premier cruise port, Southampton is home to the UK fleets of both P&O Cruises and Cunard Line (part of the Carnival Group) and is also used regularly by Royal Caribbean International, Fred Olsen Cruise Line and Saga Holidays. In the last six years, Southampton’s cruise business has seen impressive growth with the number of passengers passing through the port has doubling.
The port currently has four cruise terminals; The Mayflower, QEII, City Cruise and Ocean Terminal. ABP figures show that the cruising industry at the Port of Southampton generates over £300m a year for the local economy.
Southampton docks regularly host some of the greatest liners in the world such as the Queen Mary 2 and the largest ever built cruise ships, the Navigator and Freedom of the Seas. Cunard Line's Queen Victoria is based in Southampton and P&O Cruises' Ventura, the largest cruise ship ever to be built for the UK market is home-ported in Southampton too. The 4,300-passenger Independence of the Seas was launched in 2007 and has been using the port for its summer sailings. The port will become the Royal Caribbean International ship's home from April 2010.
QE2 spent 35 years as the Cunard flagship and has travelled over 5.6 million nautical miles, more than any other ship; has carried over 2.5 million guests; completed 25 World Cruises; and crossed the Atlantic 803 times. QE2 left the Cunard fleet in November 2008.
The Southampton Vessel Traffic Service provides information on the ships calling at the port.
