ITALY. MSC Cruises last night celebrated a notable and poignant landmark as MSC Grandiosa set sail from Genoa on a seven-night western Mediterranean journey.
MSC Grandiosa, the company’s flagship, is calling at the Italian ports of Civitavecchia/Rome, Naples and Palermo and Valetta in Malta. The cruise sector worldwide has been devastated by the impact of COVID-19, and the return of MSC Grandiosa and MSC Magnifica (from 29 August) to seven-day sailings from this month, following approval by the governments of Italy, Malta and Greece, is seen as a critical breakthrough.
MSC Cruises Head of Retail Adrian Pittaway posted a short video (below) on LinkedIn of the vessel departing port. “At 20:00 hours this evening, all of our extensive preparation was finally delivered to our first loyal guests as Captain Marco Massa and the MSC Grandiosa team started to sail an industry back to hope,” he wrote. “We are sailing again after five months of preparation and adaptation; enjoy this amazing and pretty emotional moment!”
The two ships will be the first to implement a comprehensive health and safety protocol (click here to view) that has been approved by the relevant national authorities. All passengers and crew have been tested for coronavirus before boarding.
In line with the new standards in place across MSC ships, MSC Retailing has significantly adapted its own processes to ensure an enhanced level of safety. Pittaway said in a note to partners earlier this month: “We have created a comprehensive set of retail protocols with assistance from Duty Free World Council, Aspen Medical, our partners and our in-house experts, and we are ready to welcome our loyal guests to shop safely with us onboard.
“This really is the first important step in a long journey back for us, our onboard retail family and all our travel retail trade partners. We look forward working with the rest of the cruise retail sector to help steer the learnings and develop industry-wide best practice.”
*MSC Cruises Head of Retail Adrian Pittaway is a speaker at the Moodie Davitt Virtual Travel Retail Expo (12-16 October). He will address retail recovery in the cruise sector, and joins a stellar line-up of speakers who will speak about the new world of travel retail during the week. Click here to register.
