Celebrity Apex to home port in Southampton in the 2024 season

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Celebrity Cruises’ second Edge-class ship, Celebrity Apex, will homeport in Southampton for its entire 2024 season.

Apex – which will be the first Edge-class ship to sail out of Southampton – will replace Celebrity Silhouette and offer four- to-13-night sailings from May through November 2024.

Itineraries include a 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Arctic Circle cruise, as well as sailings to Ibiza and the Mediterranean.

Following feedback from its travel partners, the line has announced its UK deployment two weeks in advance of the launch date for the first time, to allow agents to pre-register interest from guests.

To support the trade in selling the vessel, the line will host 600 agents onboard Apex in 2023, across a range of ship visits and seminars.

Agents will also have access to a suite of training and marketing tools via Celebrity Central, including webinars; digital “Be the first to book” banners; fact sheets; talking points; itinerary flyers; and print adverts.

New training modules featuring Apex will also be available on Celebrity Passport. Agents selling Apex can also earn up to £20 per booking on all 2024 bookings via Celebrity Rewards.

From 1 November to 5 December 2022, agents can earn up to £50 Celebrity Rewards points per booking on all 2023 sailings, across all stateroom categories.

Lisa Lutoff Perlo, president and chief executive of Celebrity Cruises, said: “Having one of our award-winning Edge Series ships sailing from Southampton will offer an experience like no other from the UK.

“Celebrity Cruises continues to redefine cruising, taking our guests to the world’s best places on the world’s best places.”

The line’s vice president and managing director EMEA, Jo Rzymowska, said the UK “has always been integral to the success” of the company, and homeporting Apex from Southampton “underlines our commitment to this market”.

“There is a huge appetite from UK guests who share our curiosity for people, places and cultures, and our passion for opening up the world through a love of travel.

“We invest a lot in the training of our travel partners because what’s really important to us, is that they can talk about what makes Celebrity different and what makes us unique, therefore they’re not just selling a big white ship. And that is really important.

“I’m looking forward to welcoming even more of our guests onboard Celebrity Apex when she raises the bar for cruising from Southampton in 2024.”

Carnival Cruise Line is set to embark on its “largest-ever” period of growth in its 50-year history.

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Following the launch of Carnival Luminosa earlier this year, the brand will add five more ships to its fleet over the next two years, the next being the delivery of two Excel-class vessels, Carnival Celebration to Miami and Carnival Jubilee to Texas.


As part of the expansion plan, Carnival will also introduce a new concept – “Carnival Fun Italian Style” – with two additional ships from sister brand Costa Cruises, starting with Carnival Venezia next spring, sailing year-round from New York, and Carnival Firenze in 2024 out of from Long Beach.

“Carnival Luminosa is a testament to our ongoing commitment to Australia, and the start of a period of growth unlike any other in Carnival’s 50-year history,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

“Having a Brisbane-based ship has been a goal of ours for quite some time, so we are so happy that they are the first market globally to experience the big, bright, fun that this ship has to offer and so excited to give our guests more Carnival ships and itinerary options to sail over the next two years.”

Luminosa – which arrived at its homeport of Brisbane on Monday (31 October) – will sail on its first cruise on 6 November and operate 28 sailings through 13 April 2023, visiting 60 ports across Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.

The sailings will support Carnival Australia’s anticipated $165 million contribution to the Queensland economy this year.

World’s Largest Cruise Company Turns to Air Bubbles to Help Reduce Emissions

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The world’s largest cruise shipping company has announced plans to install air lubrication technology on at least 20% of its fleet.

Carnival Corporation says the Air Lubrication Systems (ALS), which are already in use aboard four ships, will be added to five more ships this year with plans to install the technology on at least 10 more ships across a majority of its brands through 2027.

The hull drag-reducing technology is expected to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by about 5% per ship, according to the company.

ALS technology, which first saw service within the Carnival Corporation fleet in 2016 with the introduction of AIDAprima, generates a cushion of air bubbles to lubricate the flat bottom of a ship’s hull, reducing friction between the ship and surrounding water, resulting in savings in energy and fuel consumption across a wide speed range.

Carnival Corporation is currently installing the Silverstream® System ALS on five more ships, including two ships in 2022 for its Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises (UK) brands. In addition, the company is planning at least 10 more installations for existing and newbuild ships across more than half of its cruise line brands, and it expects continued expansion of the ALS program. The expansion plans build on the success of four systems currently operating on ships from its AIDA Cruises and Princess Cruises brands.

“The installation of air lubrication technology is another example of our ongoing efforts to drive energy efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and emissions throughout our fleet,” said Bill Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corporation. “We look forward to expanding the ALS program and furthering our long-term sustainability strategy to continually invest in a broad range of energy reduction initiatives, which has included over $350 million invested in energy efficiency improvements since 2016.”

Carnival Corporation has committed to reducing carbon emission intensity by 20% from its 2019 baseline by 2030 and has set an aspiration to achieve net carbon-neutral ship operations by 2050.