Cruise ships sail

Over the weekend Marella Explorer and P&O Britannnia both sailed from Southampton on what is best described a short "Seacation".  They were only the third restart since MSC Virtuosa and Viking Venus last month.

The TUI-owned Explorer is sailing half full with a mixture of fully vacinated over-18 and anyone having tested negative for Covid-19, which allows children on board, not brilliant from a commercial point of view as they count towards the 50% of 1,924 ship capacity.  Whether the Department for Transport works on normal bed capacity or includes extra cabin accommodation is not known.

With Britannia she departed with just 1,000 passengers out of a nominal 3,647 or 28%.  Saga comes off best when its two ships make their 2021 debuts with just under 50% capacity and no children to muddle things up.  Fred Olsen introduces Borealis on 5 July, Celebrity Silhouette 17 July and the much awaited Virgin Scarlett Lady 6 August. More details in our monthly cruise issue next Monday

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

William Brand, Southampton

This a strange business with the cruise people. You would have thought that P&O for one would have been up shouting. Big ships quarter full do not make sense and can’t be much fun. SAGA with 50% should be much better and it’s just one sitting for dinner.