Tag Archives: MSC Divina

MSC Names Seaside in Miami Ceremony, Announces More News

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MSC Seaside

The MSC Seaside was named in a Miami ceremony by international screen legend and Godmother for all MSC Cruises’ ships, Sophia Loren. Mario Lopez hosted the evening that saw performances by Ricky Martin and Andrea Bocelli, and special guest Dan Marino, a retired NFL quarterback from the Miami Dolphins (MSC is the team’s official cruise company).

MSC Cruises Executive Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said: “MSC Seaside’s naming embodies a pivotal moment for MSC Cruises and the industry overall. She is the first ship of the fifth new prototype that we have developed since we entered this industry only in 2003 and she introduces a wholly-innovative concept that has already set a new standard for the industry to follow. The distinctive and unique Seaside Class is designed to bring guests closer to the sea to enjoy cruising in warm weather whilst pushing the boundaries of maritime and guest-centric technology – the way only a cruise line with over 300 years of maritime tradition could have done.”

MSC Cruises also announced today two new partnerships.

The first is with the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF), where MSC Cruises’ guest donations will support ABF’s valuable work in Haiti.

Every dollar donated onboard by a guest will go directly to the Foundation to make a real difference, MSC said.

Vago said: “MSC Seaside will sail year around in the Caribbean and with this partnership we wish to express our commitment to giving something back to the places where we operate. This charitable activity is in fact focused on helping the children of Haiti. They are the future and deserve the best and, as a family-owned company this is a cause close to our hearts.”

To mark the launch of the partnership with ABF, the world-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli took to the stage during the naming ceremony with 30 children from the Voices of Haiti, a talented choir of Haitian school students aged between 6 and 14 that brings music into the schools of the ABF and St. Luke Foundation for Haiti.

Bocelli commented: “The sea is a place of freedom; it is the guardian of fascinating wonders, of answers that help us grow. Being an artist means being an explorer. It is, therefore, a particularly joyful opportunity for me to bring on board my singing and most importantly the voices, joy and enthusiasm of the children’s choir the ‘Voices of Haiti”. This choir is the result of one of the educational projects carried out, in Haiti and beyond, by the Foundation bearing my name.”

MSC also announced a new partnership with Joe Bastianich the restaurateur, author and TV personality with thirty restaurants worldwide including New York City-based Babbo and Del Posto and Carnevino in Las Vegas. Bastianich will become the newest addition to the impressive line-up of internationally renowned chefs and restaurateurs partnering with MSC Cruises across its global fleet and will create a signature dish exclusively for MSC Seaside that will feature on the Elegant Night menu.

MSC is betting big on U.S. cruisers

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MSC Cruises may be relatively small in North America, so it is easy to overlook the magnitude of the line, which has a much bigger presence in Europe and also claims a large market share in South America.

A presentation by executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago aboard the newly-delivered MSC Seaside offered a broadside of statistics, some of which were eye-opening.

Vago said the 2 million passengers MSC expects in 2017 will take 1.8 million shore excursions, see 8,960 Broadway-style shows while onboard its 12 ships and consume over 50 million meals.

He said MSC has the most international passenger base of any cruise line with 170 nationalities represented. The line visits 86 countries on 194 different itineraries and calls at 199 ports (Carnival Corp. claims over 700).

Founded in Naples, Italy, MSC sells in 67 countries around the world, Vago said, and the average passenger is 45 years old.

Without saying which day it was, Vago also said that MSC’s record for a single day of sales was 10,993 bookings.

The company, a subsidiary of Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., has 17,778 onboard and shoreside employees and expects to create 25,000 new jobs by 2026 as it proceeds with a $10.2 billion shipbuilding program.

To date, MSC has only had one ship in the North American market at a time, but that is about to change as its new ship, the MSC Seaside, joins the MSC Divina in Miami on Dec. 21. The 4,138-passenger Seaside is the first MSC ship to have an English name, and the first newbuild to be sent to North America directly from the shipyard.

By the fall of 2019, they will be joined by a seasonal deployment of the MSC Meraviglia, giving MSC three ships in Miami for the 2019-20 winter season with a weekly combined capacity of over 12,000 passengers.

And that doesn’t count the two ships MSC currently operates for Europeans (and Canadians) from Havana, Cuba, or the ship it deploys seasonally from Martinique and Guadeloupe.

By 2019, MSC plans to have opened a private island near Bimini that will serve all of those vessels.

At a ceremony to accept delivery of the Seaside from Italian shipbuilding powerhouse Fincantieri, Vago and Mediterranean Shipping Co. owner and chairman Gianluigi Aponte announced a contract would be signed for two more Seaside ships, each with capacity for 350 more passengers than the Seaside.

“We are determined to become one of the most important cruise operators,” Aponte said.

MSC Meraviglia to sail three cruises from New York

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The 4,488-passenger MSC Meraviglia will come to America earlier than scheduled, sailing three cruises from New York in the fall of 2019.

The ship will sail two 10-night round trip Canada/New England cruises as well as a 13-night Caribbean cruise that ends in Miami.

As previously reported, after the Meraviglia arrives in Miami, MSC will have three ships in the Miami market in the winter of 2019-2020: the Seaside, Divina and Meraviglia.