ABOUT MSC CRUISES

MSC Cruises’ upcoming US focused cruise ship will debut a first at sea over-water swing ride. Situated on the top deck of MSC World America, the ‘Cliffhanger’ ride will feature four seats which swing over the side of the ship. It swings out 50 metres above the ocean. It is a first-of-its-kind ride for a cruise ship. Riders will be propelled back and forth over the water. MSC World America, which has been designed for the US cruise market, launches in April 2025 and will sail Caribbean cruises from Miami. The Cliffhanger ride is part of the Family Aventura district, which is one of seven themed zones on the 6,700-guest ship. The LNG powered ship will have its naming ceremony at PortMiami on April 9, 2025. Scheduled Caribbean cruises from Miami will call at private destination Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve as well as Roatan, Cozumel and Puerto Plata. 

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MSC Cruises new flagship, MSC World America, will feature seven distinct districts highlighting various tailored experiences. Each will feature bars, restaurants, entertainment and leisure facilities. MSC World America, designed for the North American market, enters service in April 2025. Each of the seven districts will have their own atmosphere and distinctive experiences. During her inaugural season, MSC World America will sail Caribbean cruises from Miami on seven-night itineraries with stops at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve – MSC Cruises' private island destination. The MSC World America's seven districts include:   MSC YACHT CLUB MSC Cruises' ship-within-a-ship experience is open to eligible guests with keycard-only access. It offers an exclusive retreat with personalized service in MSC Yacht Club boasting 24/7 butler service, priority embarkation and exclusive lounge and dining areas. FAMILY AVENTURA Located at the top of the ship, it features The Harbour, a new outdoor park where families can enjoy varied activities, such as a high ropes course and a never before seen at sea attraction that will soon be revealed. Family Aventura is also home to Doremiland, the action-packed kids' area, roller rinks, water slides and a dry slide. AQUA DECK This is home to the ship's two main pools and wellness offerings which transforms at night with high energy parties. ZEN AREA The adults-only Zen Area offers an exclusive haven of relaxation for sunbathing, sipping cocktails and waterside lounging. GALLERIA Located in the central heart of the ship, it houses an array of dining, exclusive shopping, bars, lounges and cafes. THE TERRACES Home to nine restaurants and bars, and a comedy club that also serves as the duelling pianos bar and late-night karaoke. PROMENADE This lively half-covered outdoor promenade is a playground day and night, with lively evening activities, dinner, drinks and more.   Caribbean cruises on MSC World America are available to book now. 

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MSC Cruises will operate a celebratory short sailing next month when it hosts the naming ceremony for newest flagship MSC World America. It takes place at the new PortMiami terminal.  Guests attending the naming ceremony will be among the first to experience the ship when they set sail on a celebratory sailing. The sailing features an overnight stay at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. Events planned there include an evening lighthouse show and beach party. MSC World America will be MSC Cruises' first ship in the US market to be powered by LNG. It becomes the second in the World Class series and has been specially designed to cater to North American guests. Rubén A. Rodríguez, President, MSC Cruises USA, said: " We look forward to seeing her sail out of our state-of-the-art cruise terminal. We are excited to bring our newest and most remarkable ship yet to Miami." MSC Cruises has invested heavily in South Florida, which includes the upcoming $100 million US headquarters in downtown Miami. The PortMiami terminal has a capacity for up to 36,000 guests each day. The terminal will support MSC Cruises' continued growth at PortMiami. Following the naming ceremony, MSC World America will set sail on an inaugural season with alternating seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. They feature calls in Puerto Plata, San Juan, Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. 

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  Graham McKenzie engages in a lively discussion with Steve Williams, representing MSC, about the highly anticipated launch of their 2026 Southampton cruises. Williams reveals the strategic decision to launch earlier than usual, driven by feedback from trade partners and the desire to offer diverse itineraries. From short party cruises to scenic routes including Cove, Ireland, and the Icelandic fjords, MSC aims to cater to varied preferences. The interview highlights the overwhelming interest in the new itineraries, underscored by strong initial bookings, while also shedding light on MSC's loyalty program, offering enticing benefits to prospective cruisers.  

