By
Rebecca Gibson |
MSC Cruises is to base MSC Magnifica at the port of Southampton to offer a full season of ex-UK sailings to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean in 2018.
Between March and October, MSC Magnifica will call at Southampton to embark UK and Irish passengers for 7-14 days cruises to Europe. There will be five new itineraries out of Southampton, including a 14-day sailing calling at Le Havre, France; La Coruna and Malaga, Spain; Leixoes and Lisbon; Portugal; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Hamburg, Germany. A North Sea sailing will travel to Stavanger, Bergen, Olden and Alesund in Norway, while a round-UK sailing will take guests to Southampton, Newcastle, South Queensferry in Edinburgh and Invergordon.
“I am proud to announce that MSC Cruises is returning to call the UK with one of our best ships and a unique offering: cruises with less time at sea in both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean,” said Antonio Paradiso, managing director of MSC Cruises for the UK & Ireland. “I have personally worked with our itineraries team to make this possible and look forward to launching this new product – for which sales will open shortly on 21 November.”
MSC Magnifica’s deployment is part of MSC Cruises’ efforts to expand its presence in the UK market. MSC Preziosa will offer five voyages from Southampton in autumn 2017, while newbuild MSC Meraviglia will call at Southampton following her June 2017 launch.
“We are expanding our offering with the ambition to further grow our market share in the UK & Ireland,” said Paradiso. “We have set demanding objectives at the beginning of the year to make this possible, of which the deployment of MSC Magnifica and her tailor-made itineraries is one of the many examples. We are committed to this market together with our travel partners and are demonstrating this by delivering hard facts.”