P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit in Carnival Corporation & plc groups said it had  attracted an “overwhelming” number of bookings for its summer season of coastal cruises as they went on sale this morning. 

The three, four and seven night cruises, on flagship Britannia and new ship Iona, will set sail from Southampton between June and September.

“P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said in a statemen: “It is very demonstrable evidence that a holiday at sea, with all that it has to offer, is a popular and much longed-for option this summer. 

“We always hoped that these domestic cruises would be popular, given the uncertainty around holidays abroad, but we have never before seen such significant and immediate demand and it certainly shows the effects of lockdown and everyone's need for a holiday.” 

“Many thousands of guests have already made bookings and Iona's maiden voyage to the Scottish islands is already very well sold and will be a very special cruise,” he said.

Meanwhile, the online cruise agent Iglu Cruise said its traffic was up by 300% by 9am, shortly after Iona went on sale at 8:30am, according to a report by Travel Weekly.

Simone Clark, senior vice-president of global supply, said: “Many of our cruise line partners are responding to the current situation by releasing cruises for the British market sailing in UK waters for summer 2021.”

“We were confident that travellers would return to cruising as soon as the guidelines allowed, but were not sure about the appetite for booking a UK cruise. The response this morning has been resoundingly positive,” she noted.

Also today, MSC Cruises said that it was assessing the demand on the UK market, where it plans to resume operations on 20 May. The company has earmarked MSC Magnifica for the UK, but it could bring two ships or one larger vessel to cover its UIK p