Independence of the Seas to sail back in to Southampton once again!

As we approach April this will see the end to launch season for 2016-2017 however some cruise lines have been out as early as November, March saw the release of Royal Caribbean’s 2016-2017 itineraries and some big news for Southampton.

Anthem of the Seas that has been brought to Southampton for 2015 was supposedly here to replace Independence, Independence of the Seas had been in Southampton since her naming in 2008 and when Royal Caribbean broke the news that Independence of the Seas would leave at the end of 2014, this brought sadness to those that had grown to love a ship, that amongst friends was known as ‘Indy’.

So 2015 has seen Anthem of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas brought to Southampton, Anthem will spend her Maiden season out of the British port sailing to all destinations around Europe, Explorer does have the better itineraries which is to be expected as she is the smaller ship.

As we start to look forward to 2016 Independence will be joined by Navigator of the Seas which falls under the Voyager class of ships which is slightly smaller than Independence which is Freedom Class.

Freedom Class

Length – 339m

Beam – 56m

Draft – 8.5m

Guest Capacity – 3,634

Crew – 1,365

Gross Tonnage – 154,407

Speed – 21.6 Knots

Voyager Class

Length – 311m

Beam – 48m

Draft – 9m

Guest Capacity – 3,114

Crew – 1,185

Gross Tonnage – 137,276

Speed – 22 Knots

Which do you prefer the bigger or smaller ships?