Explora I Makes Maiden Call to Southampton

Posted on 30 August, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

The port of Southampton welcomed Explora Journeys’ Explora I for the ship’s maiden call at the start of its nine-night voyage around the UK.

A crest exchange took place onboard the ship to celebrate its first visit to the destination. Attendees included the ship’s master Captain Serena Melani; Rebekah Keeler of Associated British Ports Southampton; and Michael Ungerer, CEO of Explora Journeys.

“Southampton is one of the UK’s major ports and one of the most significant within Europe, and it was a great pleasure and honour to present our highly anticipated and brand-new ship, Explora I We continue to work meticulously and tirelessly to showcase our new product which fuses innovation and sophisticated design, and our commitment to excellence,” said Ungerer.

Keele added: “We were delighted to welcome Explora I to Southampton which reflects the continued growth of our partnership with the MSC Group. Working with partners who share in our drive for a sustainable future, such as Explora Journeys, will make the ambition a reality and we look forward to welcoming the ship when she has the opportunity to return.”

For its current voyage, the Explora I sails from Southampton to South Queensferry for Edinburgh, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands, Portree in the Isle of Skye, Greencastle in Northern Ireland, Liverpool and Greenock for Glasgow.

The ship will then spend the fall in North America and then head to the Caribbean Sea for winter. The Explora I will return to Europe in the summer of 2024 for a series of Mediterranean sailings.

MSC Opens 2024-25 Cruise Deployment for Sale

Posted on 3 August, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Virtuosa in Flam Norway to view the inside images of MSC Virtuosa click the link (Flickr) or Image

MSC Cruises today opened sales for a range of its winter 2024-25 season sailings. The line will soon provide details for its winter 2024-25 sailing programs in South America, Southern Africa and the Far East but today unveiled the voyages now available to book, according to a press release.

Highlights include six ships serving the Caribbean Sea and MSC Cruises’ flagship MSC Euribia operating for the first time in the Middle East.

Details are:

NORTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The MSC Meraviglia will operate from New York with seven- to 11-night itineraries to Port Canaveral for Orlando, Nassau in the Bahamas and MSC Cruises’ private island Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

The MSC Seascape will sail every Saturday from Miami with either 7-night cruises to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Ocean Cay or to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and Ocean Cay.

The MSC Seaside every Sunday will offer 7-night voyages from Miami, alternating between the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic or Mexico, Honduras or Belize, and the Bahamas.

The MSC Divina will also be based in Miami and offer an array of three- to 10-night itineraries, all including calls to Ocean Cay. Longer sailings will take guests to Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

The MSC Seashore will homeport in Port Canaveral for three- to four-night mini cruises to the Bahamas, including calls at Ocean Cay, and also sail seven-night voyages with additional stops in Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico.

The MSC Virtuosa will homeport in Fort-de-France, Martinique and embark on back-to-back 7-night itineraries including Guadeloupe, the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia.

ARABIAN GULF

The line’s newest flagship the MSC Euribia will make her debut in the region from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will offer seven-night sailings to two other UAE destinations, Abu Dhabi and Sir Bani Yas Island, plus Doha, Qatar and Manama in Bahrain.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

The MSC World Europa will sail every Sunday from Genoa for a seven-night voyage with calls at Civitavecchia for Rome, Messina in Sicily, Valletta, Malta; Barcelona, Spain and Marseille, France

NORTHERN EUROPE

The MSC Preziosa will operate seven-night voyages every Sunday from Hamburg, Germany with calls at Zeebrugge for Bruges and Brussels in Belgium; Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Le Havre for Paris and Southampton for London. Additionally, one 21-night long cruise from Southampton will visit the Canary Islands, Madeira and Morocco.

RED SEA

The MSC Musica will offer seven-night sailings from Safaga, Egypt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Aqaba for Petra in Jordan, Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt and Sokhna Port for the country’s capital Cairo before returning to Safaga for an opportunity to visit Luxor.

Jamaica Welcomes Over 1.5 Million Visitors In 2023

Posted on 21 May, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett revealed that Jamaica has welcomed over 1.5 million total visitors since January 2023, according to a press release.

“Between January 1, 2023, and May 10, we received 1,586,303 total visitors, stopover and cruise, earning $1.69 billion, putting our destination on par with 2019 record figures. We have seen steady growth in our arrivals and continued investment in the tourism sector, which is a tremendous achievement,” said Bartlett.

Bartlett said that strategic investments and resilience were vital in sustaining such a strong recovery of the tourism sector.

“To keep this growth on an upward trajectory, we continue to secure new air service with the addition of new routes by prestigious carriers such as American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Arajet, and Edelweiss Airlines. We are expanding and modernizing Sangster International Airport and have approximately 8,000 new hotel rooms slated for construction over the next two to five years.”

Bartlett also highlighted that the Ministry of Tourism’s Blue Ocean Strategy and its Destination Assurance Framework and Strategy have influenced the development of a more sustainable and diverse tourism product.

“Jamaica is leveraging key pillars for tourism that showcase the destination’s unique culture and heritage while simultaneously addressing the desire of today’s traveller to experience more than just sun, sea and sand. We need to carefully manage the industry through resilience building, so it can continually adapt to issues that may arise and put plans in place to protect it from potential future shocks,” concluded Bartlett.