Cruise passengers will be spoilt for choice next year

Cruise lines are set to launch no fewer than 15 new ships next year, 11 of which will be sold to cruise passengers in the UK.

Costa Cruises will launch the Deliziosa (www.costacruises.co.uk/B2C/GB/Shopping/Ships/DE/Default.htm) next February with a 20-night maiden voyage from Savona to Dubai. It will remain in the Arabian Gulf until May then sail around the Norwegian fjords in the summer.

MSC Cruises will launch the Magnifica (www.msccruises.co.uk/fleet/msc-magnifica.html) in March, which will sail around Eastern Europe from Venice during the summer and between New York and Quebec in the winter.

In April, P&O Cruises will launch Azura (www.pocruises.com/Ships/Azura/Overview.axd), cruising from Southampton to the Mediterranean, Baltic, the Norwegian fjords and the Canary Islands in the summer. In the winter it will sail around the Caribbean from Barbados.

Also in April Celebrity Cruises will launch Eclipse (www.celebritycruises.co.uk/celebrity-eclipse/?onid=ppcgoo347&gclid=CKXHjMTM2J0CFdBb4wodlA1OsA), which will offer cruises from Southampton in competition with MSC's Magnifica. In the winter, it too will shift to the Caribbean.

French cruise line Compagnie du Ponant will unveil Le Boreal (www.ponant.com/index.php?module=croisiere&opt=2&champs=2&rang=59), a luxurious sailing yacht, in May.

It will sail around the Mediterranean and northern Europe during the summer and in Antarctic in the winter.

Upmarket cruise line Seabourn will have a sister ship to the Seabourn Odyssey from June next year. The all-suite Sojourn (www.seabourn.com/YourYachts/Sojourn/) will cruise from England to Iceland and Norway initially, moving to the warmer waters of the Caribbean in November.

Next summer will also see the launch of Norwegian Epic (www.epic.ncl.com/) by Norwegian Cruise Line and Nieuw Amsterdam by Holland America Line (www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/NieuwAmsterdam).

These will be followed by the launch of the art deco Queen Elizabeth (www.cunard.co.uk/ourships/default.asp?ship=QE), sailing from Southampton in October, and Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas (www.allure-of-the-seas.co.uk), cruising from Florida from December.

Oceania Cruises will also have a new ship, the Marina (www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/marina.aspx), though its itinerary and launch date have yet to be confirmed.

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