MSC CRUISES AWARD-WINNING FAMILY OFFERING GIVES FAMILIES YET MORE REASONS TO CHOOSE AN MSC CRUISES HOLIDAY THIS SUMMER

Geneva, Switzerland – 15th May, 2018 – Family holidays can be a challenging time for parents travelling with children. Planning a holiday around the needs and preferences of different generations comes with a host of complications, from varying interests to differing energy levels. This is why many parents opt for cruise holidays, which offer a range of options for them to personalise their travels to fit individual needs. This year, MSC Cruises, the world’s largest privately-owned cruise line and market leader in Europe and South America, will welcome 250,000 children on board and as such has further enriched the family offering including new activities for the Company’s new flagship, MSC Seaview that launches this summer.

As a family-owned company, MSC Cruises has always put the needs of families at the heart of the cruise experience and the award-winning family offering has plenty to keep the whole family entertained this summer.

The Family Explorer Club was conceived as a way to involve both kids and parents equally in discovering the sights ashore with tailor-made excursions to meet the needs of the whole family. These interactive tours are designed to keep children entertained whilst also providing an enriching experience for adults. The tours are not simplified versions of existing excursions; they are a brand new way of discovering destinations together. Acting as detectives and explorers, children play a key role in accomplishing a unique mission on each tour, inspired by the history of the destination and featuring an iconic historical character, symbolic of the city or location. Equipped with interactive explorer maps, parents help read the instructions and start the mission, where kids receive stickers for every task they accomplish, serving as a great souvenir at the end of the trip.

Children and parents are given the opportunity to unleash their imaginations and enjoy solving games and riddles together, while experienced staff, trained guides and Storytellers will lead each tour and be available for any assistance needed.

Kids benefit from half-price tickets in tour groups made up entirely of families. The excursions typically start later in the morning and last no longer than 3 to 4 hours, so that kids do not tire themselves out and can get back to the ship to enjoy all that awaits them on board.

The Family Explorer Club will be available on ships sailing in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

For the launch of MSC Seaview in June 2018, MSC Cruises is unveiling an ever-expanding repertoire of activities for children of all ages to enjoy. This will be the ‘ship of the summer’ and will dedicate its onboard programme to this theme through interactive games and new characters. This new next-generation ship will welcome approximately 1,300 children on each cruise this summer.

A new mascot will join the DOREMI family on MSC Seaview, the aptly named DORE SUMMER, an 11-year-old surfer mascot who will feature prominently in a new exploration game for kids called ‘Find Dore Summer’ around the ship, promising lots of prizes for young guests.

Other summer-themed games include a social media challenge for teens to participate in and a Summer Selfie Contest ,which will see juniors aboard MSC Seaview compete to complete a list of 30 must-have selfies around the ship.

Joining the extensive list of existing MSC Cruises children’s activities, MSC Seaview will also offer a new live family show for parents and their kids to participate in, the DOREMI Summer Game, where they can challenge each other to name popular songs and videos, as well as the DOREMI Summer Parade, which will take place every sea day around the pool.

Another addition will be brand new episodes of “Kelly & Kloe on board … a Seaview vacation,” the popular web series filming on MSC Seaview during Summer 2018. All young guests on board will be given a chance to audition to become the next star of the series.

MSC Seaview will be the perfect ship for the family holiday as it offers MSC Cruises biggest kids and youth areas, totalling more than 700m2, featuring both a Chicco baby room with all the facilities needed for younger guests and two LEGO rooms with an island-themed room for kids 3-6 and a pirate-themed room for kids 7-11.

Partners LEGO® and Chicco have been bringing their unparalleled experience to the forefront of the Kids Club experience for many years now and 2018 sees not only their return on board MSC Seaview, but also the launch of the recent Chicco MSC Seaside ship toy for babies and toddlers to take their cruise memories home. The Chicco MSC Cruises ship toy comes complete with realistic ship horn sounds and lively Caribbean-inspired music, suitable for ages 2-6. This new Chicco toy joins the previously launched MSC Meraviglia LEGO ship toy, a hugely popular souvenir.

LEGO and Chicco offer a range of Chicco’s outstanding products available to families across the fleet, with the Chicco Baby Club reserved for the youngest cruise guests under the age of three, making it easy for parents with young babies to still enjoy a holiday. The partnership with LEGO means families can enjoy playrooms and entertainment from the world’s favourite toy producer and children can even get a LEGO® Master Builder Diploma after participating in a LEGO Experience Day.

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