Celebrity Apex to homeport in UK for next two years

Decision follows strong sales

Celebrity Cruises has confirmed Celebrity Apex will homeport in Southampton in the UK in 2025, after it operates from the UK port next year.

The line announced in November 2022 it would homeport the ship in the UK for the entirety of the 2024 season and has now revealed it will remain there for 2025.

Celebrity Cruises hailed the success of the ship’s 2024 sales and has added more Arctic Circle and Norwegian fjords itineraries for the 2025 season, which are on sale now.

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Managing director and EMEA vice-president Giles Hawke told Connecting Travel he has been “surprised” at the level of demand from the North American market, saying: “I didn’t expect the ex-Southampton sailings to appeal as much as they do.”

Hawke praised the performance of agents in selling Celebrity Apex, and said the deployment of the ship in Southampton for a second consecutive year “shows our confidence in the market”.

“It’s great news that Apex is returning to Southampton for back-to-back seasons,” he said. “Sales for next summer are looking really strong and demand has been great from both the UK and the north American markets. We are ahead of where we thought we would be in terms of 2024 sales for Apex, which is why we’re keeping her on for another year."