The ship, the MSC Opera, was in dock waiting to depart on a cruise for 8 nights from Southampton to Spain. The route included Amsterdam, La Rochelle, Bilbao, La Coruna, Cherbourg and then returned to Southampton.
The Port of Southampton is world renowned with its history dating back to Roman times. It began life trading wine in the middle ages with neighbouring France. Trade was such that the Southampton merchants' houses were built in Dubrovnik, Croatia. With all this attention, however, it was the early 19th century which saw Southampton reach its fame. This was due to the Cruise Ship, 'The Titanic' which left the docks to become one of the worst tragedies in history, as is described in this apt quote: "The Titanic was a dreadful disaster above all for Southampton... hardly a family in the city was left untouched. Whole classrooms of children became orphans overnight."
The first open docks were near to the present Ocean Village, then the container terminal was built in the Western Docks; this was amazingly built during the pre-war Great Depression. The contrast today is with the £300 million a year Cruise Ship industry with many of the world's big liners departing from here, including the Freedom of the Seas. More interesting history can be read here in this great school project: visit link
There are several different terminals at Southampton where different cruises depart from. These include the City Cruise Terminal, Ocean Cruise Terminal, Mayflower Cruise Terminal, QEII Cruise Terminal, the 102 Berth (Located between the City Cruise Terminal and Mayflower Cruise Terminal) and the 104 Berth (Fruit Shed).
The Port of Southampton is one of the busiest ones in the country and is a deep-water port with a natural harbour. There is a unique double-tide allowing unrestricted access for larger vessels, such as cruise ships. The port is owned by ABP Southampton and provides VTS & pilotage services throughout Southampton Water and much of the Central & Eastern Solent.
Provisional schedules can be seen here: visit link
There was a famous strike at Southampton Dock in 1890 as described here on Wikipedia: visit link
'The 1890 Southampton Dock Strike took place in Southampton, England, September, 1890.
The closing years of the 1880s saw a resurgence of trade unionism amongst merchant seamen, dockers and other unskilled workers. A notable victory was scored by London dockers during the famous London dock strike in 1889, in which the dockers were able to win a rate of 6d, known colloquially as the 'dockers' tanner'. Later that year, a branch of the Dockers' Union was formed in Southampton. In part this was an effort by the union to prevent Southampton men being used to break strikes in London, as had occurred on a limited basis during the 1889 strike. However, as the local branch grew, pressure mounted to improve wages in Southampton itself and to win the dockers' tanner for Southampton men.
Towards the end of August, the Southampton Dock Company and the various shipping firms agreed to grant wage increases of 1d an hour. However, the Royal Mail Steampacket Company, which paid lower rates than the other principal firms, refused to bring its rates into line with the other companies. All of the employers, meanwhile, refused to grant official recognition to the Dockers' Union and the National Union of Seamen. Because of these two issues, a strike was declared on 7 September. Unlike the London Dock Strike, the strike in Southampton was marked by a certain amount of public disorder. Blacklegs from Portsmouth arriving at the railway station were attacked and large crowds gathered daily in the streets around the docks and, leading to fears of rioting. In response the Mayor requested assistance from the Home Office. The Royal Yorkshire Regiment was called in from Portsmouth, and the Mayor read the riot act. In the event, however, troops were not deployed, and streets such as Canute Road were instead cleared with the aid of the local fire-brigade, who opened their hoses on the crowds.
The strike was called off on 15 September after the London-based executives of the Dockers and Seamen's Unions announced that they would not make the strike official or release union funds for strike pay. This decision caused enormous bitterness and resulted in the collapse of the Dockers' Union in the town. One lasting impact of the strike was that it led to the formation of a Southampton Trades Council to coordinate union action in disputes.
The last word must be with one dock striker of the time, tired and without means to live other than returning to work:
” I had to face the police one day, and the soldiers the next, but on Saturday night I had to face the old woman, and that was the worst of all!” '
Specifically describing the Cruise Ship history of Southampton is this Wikipedia snippet:
visit link
'Cruise shipping
The city is deeply connected to the Cunard Line and their fleet of ships, which are the only passenger vessels to be registered here (having "Southampton" on the stern). The people of Southampton showed their strong connection with Cunard on 11 November 2008 when the Cunard Liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 departed the city for the final time amid a spectacular fireworks display after a full day of celebrations.
Proudly continuing the tradition of luxury cruising that began in 1840, Queen Victoria was successfully launched in December 2007 and was named by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall in a spectacular ceremony in Southampton.
In the spring of 2009, a fourth Cruise Terminal was opened in Southampton and Carnival Corporation & plc moved the headquarters of Carnival UK to Southampton.
Many of the world's largest cruise ships (including record-breaking vessels operated by P & O – Cunard's sister company based in the UK – and Royal Caribbean and Cunard) ships as well can regularly be seen in Southampton Water'