MSC pulls out of UK departures

Saturday, 27 Jan, 2014 0

MSC Cruises is pulling out of ex-UK sailings to concentrate on its Med fly-cruises.

The cruise firm has announced plans to halt ex-UK sailings for a year from ‘early 2015’.

It says it has every intention of returning to the UK but that the deployment for 2015/2016 is still being decided.

MSC Opera – currently sailing out of Southampton – will be out of action for the first half of summer 2015 as the company’s two-year ‘Renaissance Programme’ sees the Lirica class ships in dry dock for 38 weeks.

MSC will be dramatically increasing its fly-cruise capacity by taking more UK passengers on fly-cruises to the Mediterranean than ever before.

The cruise line has already announced its redevelopment of MSC Armonia, MSC Sinfonia, MSC Opera and MSC Lirica as part of its focus on its Mediterranean heritage in 2015.

MD for UK and Ireland Giles Hawke said: "As market leader for Mediterranean cruises it is important that we work to reinforce this position by increasing our fly-cruise capacity, along with improving our ships to include more balcony cabins, more on board entertainment and additional technological advancements.

"We are considering various charter options and working with our air partners to come up with the best approach to keep up with the current customer demand for fly-cruises direct to the Mediterranean.

"We will also be introducing tools supporting travel agents in order to make the fly-cruise booking process easier than ever."

During 2014 MSC Opera is cruising from Southampton on a selection of mini cruises, Baltic cruises, Fjord cruises and the ‘Continental Discovery’ cruise.

MSC Magnifica also starts a short programme of seven night cruises for Autumn 2014 from Southampton featuring an overnight stay in Amsterdam plus visits to Belgium, France and Hamburg in Germany.

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