Since 1892, Southampton Docks have been owned by the railways. The docks were first owned by the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) from 1892 until the grouping in 1923. During this period the Eastern Docks (Old Docks) were created in 1911. After the grouping in 1923 the docks came under the ownership of the Southern Railway until nationalisation in 1948. During this period from 1927 to 1934 the Western Docks (New Docks) were completed. In 1933 the huge King George V dry dock was built to cater for the new giant Cunarders – Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Since 1948 the docks have been owned by the British Transport Commission.

Finally in 1983 when the ancillary services of the railways were privatised the docks then passed to their current owner, Associated British Ports (ABP). These mighty docks have always been constantly developing and improving to keep pace with technology and changing trends so that they can keep ahead of the game. During the heyday of the ocean liner Southampton was from the 1930s onwards proclaimed as “The Gateway to the World” and soon became Britain’s premier ocean passenger port. Since the decline of the ocean liner in the 1960s the port diversified and found a new role as a premier container shipping port.  It seemed that passenger terminals would be a thing of the past, but this was not to be true and passenger liners were to revive as cruise ships.

By the early 21st century Southampton had become Britain's premier cruise port and now hosts major cruise companies such as Carnival Corporation & PLC, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises. But Southampton had this time had only two cruise terminals: the Mayflower Cruise Terminal (Berth 105 / 106) and the QEII Cruise Terminal (Berth 38 / 39). However these were unable to cope with the rapid increase in demand. As a result in 2003 Associated British Ports decided to build a third cruise terminal at Berth 101 in Western Docks. It was decided to name this new cruise terminal as the City Cruise Terminal.

However demand was so great that in 2007 the City Cruise Terminal was upgraded to host the giant cruise liners of Royal Caribbean International. The 27th April 2007 saw the official opening of the port’s upgraded City Cruise Terminal by Ms Susan Hooper, Senior VP (International) & Managing Director (EMEA), Royal Caribbean International & Celebrity Cruises (‘Royal Caribbean’). The opening marks the culmination of 23 weeks’ work and £9 million of investment, enabling the Terminal to host even the largest of the modern generation of cruise ships, such as Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, which arrived at the Terminal earlier that day and was based at Southampton during 2007. At the same time Royal Caribbean International signed a 7 year contract with Associated British Ports that gave them priority access to the City Cruise Terminal.

In order to accommodate vessels of this size (Navigator of the Seas is over 300 metres long, and carries up to 3,800 passengers), ABP has upgraded City Cruise Terminal in all respects. The Terminal now has a new, wider entrance lobby, an enlarged reception area with 50 check-in desks, and enhanced security capabilities.

The opening came during an extremely exciting period in the Port of Southampton’s cruise business. Over the course of 10 days, starting on April 21, the port had 26 cruise ships on berth, including a four-day celebration launch for the world’s largest and newest cruise ship, Liberty of the Seas, as well as visits from such illustrious vessels as QM2. The period has also included the naming of Ocean Village Two. Partly as a consequence of this very busy April, 2007 was set to be a record-breaking year, with the number of passengers passing through the port exceeding 800,000, far more than the annual average in the port’s first heyday in the 1950s.

On the 10th December 2007 the City Cruise Terminal hosted the Naming Ceremony of the Queen Victoria, Cunard Line's new superliner, which was named by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall accompanied by HRH The Prince of Wales. Since its opening it has been used regularly by major cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises among others. It is also used by Carnival Corporation & PLC cruise companies when the two cruise terminals (Mayflower Cruise Terminal and QEII Cruise Terminal) they mainly use are full.