Royal Princess, the largest vessel in the fleet of Princess Cruises at some 143,000 gross tons, will take over from Emerald Princess as the second ship of the company in Southampton in 2015, information on the company’s website shows.

Royal Princess, which entered service last year, will offer a series of 12 night Round Britain cruises from 9 May to25 August, when it will sail for Ft Lauderdale.

In addition, Princess Cruises will bring the 115,000 gross ton Caribbean Princess to Southampton next year as well. It has been the principal vessel of the carnival Corp & plc group member in the UK for several years.

The arrival of Royal Princess means that the supply of berths from the principal cruise port in the UK will increase significantly in 2015 as Royal Princess has some 500 brths more than Emeald Princess,

In addition, Royal Caribbean International will introduce the 4,180 passenger Anthem of the Seas from Southampton next spring as replacement of the 3,600 berth Independence of the Seas. Finally, Princess cruises’ sister company P&O Cruises will commission the 143,000 gross ton newbuilding Britannia next spring, which will add about 3,600 berths to the market.