Celebrity Silhouette sails from Southampton for final time

The Celebrity Silhouette embarked on her final voyage from the city on Monday as she headed for Ponta Delgada, Portugal.

The Silhouette on its last departure from Southampton (Image: Ross Marshall)During her service that started in 2018, the ship has charted 230,000 nautical miles, carried more than 199,000 guests from the city.

She has also hosted 4,226 theatre performances, as well as 24,390 hours of live music.

At 12.15pm on Monday, residents watched from Mayflower Park as the ship left the Southampton port for the final time.

Southampton resident Joy Burnstone, 60, watched the ship leave.

She said: “We have come down to see her off today. I sailed on the Silhouette in 2018 with my family so it has a special place in our hearts. We are all feeling very sentimental today.

Joy Burnstone travelled on the ship in 2018 (Image: Ross Marshall)“We went on a cruise to the Baltics on the Silhouette and so it is really sad to see her go.

“At least they are going to replace her with the Apex which should allow for cruisers to experience the fantastic trip that we had on Silhouette on a brand new and improved ship.

“We have been on cruises with other ship operators, but Celebrity has really stood out to us as an excellent operator, mostly due to our brilliant experience on the Silhouette.

“The rooms, service and people were all lovely and it was a brilliant ship.”

Southampton residents and cruise lovers Bob and Rita Saunders, 70 and 68 respectively, had also been to the Baltics on Silhouette in 2020.

Bob and Rita Saunders were sad to see the ship leave the city for the final time (Image: Ross MArshall)Bob said: “We have been on many cruise liners and they were all great in their own way, but as soon as we boarded the Silhouette I turned to my wife and said ‘this is the one’.

“We love Celebrity and would say they stand out above the rest when it comes to good cruises. We have not had a single gripe with the company.”

Rita added: “It's really sad to see her off – We are trying to see if we can get a family trip on Apex.”

Ship enthusiast Steve Carrett, 68, films the cruise liners as they leave and enter the port as a hobby.

Steve fils the ships that come in and out of the city as a hobby (Image: Ross Marshall)Steve filmed the late arrival of the Silhouette coming into the city. The ship was delayed due to bad weather conditions from Storm Babet.

He said: “When the Silhouette came in (on Sunday) she gave a horn exchange with the Norwegian Breakaway ship.

“She has been a faithful ship and it is a very nostalgic occasion. She is being deployed elsewhere but I wanted to be here to see her leave for the last time.”