Tag Archives: MSC Cruise

MSC Preziosa will sail a winter season of northern European cruises from Southampton

Posted on by
Reply
MSC Preziosa arriving in Southampton.

Preziosa will arrive in early October offering itineraries visiting five European cities, with its 2022/23 winter season due to run through to April 2023.

Sales will open in the coming days, said MSC. Preziosa will replace MSC Virtuosa, which will sail in summer 2022 from Southampton.

Virtuosa’s season will get underway with a Guernsey mini-cruise departing 29 April and will wrap up with a final Mediterranean sailing scheduled to depart on 4 November.

MSC managing director the UK and Ireland, Antonio Paradiso, said Preziosa’s deployment from Southampton underlined MSC’s commitment to the UK market and travel trade.

“We are proud that we are providing agents with such a variety of products to sell in the ex-UK space this year,” said Paradiso. “Sailing MSC Virtuosa from Southampton last year allowed us a great opportunity to access the new-to-cruise market, which made up 50% of our sales for summer 2021.”

Preziosa will offer a seven-night winter itinerary featuring five European city destinations, with calls in Hamburg, Zeebrugge (for Bruges and Brussels), Rotterdam (for Amsterdam) and Le Havre (for Paris).

MSC CRUISES PARENT OPENS TALKS TO BUY ITALIAN AIRLINE

Posted on by
Reply

MSC Group has told the Italian government it is interested in acquiring a majority stake in the new carrier ITA Airways.

ITA was born after the demise of Alitalia and MSC aims to create a partnership with the Italian government and Lufthansa as the project’s “industrial partner”.

MSC said: “Lufthansa has already expressed its interest in taking part in the initiative.”

Both parties now enter a 90-day period of exclusivity when the Italian government, which established ITA, will examine their proposal. Regulators will also examine the bid for any competition issues.

MSC added: “MSC Group’s interest derives from the possibility of activating positive synergies for both companies in the cargo and passenger sectors where the MSC Group is a global leader.”

Brazilian Health Agency Warns Against Cruise Ship Travel

Posted on by
Reply

Brazilian health agency Anvisa on Sunday warned passengers against boarding cruise ships operating along the Brazilian coast after outbreaks of COVID-19 affecting crew and customers, according to a statement on its website.

The move follows a call for the “immediate temporary interruption of the cruise ship season in Brazil” as they pose a risk to public health.

“In view of recent events, Anvisa does not recommend the embarkation of passengers who have trips scheduled on cruise ships for the next few days,” the statement said.

“This recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk to the health of passengers and the unpredictability of operations at this time.”

There are five cruise liners operating on the Brazilian coast being monitored by Anvisa, the agency said.

The MSC Splendida, anchored at Santos, was banned from embarking new passengers from late Saturday and the vessel was quarantined from Sunday. The Diadema was ordered to suspend service and all passengers will need to disembark when it arrives at Santos, Anvisa said. The other three are the MSC Preziosa, Costa Fascinosa, and MSC Seaside, which face a potential boarding ban and service suspension pending further epidemiological investigation, Anvisa said. (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Stephen Coates).