NEWS week after a 14-month hiatus for the sector.Harry Kemble was among them


The ship’s robotic bartender


SPECIAL REPORT


GOOD TO BE BACK IN MY VIEW


With cruise holidays effectively banned for the past 14 months, aficionados were never going to


be reluctant about sailing again, writes Harry Kemble. You only had to enter the City Cruise Terminal at


Southampton to sense the pride among port staff, the MSC team and passengers about being back. Despite the wind and rain, there was little that could dampen the enthusiasm of those present for the first cruise in British waters for more than a year. MSC’s marketing slogan for its latest flagship is


‘Masterpiece at Sea’. Arguably, the most eye-catching artistic feature of the vessel is the 112m-long LED sky dome that runs through the heart of ship. The line displayed the Union Jack on the walkway to


capture the patriotic mood in the UK. I spoke with passengers Lawrence and Janice, who


as chance customers


boost MSC’s new-to-cruise sales. Existing customers also booked.


Paradiso said 10%-15% of passengers who had booked one of Virtuosa’s first five domestic UK voyages had used a future cruise credit from sailings cancelled by the line as a result of Covid-19. Explaining the decision to bring


Virtuosa to the UK rather than Germany, where it had originally been scheduled to be deployed, he said: “We realised straight away that the UK was in much better shape than some other European markets.”


Watch T ravel Weekly’s


Facebook Live interview with Antonio Paradiso at: go.travelweekly.co.uk/ AntonioParadiso


travelweekly.co.uk


Virtuosa to operate at 60% to 80% capacity in UK this year


MSC Virtuosa will sail at between 60%-80% capacity throughout its debut season in the UK. The 6,300-passenger flagship is currently operating


sailings with no more than 1,000 passengers on board, in line with the UK government’s Covid-19 restrictions. Those restrictions could be lifted on June 21, but UK


sales director Steve Williams said it was unlikely Virtuosa would sail at full capacity this year. He said: “I don’t think anyone would feel comfortable with those volumes. We would be happy with 60% to 80% across the season.” The line could open sales for Mediterranean cruises to Britons if restrictions are eased on June 21, Williams added.


Ad campaign starts on Tuesday


MSC Cruises is to launch a multimillion-pound advertising campaign to help drive sales. The ‘Time to MSC Cruise again’ ads are due to go live


on TV, video-on-demand, radio and print media from June 1, accompanied by a Calvin Harris track. UK sales diretor Steve Williams hopes the campaign


will encourage more new-to-cruise passengers to join MSC Virtuosa’s UK sailings later this summer.


The UK sailings on the flagship have accounted for 70%-80% of MSC’s sales in recent weeks. “We’re appealing to the whole of the UK that we’re making [sailings] accessible and affordable,” he said.


Harry


Kemble on board


MSC Virtuosa


had travelled from York to join the historic restart cruise. Lawrence said: “Normally we’d spend the winter away, but we’ve been locked down in our house. This [sailing] popped up and I thought ‘why not?’” It is clear there is a real opportunity for the UK


cruise industry as other lines begin to offer restart sailings around these shores. Aside from the face masks and the line's insistence


that passengers have travel insurance with Covid cover, there are few noticeable changes to the overall cruise experience. MSC has gone out of its way to strike a balance between health and safety and fun, and is operating in line with 1,000-passenger restrictions. According to UK boss Antonio Paradiso, more


than 70,000 passengers have cruised with the line in the Mediterranean since August last year, almost all of whom were not vaccinated. As we enjoyed dinner in the main dining restaurant,


Minuetto, the crashing waves of the English Channel were clearly not up to speed with the significance of the occasion. But instead of being glum about the British weather, we were just overjoyed to be back on board.


27 MAY 2021


9


PICTURES: MSC/Ivan Sarfatti, ActionDrone; Steve Dunlop


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