Celebrity Cruises managing director and vice-president for the EMEA region Giles Hawke has hinted the line may increase tonnage in the UK “if demand continues at current levels”.
Hawke told Travel Weekly he is “really pleased” with agents’ performance during wave, which is “exceeding 2023 levels”.
He suggested a second Celebrity ship could homeport in the UK in the future on the basis of the strength of demand for Celebrity Apex from both the UK and international markets, and it is down to agents to continue selling to prove a second ship would be worth having.
“If we keep having the level of demand we have for Apex at the moment and we continue selling at our current prices, it would be great to have Apex or another Edge-class ship out of Southampton,” he said.
“We are really seeing the strength of both UK and international demand for Apex which gives us some ammunition to maybe have two ships out of the UK in the future.
“It would be really nice to keep Apex homeporting in Southampton in the future as UK agents and customers get to know the ship which makes it an easier sell.
“There is a lot of tonnage out of the UK at the moment so it’s important that any increase we have in tonnage is linked to a better understanding of the product and maintaining our selling price.”
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