A rendering of beaches on Ocean Cay Marine Reserve.
MSC Cruises has cancelled the first four calls that had been scheduled for paying passengers at its MSC Ocean Cay Marine Reserve in the Bahamas.
It said the private island near Bimini is not ready for guests.
MSC cancelled calls planned for Nov. 9 on the MSC Meraviglia, Nov. 15 on the MSC Seaside, Nov. 16 on the Meraviglia and Nov. 17 on the MSC Armonia.
“While we fully anticipated that the island would be ready to receive guests this week, upon further evaluation with our onsite team and learning about last-minute operational issues that could impact the guest experience, we made the decision to cancel scheduled calls,” an MSC statement said.
Port calls elsewhere have been scheduled.
Guests on affected cruises will get a $100 onboard spending credit and a 20% future cruise credit.
Four years ago, MSC signed a 100-year lease on the island, a former industrial sand mining site, and announced plans to transform it into a private destination. Work on the 95-acre island has been ongoing for the past few years.
MSC Cruises has announced that travel celebrity Colleen Kelly and her family will set sail with the MSC Seaside on a cruise to the Caribbean for Season 6 of the PBS show Family Travel with Colleen Kelly.
The sixth season takes the Kelly family to Caribbean hotspots including Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Cayman Islands; Cozumel, Mexico; and Nassau, Bahamas and will offer tips for family vacations throughout the U.S. and abroad, a company statement said.
“The MSC Seaside is an ideal ship for families seeking a fun and enriching vacation,” said Ken Muskat, EVP and COO of MSC Cruises USA. “With the debut of Family Travel with Colleen Kelly, we’re thrilled that PBS viewers will have the opportunity to get a first-hand look at the varied programming and experiences MSC Cruises, and specifically the MSC Seaside can provide for multi-generational families.”
The MSC Seaside sails year-round from Miami to the Caribbean.
MSC Cruises’ UK boss says the line is “very close” to fulfilling a long-term ambition to have a 10% share of the UK cruise market.
In late 2017, the line pledged to one-day sell one in every ten cruises taken by the UK and become “a leading international player” within five years.
Antonio Paradiso, the line’s the UK and Ireland managing director said MSC currently has 7.9% of the market but believes a lengthened MSC Magnifica would add a further 90,000 berths to the market in 2021.
Speaking on new Meraviglia-Plus class ship MSC Grandiosa in Southampton, Paradiso said: “I am really confident that by 2022, MSC will be the number one international cruise line in this country. We are getting very close to that.
“We’re are at about 7.9%, so we’re getting there. A big boost will be when MSC Magnifica will sail out of Southampton [in summer 2021].”
Southampton will be MSC Magnifica’s only embarkation port when it is based in the UK in summer 2021.
Paradiso said: “It is a great opportunity for the travel agents. [Magnifica] alone will boost our production by 90,000 passengers.”
The line also has plans to further bolster its growing sales team in 2020. Paradiso said he would recruit for a strategic account manager – a new role – early next year.
“The strategic account manager will help [head of retail] Andrea Stafford strengthen the relationship with all the head offices in the UK and some important key accounts,” he said.
Paradiso said the sales team expansion goes “hand in hand” with the growth the line was experiencing in the UK.
MSC launched MSC Bellissima earlier this year. MSC Grandiosa is 16 metres longer than the Meraviglia-class ship.
On Grandiosa, the line has exhibited an art collection on a ship for the first time, expanded its French Bistrot L’Atelier Bistrot and launched two exclusive Cirque du Soleil shows onboard.
The line has welcomed around 4,200 UK agents across its fleet since the launch of MSC Bellissima in Southampton in March this year.
Ship visits would be arranged when MSC ships called in the UK and Ireland, said Paradiso, who added: “One thing we do very successfully is fam trips every year which are normally fly-and-cruise out of Barcelona or Rome which allow agents to spend time onboard.
“The ex-UK sailings represent a good portion of our business. However, the Mediterranean is still the number one destination for the UK market.
“It is important that agents get to experience the ships that we have in the Med.”
From 2023, the line will launch four 64,000-ton luxury vessels which have yet to be named. Paradiso said the name would be announced between March and April next year.
“The first step would be to announce the brand,” he said. “We will disclose a bit more information about the luxury ships that we are building. The UK will be one of the first countries in the world to go on sale.”
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