SOUTHAMPTON has been crowned Europe's number one cruise port as another major shipping line announces it is to operate out of the city next year.

Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) will be bringing its vessel, Norwegian Jade, for a programme of summer voyages.

Southampton will have a ringside seat as all the big names, such as Cunard, P&O Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and Princess Cruises together with NCL, go head-to-head as they vye with each other for the biggest slice of the market with larger and more innovative vessels.

The arrival of NCL will trigger even more cruise ship calls to the port, pushing the annual total number of vessel turn-arounds up to about 300 together with an unprecedented one million passengers passing through the docks.

This latest success for Southampton knocks Barcelona, Spain, off the European top spot as the centre for the international, multi-million-pound cruise industry.

News of Norwegian Jade's arrival comes as Southampton docks prepares for the busiest period in its long history during which 15 different cruise vessels will be in port and 19 separate ship movements will take place next week.

Among the vessels due to arrive in the next few days will be the largest cruise ship in the world, the vast Liberty of the Seas scheduled alongside the Western Docks on Sunday morning.

Next Tuesday is set to be the most hectic time of the week when the gross tonnage of cruise ships reaches 439,363 tonnes with Cunard's Queen Mary 2, P&O Cruises' Oriana, Ocean Village and Liberty of the Seas all in port.

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