Two thirds of MSC Cruises' ships are now equipped with SpaceX's Starlink cruise ship Wi-Fi. It expects the fleet rollout program to be completed by May 2024. The low earth orbit connectivity solution is currently providing faster internet speeds, improved cruise ship Wi-Fi in cabins and public spaces, and reduced latency levels. It also generates lower operational costs for 15 of the line's fleet of 22 ships following bandwidth and data traffic trials in 2022. The first of MSC Cruises' vessels to be equipped with Starlink was MSC Magnifica in December 2022. MSC Cruises has seen onboard bandwidth consumption continue to rise. Starlink will provide MSC Cruises with enough capacity to keep up with the future requirements of its guests, crew and also the technical requirements of its fleet. MSC Cruises' ships currently equipped with Starlink are MSC Divina, MSC Euribia, MSC Fantasia, MSC Grandiosa, MSC Lirica, MSC Magnifica, MSC Meraviglia, MSC Orchestra, MSC Poesia, MSC Preziosa, MSC Seascape, MSC Seashore, MSC Seaside, MSC Seaview and MSC Virtuosa.  MSC Opera and MSC World Europa will be added this month. The line's other five ships set for Starlink connectivity ahead of the summer 2024 season are MSC Armonia, MSC Bellissima, MSC Musica, MSC Sinfonia and MSC Splendida. EXPLORA I, the first of six luxury ships of MSC Cruises' sister company Explora Journeys, is also equipped with Starlink and EXPLORA II will be fitted when it first sets sail in August 2024. MSC Cruises offers a 'Browse Internet Cruise Package' and a 'Browse & Stream Cruise Package' onboard its fleet that are tailored for its guests to cover the connection and number of devices needed during a sailing. 

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MSC Cruises has rolled out a new flexible ‘book now, choose later’ policy. The 'Open Booking' program allows guests enjoying a cruise to book a future voyage without committing to a specific ship, sailing date or itinerary. It is part of the line’s 'Future Cruise' policy launched last year. With open booking, guests pay a deposit while on board and are given a certificate. This certificate is good for one year, allowing the guest time to select their preferred sailing date and ship. There are also incentives to confirming a booking early. Guests will also receive up to $200/£200 of onboard credit per cabin if they select their voyage within 60 days of making the onboard booking. Those who book after 60 days will receive up to $100//£100 in onboard credit. The certificate can be gifted to friends or family. Travel agents who made the original cruise reservation will also receive full commission when the ‘open booking’ is confirmed with a ship and sailing date. Steve Williams, Director of Sales at MSC Cruises UK & Ireland, said, "We want to offer our guests more flexibility in choosing their next ship and sailing date." MSC Cruises' updated 'Future Cruise' program launched six months ago, and rewards travel agents. This enables the original booking agent to receive full commission for any new booking made on board. 

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MSC Group is building a headquarters in downtown Miami. It will invest about $100m for the HQ which will bring together MSC Group’s cruise, cargo and Explora Journeys brands together at one site. It will house about 250 South Florida-based team members from the three divisions under one roof. The new 130,000-square-feet office campus will help support the growth of the MSC Cruises business and the new Explora Journeys brand. MSC Cargo has been based in Miami-Dade for over 25 years. MSC Cruises is getting a new cruise terminal at PortMiami which will be completed later this year. It will feature a four-story building with capacity to handle 36,000 passenger movements a day. It will enable the simultaneous docking of three large ships. 

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MSC Cruises has rolled out a new global integrated marketing campaign entitled "For a greater beauty". The campaign encourages a more conscious way of cruising. It highlights a respect for the ocean and the planet. The campaign will be activated in more than 30 countries worldwide and will be seen through various marketing channels including TV, out of home, print media, digital and social media. Created in partnership with Dentsu Creative Italy, the new campaign has been filmed by the Australian director Kiku Ohe. The TV segment was filmed on MSC World Europa, which is the fleet's first ship to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). MSC Cruises remains committed to meeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 In 2024, MSC Cruises has more than 1,000 departures globally calling at more than 240 destinations in 85+ countries. 

