The fact that Celebrity cruises, the premium brand of Royal Caribbean, decided to launch their latest ship, the Silhouette, in a German port raised some eyebrows and might have created some concern in British cruise circles.

The cruise line’s previous two launches, that of the Equinox and the Eclipse, both took place in UK ports.

These people will be happy to hear that Celebrity Cruises remains committed to the UK market.

A large number of key UK trade partners were, in fact, present at the Silhouette’s naming ceremony in Germany last weekend and 200 of them will also be present at a celebration in Rome during the coming week.

In 2010 the Celebrity Eclipse made national headlines when it went out of its way to bring back Brits who were stranded after ash clouds grounded large numbers of planes.

Silhouette’s launch was a much more low-key affair drawing less media attention, but Celebrity bosses nevertheless believe it will have an impact on the market.

The UK Managing Director of Royal Caribbean, Dominic Paul, said “You do not get as much PR coverage when it’s the fourth ship in the class, but every new ship definitely has a bounce.”

The President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, Dan Hanrahan, said the fact that the Silhouette was launched in German waters did not mean the cruise line was abandoning the British market.

He added that time was of the essence and that the company wanted the ship to start with commercial cruises as soon as possible. The Silhouette will use Rome as a base of operations.