The port of Southampton is set to receive another brand new cruise liner this week after it was revealed that a ‘state of the art’ liner will be stationed in Southampton.

UK-based Celebrity Cruises, owned by Royal Caribbean UK will base one of their ships – the 122,000-tonne Celebrity Silhotte which carries more than 2,900 passengers – in Southampton from Summer, 2018.

The new vessel, built in 2007, will replace the Celebrity Eclipse, rated one of the UK’s best cruise vessels, which has been stationed in Southampton for the last eight years.

Celebrity Eclipse will instead split it’s time between Dublin and Amsterdam.

In Dublin, it will offer a mini-season between April 2018 and June 2018 which includes a 10-night Ireland and Iceland voyage and an 8-night Norwegian fjords sailing. 

In Amsterdam, where it will be stationed from the June of 2018, it’s itineraries will offer 12-night British Isles and 12-night Russia and Scandinavia sailings.

From Southampton, Celebrity plans to offer seven 14-night Scandinavia and Russia sailings on three different itineraries and 14-night Mediterranean, Canaries and Azores, Iceland and Ireland sailings.

Jo Rzymowska, UK, Ireland and Asia managing director for Celebrity Cruises, told us about the plans saying: “The plans show confidence in the European market and in the UK cruise market and were seeing good demand for 2017.

"The sailings would likely be popular with the North American market, however we are expecting that at least 20% of the market would also be sourced locally both from the UK and Ireland.”

Adding whether the plans would be risky, she said: “You always have to look at what’s happening, and be conscious of the market. We expect there might be some currency challenges but we’re certainly not seeing any impact on sales overall.

"The business is holding up well and we’re seeing good demand from the UK.”

Silhouette, is currently based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the winter season provides Eastern and Western Caribbean tours, however during summer the ship sails on Baltic Sea voyages leaving from Amsterdam and on Mediterranean voyages from Rome.

Alastair Welch, ABP director, of Southampton Port, was positive about the news, saying: “As part of our relationship with Celebrity Cruises, we are pleased to welcome Celebrity Silhouette to the port in 2018. We are confident passengers will enjoy the features that made her sister ship Celebrity Eclipse so popular.”

Each cruise ship turnaround is estimated to be worth between £1m and £2m to the area’s economy.

Celebrity Cruises has a fleet of 10 ships, with plans for a further 6 over the next five years.