Piraeus to Play Major Role for MSC Cruises in 2021

The Greek port of Piraeus is expected to play a major role in MSC Cruises‘ Eastern Mediterranean cruise programme in 2021, according to the company’s executive director, Angelo Capurro.

The Geneva-based company will deploy its MSC Lirica vessel to the Eastern Mediterranean market in summer 2021 and she will homeport in Piraeus for the entire season.

“There is huge opportunity in Greece and we always try to do something more in our destinations, so we invested in this direction and decided to have one of our ships homeport in Piraeus,” Capurro said during a press conference in Athens on Wednesday.

MSC Lirica will offer a newly-designed innovative itinerary 7-night cruises on 23 separate occasions between May and September 2021 from Piraeus calling Mykonos; Haifa, Israel; Limassol, Cyprus, Rhodes and Kusadasi, Turkey before returning to Piraeus.

According to Capurro, with a height exceeding 50 meters, the MSC Lirica will offer a distinctive cruise experience to passengers – an experience centered on elegance, comfort and hospitality in its 992 guest cabins. The ship includes a choice of lounges and bars, swimming pools, a children’s play area, a spa, a theater and two restaurants.

MSC growth in Greece

“Greece is the perfect example of how our company operates,” Capurro said while referring to key facts surrounding MSC’s growth in Greece over the years.

“Distribution started in Greece in 2006 and we had our first embarkation in 2013… As of 2018 the number of ships calling in Greece grew,” he said.

According to the data, 2 million foreign guests/cruise passengers of MSC visited Greece since 2006.

Referring to the company’s performance during 2017-2019, Capurro noted that MSC has seen growth of 15 percent worldwide and 41 percent in Greece.

“We are bringing more ships into our fleet, and looking to the future I am sure we will have a greater presence in Greece,” he said.

The fastest growing cruise line in the world, MSC Cruises distributes to 83 countries and has offices in 22. Making over 200 port of calls across five continents, the company brings together more than 180 nationalities from around the world.

MSC Cruises has a fleet of 17 modern and innovative ships. According to Capurro, the company’s fleet is expected to increase to 29 ships by 2027, based on a 13.6 billion investment plan which launched in 2017. Four of the new vessels will be four super-yacht ships, one which will launch one per year between 2023 and 2026.

Cruiseway Travel and Top Kinisis Travel are among the preferred sales agents of MSC Cruises in Greece.