Genoa will be the first home port of MSC Seaview, the second Seaside-class ship that is being constructed by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, although the first large section of the 5,000-tonne ship is being built at Sestri Ponente.
Genoa won out over Venice, despite MSC’s initial plans to bring the ship to the Laguna for its debut, as Gianni Onorato, the company’s C.E.O. explained to Il Secolo XIX at MSC Seaside’s “coin ceremony”. But since there is still no solution to the long-standing issue of cruise ships passing through the San Marco Basin, Venice has watched another opportunity go up in smoke.
Thus Genoa continues to be filled with ships from the MSC Cruises fleet, confirming its centrality in the company’s expansion plan, given that even MSC Meraviglia, the new ship under construction in Saint Nazaire at STX France’s facility, will launch from the Ponte dei Mille berth next year.
MSC Seaview’s maiden voyage will begin on 10 June, 2018: the ship, after it has left Ligurian waters, will sail first to Naples and then to Messina.
The following call will be La Valletta, and then, after a day at sea, the ship will call at two other classic Western Mediterranean ports, Barcelona and Marseilles, before returning to Genoa.
As is MSC’s tradition, it will be possible to board the ship at all of the ports of call for this itinerary which is being called the “big ferry”. These destinations, besides being appealing to tourists, have a large catchment area for customers, which will always ensure excellent levels of occupancy on the ship. And then, as Seaview is a new and innovative unit, market demand will be even greater. And so, while the Western Mediterranean receives another cutting-edge, technologically advanced giant, the Adriatic is continuing to decline, becoming a destination in crisis because of the impasse of the governmental institutions, which have not been able to provide certainty about the cruise industry’s future in Venice.
Source: themeditelegraph.com