MSC Virtuosa entering the river Mersey, photo credit Spacejunkie2

The Meraviglia Plus-class vessel, which launched in the UK last year, will return at the end of April and operate 23 voyages until early November.

Itineraries range from five two-night mini cruises, including calls at Guernsey’s St Peter Port, to 12-night Baltic voyages and 14-night Western Mediterranean sailings.

Speaking to TTG, Antonio Paradiso, managing director UK and Ireland, said the extension decision had been made following agent and consumer requests for more ex-UK options around October half-term.

The four additional cruises will visit the Mediterranean, including a call in Palma de Mallorca, the East Atlantic visiting Portugal and Spain and a Canaries sailing during October half-term before Virtuosa repositions to Genoa.

Paradiso said the vessel, which debuted from Southampton in May last year amid the restart of UK cruising, had become “such a popular ship” in the British market.

“I think she’s now even more popular than Bellissima that we launched in Southampton – she’s become one of the UK’s favourite ships,” he said.

Paradiso added that ex-UK Southampton sailings had proven MSC’s “best-sold cruises” for 2022 with the line wanting to meet demand.

“Last year, after Virtuosa left the UK in mid-September, we realised there were more opportunities to take advantage of to stay later in the year,” he said. “We have an open dialogue with our trade partners and want to give them something they can really get behind and sell.

“We have the right ship and we’ve never had so much variety from the UK. There is a very nice mix of itineraries and I think we’re ticking all the boxes.”

The line is also extending its MSC Big Cruise Giveaway trade campaign – with a further 30 cabins to be won by the UK and Irish agents between 1-15 February.

Agents must book any sailing included as part of MSC’s all-inclusive wave promotion to be entered into the prize draw.

News of MSC’s extended ex-UK season follows the line’s announcement on Monday (31 January) of plans to lengthen its season in the Arabian Gulf. 

MSC Bellissima will finish its planned Red Sea itineraries homeporting in Jeddah on 26 March before repositioning to Dubai to take over from Virtuosa from 2 April as the ship heads to the UK.

Bellissima will then offer seven-night cruises calling in Sir Bani Yas and Doha through to 25 June – the first time MSC has had a ship in the region during the summer.

Paradiso said the move was a “win-win” for the UK and Irish market due to the popularity of both ships with customers.

Next month, MSC will launch a new TV advertising campaign, Only the Sea, featuring on ITV, Channel 4, Sky channels and video on-demand services. Paradiso said the month-long campaign could be extended if it proved successful.

“January was an opportunity for us to wait and see what things were going to look like. We’ve gathered as many insights as possible and now we want to gain momentum and leverage the demand we’re seeing,” he said.