RENEWED AND ENHANCED MSC SINFONIA RETURNS TO SERVICE

MSC Sinfonia entered drydock in January, and returns to duty ten weeks later with renewed amenities and enriched onboard spaces for cruise guests. She now has even more balcony cabins, more spacious public areas, a greater choice of restaurants and new clubs dedicated to younger guests, including the outdoor Spray Park with exciting waterfalls and splashy water slides.

Thanks to recently agreed partnerships between MSC Cruises and best-in-class childcare and toy brands, MSC Sinfonia also has special kids’ areas equipped with Chicco® and LEGO® products.

MSC Sinfonia has set sail first for a mini cruise to Ajaccio, Barcelona and Marseille before heading out of Genoa on 31 March for a series of western Mediterranean cruises, with calls in the Canary Islands, Madeira, mainland Spain and Portugal.

On 6 May the ship will leave Genoa for the seas of northern Europe and a busy summer of seven-night itineraries. Travellers on MSC Sinfonia will be exploring the fjords along the Norwegian coast or the jewels of the Baltic: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, Saint Petersburg and Tallinn.

MSC Sinfonia is the second MSC Cruises ship to undergo restyling and extension, after her sister ship MSC Armonia, which returned to sea in November 2014. In April, MSC Opera will sail to Fincantieri’s shipyard, in Palermo for her 10-week enhancement work and at the end of August 2015, MSC Lirica will also undergo her Renaissance, with a return to sea scheduled for end of June and end of October respectively.

With a view to further expanding its product base, MSC Cruises revealed its Grand Tours, which offer opportunities to combine up to three different Mediterranean itineraries in one stunning package. Grand Tours may cover 14, 21 or 28 nights, such as two back-to-back seven-night cruises in northern Europe. MSC Cruises guests now have the incredible opportunity to discover the best of northern Europe in a 14-night cruise that would take them from the breathtaking beauty of the fjords and rugged landscapes of Norway all the way to St Petersburg, in Russia.

MSC Cruises also recently announced that MSC Seaside, the first of its next generation Seaside class of ships, will sail year-round from Miami to the Caribbean, starting November 2017. In addition, MSC Cruises’ Miami-based operations will benefit from a newly renovated and expanded dedicated berth and terminal at PortMiami, a project that attests to the company’s increasing focus on the North American market, and to providing guests with outstanding service.

MSC Cruises, which has grown by 800% in capacity since 2004, carried 1.67 million guests and achieved strong financial results in 2014, with a turnover of €1.5 billion. In addition, the company is forecasting an additional 10% growth in 2015.

The €200 million Renaissance Programme was undertaken to refit and extend four ships of the MSC Cruises fleet, and involves bisecting the ship before inserting a new 24-metre section into the space.