Ocean Gate, Atlantic Way, Southampton England

Ideally located on the south coast close to international shipping lanes and less than 100 miles from mainland Europe, Southampton is one the UK's leading ports.

 The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port located in the central part of the south coast of England.

 Southampton is the UK's number one vehicle handling port, Europe's leading turnaround cruise port and the UK's most productive container port.

 The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. The port has been owned and operated by Associated British Ports since 1982, and is the busiest cruise terminal and second largest container port in the UK

In the case of Southampton at the time ships affected included Cunard's QE2 and the P&O vessels SS Oriana and SS Canberra: all originally built as fast liners, they began to offer a growing variety of cruises. Through the 1990s cruising's growing popularity saw huge increases in ship size and numbers as well as terminal capacity, with Southampton becoming one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.

Cruise ship sizes have risen substantially in recent years. The largest vessel using the Port of Southampton is Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas, with a length of 338.8m, a gross tonnage of 154,407 and a maximum passenger capacity of 4,375. In 2005, the number of passengers using the port totalled 738,000, higher than it had been in any one year of the previous century. Since then it has increased year on year, and the figure for 2010 was 1.2 million passengers, representing 307 calls by passenger ships.

 Southampton is the base of these cruise ships:

• P&O Cruises – Adonia, Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Britannia, Oceana, Oriana, Ventura

• Celebrity Cruises – Celebrity Eclipse
• Cunard – Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth
• Princess Cruises – Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess
• Royal Caribbean – Anthem of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas

and the liner:

• Cunard – Queen Mary 2

In addition ships of other cruise companies sail from the port, including:

• Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines – four smaller ships
• Crystal Cruises – based in Los Angeles; two luxury ships
• Costa Cruises– part of Carnival; Italian flag; 14 ships
• MSC Cruises – 11 ships; Italian based;
• Norwegian Cruise Line - 11 ships; headquarters in Florida; informal.
• Oceania Cruises - four luxury ships; headquarters in Miami.
• Saga Cruises– three ships, offering cruises for the over-50s
• Silversea Cruises – Monaco based; Italian owned; six ships.
• Royal Caribbean – Anthem of the Seas (due to enter service in 2015)