Minister Sacramento attends Britannia naming ceremony in UK

Minister Sacramento attends Britannia naming ceremony in UK Minister for Tourism, Equality, Social Services and Housing, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP has attended the naming celebrations of P&O Cruises’ new cruise ship Britannia, which took place in Southampton today. The Britannia will visit Gibraltar on her maiden voyage on March 17th 2015. However, Britannia's first port of call on leaving the shipyard in Italy was Gibraltar, as she called in on a technical stop on Tuesday 3rd March. Her Majesty The Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh performed the naming ceremony in a special dockside ceremony at the Port of Southampton’s Ocean Terminal. As is traditional on such occasions, a bottle of sparkling wine from the Wiston Estate Winery in Sussex, UK, was smashed against the side of the ship. In addition a Nebuchadnezzar of the British Brut NV was used, while thousands of bottles of Brut NV and Rosé Vintage 2011 have been available during various programmed festive events starting on March 9th. Minister Sacramento declared she was proud to represent Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar at the ceremony in an official capacity as a reminder of the close links and naval ties between Gibraltar and Southampton. The Minister said: “I was extremely pleased to have been invited to the celebrations and naming of the new P&O vessel as this company is a very important customer for Gibraltar. I am also very excited that the Britannia will be making an inaugural call at the Port of Gibraltar later this month during its maiden voyage. Britannia will deliver passengers to Gibraltar as one of the 216 vessels scheduled to visit Gibraltar in 2015. This sees an increase in calls over last year and will no doubt be welcomed by Gibraltar's tourism, hospitality, transport and retail industry." Minister Sacramento was accompanied by Gibraltar Tourist Board Chief Executive Nicky Guerrero.