MSC Cruises today presented its new 2018/2019 catalog at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tennis tournament, which it sponsors. The presentation, held at a gala dinner at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona and attended by travel agents, partners, and journalists, highlighted the company's €9 billion investment in the development of 11 new ships by 2026. This investment includes four ships to be launched between 2017 and 2019, three of which will be based in Barcelona, one of MSC Cruises' most strategic ports.
Fernando Pacheco, Deputy Director of MSC Cruises Spain, stated during the presentation: “Thanks to the unprecedented investment MSC Cruises is making in the sector, we will have the company’s most modern and innovative ships based in Barcelona for the coming seasons. This provides Spaniards with more options for taking a cruise from our country and gives thousands of international visitors the opportunity to discover this magnificent city aboard our finest ships.”.
The first ship to arrive in Barcelona this year, the MSC Meraviglia, will dock in June and then sail the Western Mediterranean for eight days. Next, in June 2018, Barcelona will welcome the MSC Seaview, the second ship in the Seaside generation. This ship features a unique design specifically conceived to bring the sea closer to passengers, thanks to a pioneering concept with special design elements and the most outdoor space per passenger at sea. Thirdly, the MSC Bellissima, the second ship in the Meraviglia class, will be christened in March 2019 and will be in Barcelona throughout the summer, offering eight-day cruises in the Western Mediterranean. Finally, the MSC Seaside, the second ship of this new generation, will be launched in Miami in December 2017 and will sail Caribbean itineraries.
The new MSC Cruises catalog also includes new itineraries, most notably the MSC World Cruise: the company's first round-the-world cruise, which will take 119 days and visit 32 countries, departing from Barcelona. Two other highlights of the 2018/2019 catalog presented were the new destination Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, the company's private island in the Bahamas, and the partnership with Cirque du Soleil. This partnership will bring exclusive shows to MSC Cruises on board its Meraviglia ships, featuring performances by the company's artists and reinforcing its commitment to providing the best entertainment options for its passengers.
Digital innovation on board is also one of the company's major new features, thanks to the MSC for Me, designed in collaboration with Deloitte Digital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Samsung, which will debut on MSC Meraviglia in June and on MSC Seaside in November. Among the program's key innovations are interactive wristbands with NFC technology, useful for connecting passengers with ship services, activating geo-located recommendations via 3,050 Bluetooth beacons, and helping them find friends and family with an accuracy of 5 meters on these ships, which are over 300 meters long. The new digital meeting points will provide information on onboard activities, and 360-degree technology will allow passengers to view available excursions, simplifying the booking process. Additionally, intelligent facial recognition, another of the most impressive advancements, will help onboard staff provide even more personalized service. In this way, all passengers will be connected to the ship, the staff, and all the services and activities offered onboard. To enable all the functionalities of the new program, each ship will have 16,000 connectivity points, 700 digital access points, 358 informative and interactive screens, and 2,244 cabins with RFID/NFC technology.