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MSC Cruises confirmed an order for two new liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ships. They will be built by French ship builder Chantiers de l'Atlantique. It sees these two World Class series ship options confirmed as firm orders alongside an option for another ship. The two new ordered vessels, referred to as World Class 3 and 4, will be delivered in 2026 and 2027. The new ships will be an evolution of the World Class series design with extensive use of heat recovery and other technological solutions to maximise energy efficiency, In addition, the new ships will be ready for various alternative fuels including bio and synthetic methane and green methanol. The ships will also be fitted with the next generation dual fuel internal combustion engines with reduced methane slip. Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman said, "We are proud to continue our 20-year partnership with the Chantiers de l'Atlantique.” “We are committed to researching and investing in future environmental technologies as they become available."  The new MSC cruise ships will feature shore power plug-in connectivity to reduce carbon emissions in port. They will also have advanced wastewater treatment systems.

MSC Cruises released the amended cruise schedule for MSC Orchestra for this winter. Following the Israel-Gaza conflict, the ship will now offer seven-night voyages from 16 December 2023 to 19 April 2024. The ship will call at Valencia, and Cagliari, Sardinia; Civitavecchia, Livorno and Florence, Italy. MSC Orchestra will also visit Marseille and Palma in Mallorca before returning to Valencia. This new programme replaces the originally planned Red Sea itineraries that had been cancelled due to the proximity of some of the ports of call to Israel. There are also restrictions in place in some bordering countries. MSC will keep monitoring the situation and will modify ship itineraries if necessary.

 

Highest rating achieved across eight key performance indicators

  MSC Cruises has become the first major line to be awarded the Green Marine Europe Certification, a voluntary environmental certification programme for the maritime industry.   Green Marine Europe is a partnership between North American environmental certification programme Green Marine and the Surfrider Foundation, a leading European Union NGO in ocean and maritime protection.   MSC Cruises achieved the highest possible score across eight performance indicators that the organisers said represented ‘environmental excellence and leadership’.   The performance indicators measured were aquatic invasive species, pollutant air emissions – both sulphur dioxide and particulate matter – nitrogen dioxide pollutant air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, oil discharge, waste management, underwater radiated noise and responsible ship recycling.   Captain Minas Myrtidis, MSC Cruises’ VP Environmental Operations and Compliance today collected the award on behalf of the line at a ceremony held in Bilbao, Spain.   Captain Myrtidis said: “We are immensely proud to be awarded the highest possible rating across all of the criteria. The Green Marine Europe certificate is testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone throughout our business, both onboard and ashore, who have dedicated their collective efforts to help MSC Cruises towards achieving its sustainability goals.  Our certification underscores our strong performance credentials as well as our commitment to performance improvement, transparency and accountability.”   MSC Cruises plus its sister company and luxury brand Explora Journeys have committed to measure their environmental performance annually and submit their results to Green Marine Europe for its external accredited verification.  Both lines have set targets to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.   The emissions intensity of MSC Cruises’ ship operations has decreased by 33.5 per cent since 2008 and the Company is confident in achieving a 40 per cent reduction by 2030.   The line’s flagship MSC Euribia in June 2023 achieved the world’s first net zero greenhouse gas emissions cruise ship voyage from France to Denmark on a mass balance basis.

MSC Cruises has adjusted several East Mediterranean cruises for MSC Sinfonia and MSC Musica due to the conflict in Israel. MSC Sinfonia's 11-night voyages will see Haifa, Israel replaced by Istanbul in Turkey. It also means Rhodes will be replaced by Piraeus, Greece and Izmir in Turkey will replace Limassol, Cyprus. Starting 21 Oct 2023, MSC Sinfonia's new itinerary will be the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia and Messina followed by Piraeus, Izmir, Istanbul and Heraklion in Crete before the ship returns to Genoa. MSC Musica's three 7-night voyages from Piraeus, Greece will see Haifa replaced by Rhodes on 18 and 25 October and Marmaris in Turkey on 1 November. Gianni Onorato, CEO, MSC Cruises, said, "We have worked rapidly to revise the itineraries of MSC Sinfonia and MSC Musica to offer an attractive East Mediterranean cruise alternative for the winter months." The line has begun contacting all affected passengers and their travel agents. MSC Cruises will also update its website to reflect the confirmed details of the new itineraries.