Tag Archives: MSC Cruise

MSC pushes summer 2021 ex-UK sailings with an all-inclusive offer

Posted on by
Reply

MSC Magnifica

MSC Magnifica photo credit to Dave Jones

Summer 2021 ex-UK sailings are included in a new all-inclusive promotion launched by MSC Cruises.

The early booking promotion sees a premium drinks package included as part of the price on more than 1,000 departures between April and November 2021 from multiple embarkation ports across the world.

The initiative, which covers bookings made until December 2, includes all 22 MSC Magnifica sailings from Southampton on the ship’s second full ex-UK season as well as the Caribbean and Mediterranean fly-cruises.

UK and Ireland managing director Antonio Paradiso said: “After receiving feedback from our agents, as well as loyal customers, and taking into consideration the market landscape we’ve decided now is the right time to launch our latest promotion.

“We are seeing a definite appetite for booking holidays for 2021, however the feedback from the market has been that it has to be the right product at the right price.

“Our all-inclusive promotion is always incredibly popular, however now more than ever it’s important for guests to know that everything is taken care of.

“The all-inclusive price includes service charge and a premium drinks package so there really is nothing additional guests need to worry about.

“We understand the need from consumers to have a product that is great value, easy to understand and flexible which is why we think this promotion, combined with our stress-free cruising programme allowing flexible booking terms is the right promotion to stimulate bookings.”

He added: “We think this promotion provides a great opportunity for agents who we know are receiving enquiries from guests interested in a cruise to convert that initial interest into bookings, and ultimately to get their customers a great deal.”

Sailings from Southampton lead-in at £319 per person for a two-night mini-cruise.

A seven-night cruise on one of the flagship MSC Grandiosa starts at  £644pp.

Royal Caribbean Group ‘will learn from MSC and Tui restarts’

Posted on by
Reply

MSC Grandiosa - Wikipedia

Royal Caribbean Group boss Richard Fain has pledged to learn from the “small sample” of cruise lines that have restarted operations in recent weeks.

Speaking to travel agents on a webcast on online trade hub RCL Cares, Fain, the group’s chairman and chief executive, highlighted lines such as Tui Cruises and MSC Cruises, which have both started sailing again.

Fain said that it had been “encouraging” to see their return, adding that Costa Cruises appeared to be “a few weeks” away from joining them.

Fain said: “We are not through this yet but there are more bright spots and bits of good news than there have been for quite a while.

“We are closer to the other side of this crisis every day. It is also encouraging to see cruising start-up in other parts of the world.

“In Germany, our joint venture company Tui Cruises has been operating cruises since late July. In Italy, MSC Cruises started operating there just last week and has attracted a lot of really very positive publicity.

“We understand that Costa Cruises is operating there in just a few weeks. While this is just a small sample, we always said that we’d start slowly and methodically and we’re going to learn from these early efforts.”

Fain also used the webcast to introduce Dr Calvin Johnson, the group’s recently appointed head of public health and chief medical officer.

Asked by Fain why he had decided to apply for the role, Johnson said: “I saw the opportunity to apply my skills in a really meaningful and substantive way during probably the most significant health crisis in our time.

“It is the nature of the work. It is the opportunity to serve 75,000 crew and to protect their health and to serve four to six million guests a year and to protect their health. I am all focusing on the protection of health.”

MSC Forced to Delay MSC Magnifica Program

Posted on by
Reply

MSC Magnifica on the Firth of Forth

MSC Cruises announced today it will postpone the restart of MSC Magnifica until September 26, 2020 despite just having completed a first successful cruise with the MSC Grandiosa.

MSC cited the recent introduction of additional testing measures for residents of Italy having traveled to Greece.

“We are seeing cancellations and a softening in demand since the ship’s itinerary includes as many as three ports in that country. This has led to the decision to delay the restart of the ship by four weeks,” the company said.

MSC added that it believes that reservations will start to pick up again in the coming weeks due to the appeal of the itinerary.

MSC Magnifica’s sales are open to residents of the Schengen area, at the same time in this early phase of restart the majority of guests are expected to be Italian nationals and residents.

As a result, MSC Magnifica cruise departures from August 29 to September 19 have been cancelled. The first cruise will depart from Bari, Italy with an unchanged itinerary on September 26.

The MSC Grandiosa is currently offering seven-night cruises with embarkation in the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo and also calling at Valletta, Malta.