Southampton is home to a number of cruise ships and superliners which set sail
to over 75 countries - last year almost 500,000 passengers boarded a cruise ship
from Southampton.
The city has a long history of being the gateway to the world. In the 1930s, Southampton
handled nearly half of the UK's ocean-going passenger traffic and millions of
tons of cargo.
In the
1960's passenger traffic through Southampton went down because flying, particularly
on Concorde, was a quicker way to cross the Atlantic.
Oriana seting
sail from Southampton
Cruising has made a revival and Southampton has seen a huge boom with over 165
cruise ship visits per year. P&O and Cunard have made Southampton their European
home port.
Some of these elegant queens of the sea have webcams on the bridge so you can
get a captain's eye view from the ship whether she's at sea or berthed in port.
You can also whizz across the Atlantic to New York to see if QM2, Oriana,
Adonia or Aurora are visiting the Big Apple.Or you can have a look at
Southampton docks from our panoramic rooftop camera.