Cruise Hive reported last month that MSC Cruises is deploying the MSC Lirica to China in 2016 but we didn’t know until today is that the European based cruise line is partnering up too.
MSC Cruises is partnering up with CAISSA Touristic Group, China’s leading outbound tourism service provider. The Lirica homeported in Shanghai, China from May, 2016 is part of that new strategic agreement between the two travel companies
“We are convinced that the newly-renovated MSC Lirica will bring exciting new holiday-making choices to Chinese guests and are looking forward to welcoming numerous would-be cruisers aboard, at a time when the cruise market in the country for this particular type of product is thriving,” concluded Mr Chen Xiaobing (CAISSA Touristic’s President).
The deal will help MSC Cruises gain a foot hold in the region and catch up the industry leaders including Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean International. MSC Lirica will more than lightly be just the beginning of further Chinese based deployments.
Gianni Onorato, MSC Cruises’ Chief Executive Officer, commented: “MSC Cruises has been present in China since 2010, successfully bringing Chinese guests to cruise on its ultra-modern fleet to its many global destinations and, especially, to Europe and the Mediterranean, where our distinctive product made us the number one cruise line across the entire Continent. We are now delighted and excited that through this partnership we are taking our presence in China to the next level. Thus, with CAISSA Touristic we will partner to bring our unique MSC Cruises’ experience directly to Chinese consumers.”
MSC Lirica is scheduled to reach her new homeport of Shanghai on 1 May 2016, after a 60-day grand voyage from Rio de Janeiro via Barcelona, Marseille, Genoa and Dubai. While maintaining its Mediterranean atmosphere and service, the 65,000GRT, 2,600-passenger MSC Lirica will enjoy an industry-high percentage of native Mandarin speaking guest-facing crew and provide guests with all services in Mandarin. It will also offer popular as well as high-end Chinese cuisine as well as more traditional and popular entertainments.
More in-depth details about how MSC Lirica’s product and services are uniquely tailored to serve the needs of Chinese consumers – including several industry firsts – will be announced at a press conference to be convened in Beijing in the coming weeks.
Source: MSC Cruises
