Tag Archives: MSC Seaview

MSC Seaview’s preview cruise cancelled

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The MSC Seaview is slightly behind schedule, and will now be delivered on June 4, forcing the cancellation of a preview cruise scheduled June 7 through 10.

While a nearly 4,000-strong team at the Fincantieri shipyard is working 24/7 around the clock to finish the ship for her inaugural season, she will now require a few extra days of final fitting,” MSC Cruises said.

MSC said that the inauguration ceremony will no longer take place in Civitavecchia, the port city for Rome. Instead, the ceremony will be moved to Genoa, where the ship is scheduled to take its initial cruise on June 10.

Following delivery, the Seaview is scheduled to cruise in the Mediterranean this summer. It will move to South America for the 2018-19 winter season.

MSC Eyes Larger Piece of North American Market Pie

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MSC Seaside Homeport in Miami.

Gianni Onorato is helping drive MSC Cruises’ ambitious growth plan, covering just about the entire world in 2018 and beyond.

Miami will play an increasingly important role as the company pushes its way into the North American market, part of a strategic long-term plan, according to Onorato, CEO of the cruise brand.

Come winter 2019, the MSC Divina, Seaside and Meraviglia will offer Caribbean itineraries from PortMiami.

“It started with the MSC Divina, that was the biggest change,” Onorato told Cruise Industry News. “It was the first time we broke with the legacy of just having a winter ship (in North America) occasionally.”

With the company hitting its goal to become the largest single brand in Europe, it opened up more assets to be moved into the North American market, starting with the Divina on a year-round basis, which has now been joined by the Seaside.

“Even with the Divina, Seaside and Meraviglia compared to the size of the North American market, this is a little drop,” he said.

The MSC Seaside

“We will reach a 4 to 5 percent market share here. It is a start in the most mature market in the world. It has been a process that has been planned and now we’re in the implementation phase.”

With the Divina and Seaside based in Miami come 2020, MSC plans to rotate the Meraviglia north for a summer season sailing from Manhattan.

“We are looking at New York for summer 2020 with the Meraviglia,” Onorato said. “That is why we are adding a sort of presentation of the ship with a number of cruises in 2019. We are preparing to have the Meraviglia out of New York in 2020.”

It differs from previous attempts to sail out of New York by the company and its European competitors.

Onorato noted the hardware will help drive demand, calling the Meraviglia a newbuild that is very competitive.

“The North American trade and distribution also knows our brand better now. The timing is right because the market is looking for something new and different, which we offer.”

Come 2022, Onorato sees MSC as a key player in North American, although not at the level of the other main North American brands.

“We will have our piece of the cake,” he added.

MSC Cruises takes delivery of new flagship MSC Seaside

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MSC Cruises has taken delivery of its new flagship MSC Seaside at the Fincantieri shipyard.

It is the second new MSC ship to come into service in 2017 and will homeport in Miami for Caribbean itineraries. It is the first in MSC’s Seaside Class.

MSC Seaside weighs 169,380 tonnes and can take 5,179 passengers.

At the ceremony, in Italy, MSC Cruises and Fincantieri also signed firm orders for the €1.8 billion construction of two Seaside EVO ships.

MSC Cruises executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said: “MSC Seaside coming into service marks another key milestone in the history and future of our company, but she also embodies a pivotal moment for the industry. In fact, she is the first ship of the fifth new prototype that we bring into service and introduces a wholly-innovative product that sets a new standard for the industry to follow.

“The Seaside Class of ships is designed to bring guests closer to the sea and to operate in sunny waters while continuing to push the boundaries of maritime and guest-centric technology.”

Italian president Sergio Mattarella and Graziano Delrio, Italy’s minister of infrastructures and transports were among the dignitaries at the ceremony.

MSC Seaside’s sister ship MSC Seaview will come into service in June 2018, starting her summer season in the Mediterranean. At the delivery ceremony, Vago also announced that MSC Seaview will be christened in Civitavecchia, Italy, on June 2, 2018.

He added: “As we are nearing the end of 2017, we can look back on a year when we enjoyed unprecedented capacity growth. With two of the more innovative new ships in the industry have come into service in the past six months and now with the addition of two Seaside EVO ships to our investment plan, we are now even better positioned to further extend our global footprint. We are expecting the delivery of at least one new ship each year through 2026, with six to have come into service between 2017 and 2020.”

Giuseppe Bono, chief executive of Fincantieri, added: “We are proud to have accomplished such an important project: a ship, for a new customer, the largest one ever built in Italy. This demonstrates not only our ability to satisfy the needs of the shipowners but also the extraordinary operational level which Fincantieri has achieved.

“We believe we have built a highly innovative ship with MSC. She marks a further technological quality leap. Such a milestone has allowed us to gain the customer’s loyalty with another order for two new ships, which will [again] represent a real evolution.”

In total, 12 new MSC ships are to be built by 2026, for an overall investment of €10.5 billion.