I must admit when I was invited to spend a day and night on the brand new Celebrity Equinox cruise ship, my head was filled with dramatic scenes from the film Titanic. I was in fact pleasantly surprised and made it back to shore in one piece.

I was invited by Siren PR along with my partner and 5,000 other guests including travel agents, travel industry big wigs and regular cruise goers, to celebrate the launch of the stunning new cruise ship Celebrity Equinox, part of the Celebrity Cruise line.

The ship set sail from Southampton; thousands of travel industry professionals from all over the world visited the ship at the British port.

The celebrations were a taster of what's to come and get cruisers exited about the arrival of sister ship Celebrity Eclipse in April 2010, which is currently under construction.

Robin Shaw, vice president and managing director of Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, UK and Ireland explained: "The fact that the global launch of Celebrity Equinoc takes place in the UK demonstrates the scale of the market we now represent.

We have an exciting future ahead of us and look forward to setting new standards in the luxury large ship market. The launch celebrations are set to be great fun, and a great showcase to the industry of exactly what Celebrity Cruises is all about".

As soon as I set foot on the ship, I was very impressed with how welcoming and friendly the staff on board were. You are pampered from the start. We were given help with our bags and shown directly to our room.

Our room was spectacular and the size was very reasonable for two. The decor was exceptionally modern and oozed glamour.

The double bed was huge and very comfortable and there was a wide screen TV and a three seater leather sofa, perfect for those lazy mornings and cosy nights off from the onboard nightlife.

The bathroom was a good size and the shower was big. My favourite part of the room was the balcony. There was a table and two deck chairs and the balcony is the perfect size for two, whether you are soaking up the sun and sea breeze by day or star gazing by candelight by night.

There was a bottle champagne, perfectly chilled waiting for us, when arrived, what better way to start your day?

After admiring our room we set off to explore what wonders the ship held in store for us. The ship was a whopping 15 decks in total and each one was buzzing with excited crowds of people, enjoying the pure luxury of the ship, the warmth of the sun, complimentary cocktails and other alcoholic beverages and the fantastic food.

Each deck offers something different. Deck 12 boasts an excellent pool area; there are two outdoor pools, and jacuzzi hot tubs, a towel area, full of soft, clean towels there for the taking and the deck is painted blue with hundreds of extremely comfortable blue sun loungers.

There is also a well-stocked pool bar and stage for live music acts, an indoor pool and jacuzzi  hot tubs and a spa for those who like to be totally pampered.

Throughout the day there was a combination of amazing live acts and activities, keeping guests entertained. There was a hot glass show, hosted by TV presenters Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, known for presenting popular programs such as The Estate on Channel 5 and BB2's Million Pound Property Experiment.

The couple presented Nina Barough CBE, Godmother of Celebrity Equinox and founder of the breast cancer fighting charity 'Walk the Walk' a custom-made glass bra, created by the Corning Museum of Glass and designed by Colin and Justin in honor of her dedicated work for charity.

My ultimate favourite were the stunning, female, classical super-group All Angels, who sang beautifully and warmed the hearts of all VIP guests onboard. And an amazing swing band in the evening, which had couples dancing the night away.

Keep your eye out for Manchester Lifestyle Magazine autumn edition to read the rest of the story.