Iglu said website traffic and booking volumes hit their highest levels since the start of the pandemic on Monday morning (22 March).

It followed the launch of P&O’s new UK summer itineraries at 8.30am, which included Iona’s maiden voyage; Iglu said traffic to iglucruise.com was "up 300%" by 9am, and later confirmed this was when compared against website traffic at the same time a week earlier.

The firm added the launch resulted in a "surge" of bookings, "emphasising the pent-up demand for travel… and cruises".

Simone Clark, Iglu senior vice-president global supply, said: "Many of our cruise line partners are responding to the current situation by releasing cruises for the British market sailing in UK waters for summer 2021.

"We were confident travellers would return to cruising as soon as the guidelines allowed, but were not sure about the appetite for booking a UK cruise. The response has been resoundingly positive."