MSC to triple capacity

A MASSIVE expansion program currently under way at MSC Cruises will provide significant opportunities for the travel trade, with the company’s 10-year investment plan expected to see it carrying more than five million passengers annually by 2026.

The growth commitment was detailed by MSC Cruises md for Australia and NZ Lynne Clarke last week, who said the fastgrowing privately-owned cruise line was currently simultaneously constructing MSC Bellissima, MSC Grandiosa and MSC Virtuosa.

Bellissima, which will launch in Mar 2019, has an innovative design which allows her to dock at virtually any cruise port across the globe, and after an inaugural season in the Mediterranean will head to the Arabian Peninsula where MSC is boosting capacity by 40% year-on-year.

Grandiosa is the first of MSC’s Meraviglia-Plus class of ships with capacity for 6,300 passengers.

She is set to debut in Nov next year, boosting Mediterranean summer capacity by 30%.

Virtuosa will launch in 2020 and a further seven ships are on order for delivery between 2021 and 2026, Clarke said.

She’s pictured above centre with MSC marketing manager Leisa Chell and CLIA md Joel Katz.