Southampton Hits Huge Cruise Passenger Record, £1 Billion to Economy

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The cruise business continued to boom in Southampton in 2024, setting a new arrivals record and injecting substantial revenue into the port and its surrounding regions.

The Port of Southampton, which is managed by Associated British Ports (ABP), recorded a 15% spike in cruise passengers transiting the facility in 2024 compared with 2023. In 2024, 3 million cruise guests visited the port versus 2.6 million the previous year.

Economic contributions to the area, in the form of guest and crew spending on local products and services, and local employment derived from cruise operations, exceeded £1 billion ($1.2 billion USD) in 2024.

The port attracts cruise ships from all of the major lines and many smaller, UK and European lines. It offers five cruise terminals, the newest of which is the Horizon Cruise Terminal, the first in the UK to provide shore power technology to cruise ships.

A second shore power connection is in the process of being installed at another terminal, the Mayflower Cruise Terminal.

Cruise ships that are shore-power enabled are embracing the service at Southampton. The port in 2024 saw a 50% hike in the number of cruise ships hooking into the local power grid.

Shore power allows ships to cut emissions by using local energy sources to keep their hotel operations running while docked in port, rather than keep their engines on.

Other green technologies in use at the Horizon terminal include a rooftop solar installation that produces more energy than the facility uses.

We are proud to have the capability, infrastructure, and partnerships in place to facilitate this incredible economic value for our city. We continue to see global cruise sector growth, and Southampton leads the way for the UK and Northern Europe,said Rebekah Keeler, cruise strategy manager at Associated British Ports.

Southampton, one of 22 ports managed by ABP, is the UK’s largest and handles about 85% of the UK cruise market. Also in 2024, the Port of Southampton was named Best UK Departure Port, based on passenger reviews.

The lion’s share of the port’s cruise business comes from the busy summer season, but some ships operate turnaround cruises in the winter months as well. Among them are Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Borealis and Balmoral, MSC Cruises’ MSC Preziosa, and P&O Cruises’ Iona, Arvia, Aurora and Ventura, to name a few.

Cruise Ships in Southampton
Photo Credit: Peter Titmuss / Shutterstock

Read Also: The Essential Guide to All Southampton Cruise Terminals

Off-season itineraries from Southampton take cruise guests to the Canary Islands, Northern Europe, the British Isles, and various Western Europe destinations. Other cruise lines homeport ships at Southampton during the prime summer season.

Port Benefits From Arrival of Cunard’s Queen Anne

Perhaps Southampton’s most notable arrival of 2024 was Cunard’s new-build Queen Anne, the iconic cruise line’s first new vessel in a decade.

Built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, Italy, Queen Anne arrived at her Southampton homeport on April 30, 2024 and was welcomed with a grand fireboat water salute, hundreds of fans at the port, and headlines around the world.

The 3,000-guest ship sailed multiple itineraries from Southampton during her inaugural summer season, and on January 7, 2025 departed on her first world cruise, a 111-night voyage that offered embarkation in Hamburg, Germany, as well as Southampton.

Following her world cruise Queen Anne will return to her homeport of Southampton for a series of summer sailings to Northern Europe, the British Isles, and the Western Mediterranean.

Other popular luxury and premium cruise lines offering sailings from Southampton in 2025 include Silversea Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Viking.

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Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney is a travel news/feature writer and editor with 20-plus years covering cruise news, luxury travel, and Europe and UK destinations. A former staffer at Travel Weekly and at the USAToday Network, she also was a luxury travel columnist at Travel Market Report, and a cruise columnist at Sherman's Travel.

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