With a capacity for 1,500 passengers, this ship docked on October 29th at the Port of Cartagena from Marseille, and departed in the afternoon for the Port of Malaga as its next stop, subsequently crossing the Atlantic towards Brazil.
The MSC Lirica belongs to MSC Cruises, a leading Mediterranean cruise line, which first visited Cartagena in 2011 with the MSC Melody, carrying 1,000 passengers.
MSC's current fleet comprises 12 ships in three classes: the Lirica class (Armonia, Sinfonia, Lirica, Opera), the Musica class (Musica, Orchestra, Poesia, Magnifica), and the Fantasia class (Fantasia, Splendida, Divina, Preziosa). In addition to today's call by the MSC Lirica, another call is scheduled for next month: the MSC Armonia, also of the same class as the Lirica, with a capacity of 1,500 passengers, will also be making its first call in Cartagena.
As is customary for first port calls, the Cartagena Port Authority, represented by its President, Antonio Sevilla, and Commercial Director, Fernando Muñoz, traveled aboard the ship along with the Councilor for Tourism, Carolina Palazón, and Rosa Abril, representing the shipping agent Bergé. Once on board, both the ship's captain, Rafaele Ponti, and the Managing Director of MSC Cruises, Emiliano González, welcomed the group and the press accompanying them on this visit.
The Managing Director of MSC emphasized that these port calls demonstrate the cruise line's confidence in Cartagena as a cruise destination, and he highly values the efforts undertaken in recent years to improve and modernize infrastructure and to promote its extensive cultural and heritage offerings.
The President of the Port Authority welcomed them to the port and thanked the cruise line for choosing the Port of Cartagena for its Mediterranean itineraries, both for the two calls this year and for the three already planned for 2015: another call by the MSC Lirica and the first two calls by the MSC Sinfonia and the MSC Opera.
So far this year, the Port of Cartagena has received 87 cruise ship calls, with a total of 100,000 passengers. The forecast for the end of the year is 23 more calls, with approximately 20,000 additional passengers. For 2015, the projected figures are over 100 calls and approximately 130,000 passengers.
