Royal Caribbean has cancelled a whole Caribbean season to send Freedom of the Seas to Southampton in 2027.
Royal says demand from UK cruisers means it needs a bigger ship over here, so it cancelled more than 20 Caribbean sailings on Freedom in 2027, rebooked the affected passengers, and is sailing over to Blighty instead.
The 3,926-passenger ship replaces Liberty of the Seas in 2027, carrying around 130 more passengers at double occupancy than her predecessor.
And the even better news is there are some BARGAINS to be found.
For less than £500 — from £476 to be exact — you can join Freedom as she sails from Miami to Southampton. 12 whole days with just stops in Bermuda and the Azores along the way. They even feed and entertain you.
If you haven’t got the stomach for that many sea days, then how does a weekend in France sound? Or Bruges? Three-night sailings to Zeebrugge or Le Havre are also less than £500 (from £371 or £414 respectively).
There’s even a two-night sailing to France. For £345 you can have a weekend in a decent hotel with dinner thrown in. Not too shabby, and a darn sight cheaper than a London city break.
The cruise season runs May to October 2027, and every sailing is round-trip from Southampton — no flights involved. Unless, that is, you’re sailing from Miami to Southampton. Then there is a flight. But you get what we mean.
Norwegian Fjords sailings, seven nights, are the most numerous in Freedom’s Southampton stay. Lead-in fares range from about £847 for a May departure to between £960 and £1,154 for peak-summer dates, depending on the ports — some routes take in Bergen and Olden, others Skjolden and Stavanger.
Iberian sailings are the cheapest week-long option: seven- and eight-night Spain and Portugal round-trips calling at Vigo, Lisbon and La Coruña open around £732 to £749, with a nine-night version adding Seville (Cádiz) from £916.
All these are lead-in fares — per person, two sharing, cheapest cabins on the cheapest dates. School-holiday sailings cost more, and the £345 and £371 weekends won’t hold those prices once summer fills up.
For cruisers, Freedom is an older ship than Royal’s flagships. Refurbished rather than new. Sailing a conventional Northern European and Iberian programme. What it offers is scale and a Southampton departure.
If you fancy something shinier and genuinely massive, Royal is bringing its city-sized megaship Legend of the Seas back to the Mediterranean in 2027 as well. Just a short flight to Barcelona away.
But if the appeal of a cruise is skipping the airport, that’s the whole pitch here — and the cheapest cabins are the first to go.
