The wet weather wasn’t exactly welcoming, but Saturday’s visit of six cruise ships in a single day is being hailed a success by Southampton’s port authorities, who claim they could have handled even more.
The picture above shows four of the ships berthed in the harbour; from left, Crown Princess, Balmoral, Artania and Celebrity Eclipse. Elsewhere, Ventura was at the Ocean Terminal and Grand Princess at the QE II building. Click on the image to see it full size.
Damian Gevertz, managing director of of CruiseSouthampton.com said: ” The additional transport arrangements that ABP Port of Southampton put in place enabled everyone to get to their destinations in good time.
“The CruiseSouthampton.com map and guide to Southampton which we placed at all the cruise terminals as well as the temporary terminal for Fred. Olsen’s Balmoral, and on board Artania, were all gone by 10.00am. It just goes to prove that Southampton is an extremely capable port. ABP made it look easy; a couple more cruise ships, I’m sure, could have been squeezed in.”
I hope he’s right. There will be seven ships in port on July 3 next year – all flying the P&O flag to mark the company’s 175th anniversary.
About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
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