Goodbye 2014 – Hello 2015 and all the change you may bring.

2014 has been such as busy and exciting year for the cruise industry and I just wanted to take a moment to highlight my favourite parts of 2014.

The Royal Princess came back to Southampton for the 1^st time since her naming back in June 2013. Royal Princess is the largest ship in the Princess Fleet along with the Regal Princess which came out in May of this year. I was fortunate enough to be invited on board Royal Princess back in May. For those that haven’t seen or sailed on her she is returning to Southampton in 2015!

We all Celebrated as the 3 Queens arrived in to Southampton, Queen Elizabeth and Victoria moored up in the QE2 terminal and sang Happy Birthday over the Funnel as Queen Mary 2 Sailing in, this saw the official 10^th Birthday of QM2 and what a day it was.

We all said a fond farewell to the Independence of the Seas, she has been based in Southampton since her launch for the Summer Season.

Southampton has the pleasure of playing host to one of the biggest ships in the world in October as Oasis of the Seas sailed and docked in Southampton, 40% bigger than any other cruise ship to dock in the port. Since then we have learnt of a new cruise terminal opening on the Western docks for the larger cruises ship so we could see an Oasis Class in Southampton for longer in the near future.

November saw another RCI friend come in, this time the brand new Quantum Class, I unfortunately did not get on board on this occasion by I am looking forward to Anthem, are you booked to sail on her yet?

2015 is set to be as, if not more exciting as we see the additional of lots of new ships to Southampton

As I said Royal Princess will return for a full season offering around the British Isle Cruises and a few Baltics however not one Med sailing so you will need to join Caribbean Princess for this cruise, she is also a new addition to Southampton

Royal Caribbean will return In April, with Anthem of the Seas. The most modern cruise ship to sail in Europe, enjoy the North Star or sky dive on the on-board skydiving machine. She will also be joined by Explorer of the Seas, an old face for Southampton but she is under-going a major refurbishment before returning in the Spring.

March will see one of the biggest cruise ships built for the UK Market join the P&O Cruises fleet, I already have my space to go on, on the 9^th March to have a look around, she will be in Southampton for about a week before her maiden voyage for press and agents to get on board. She will be a sight even from the outside but what many people do not know is that apart from the sea-walk she is almost identical to Royal Princess.

And for the news I am most looking forward to, Celebrity Cruises are to announce more details on Project Edge which is the addition of two brand new ships to the Celebrity Fleet.

What has been your highlights of 2014, and what are you looking forward to about in 2015?

Wherever  in the World you may be reading this, I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year and may we all be Cruising for many more to come.

Best Wishes, Tom