I live just a few miles from Southampton. The city was a great port during the age of the great liners that crossed the Atlantic before airtravel. It was the home base for Cunard and the great Queens were based here. Now an important container port but also the starting point for many cruise liners and still the uk home of Carnival and hence Cunard. I always think that there is still a degree of romanticism and exploration associated with cruising, and although you would never find me on a vessel carrying thousands of passengers, the sheer scale of this industry and its importancve to Southampton is mesmorising.