There’s an army of cruise fans who live, eat and breathe ships and shipping. Many of them may only spend a few precious days each year at sea, but devote the rest of their time following the activities of their favourite operator or ships, tracking progress and developments on every news source available.
They don’t simply wait for cruise lines to make official announcements; they trawl the internet on a daily basis, sometimes making deductions from the flimsiest of evidence. Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Poirot have nothing on these maritime detectives.
A couple of days ago, some of them noticed that the French port of Le Havre had updated its cruise schedule for 2015. A new name appeared. Anthem of the Seas – the second 4,125-passenger Quantum-class ship to be built for Royal Caribbean – will be in the port six times during the year. It arrives from Bilbao on April 30, and will be back twice in May, once in August, and twice in October. The schedule for Anthem shows that it will sail for Southampton every time it leaves Le Havre.
Not only that, the name of Independence of the Seas, another regular Royal Caribbean visitor, disappears from the listings after 2015. Independence has operated from Southampton for several summers.
Tongues started wagging, the jungle drums started beating, and confident predictions appeared, predicting that when it is launched in early 2015, Anthem will replace Independence as one of Royal Caribbean’s ships operating out of the UK.
Great news! But not, apparently, an announcement that Royal Caribbean is ready to share. It looks like they have been caught off-balance. A company spokeswoman in the UK would only say this morning that head office in Miami had “not yet confirmed Anthem of the Seas’ deployment.”
Not only that, but Independence’s “2015 itineraries are yet to be announced.”
I have little doubt that when the official announcements do come, they will confirm what the maritime detective agency has uncovered. So let’s start to get prepare now to welcome Anthem of the Seas to Southampton in early 2015. And while we’re at it, we might want to get the Union Jacks ready to wave a fond farewell to Independence of the Seas.
MEANWHILE, there is confirmation that MSC Magnifica will be joining MSC Opera in operating from Southampton next year. The 2,518-passenger ship is booked to sail four 7-night itineraries to Zeebrugge, Amsterdam, Hamburg and (yes) Le Havre in September and October. Fares from £429.
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