PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The MSC Fantasia will begin calls to Port of Spain during the 2017/8 cruise season. The announcement was made at the MSC Cruises Travel Partners Event hosted by MSC Cruises and co-sponsored by the Tourism Development Company last month.
The MSC Fantasia has a passenger capacity of 3900 with 1200 crew members. It will be the second largest cruise ship to visit to Trinidad.
The MSC Cruises Travel Partners Event was attended by local cruise-specific travel agents and their representatives. Speaking at the opening ceremony, TDC’s CEO (Ag.) Arveon Mills pointed out that, “Getting the cruise lines to visit our destination is one thing, but it is important that we show our visitors a fantastic time on our beautiful island.”
Mills also reminded the travel partners about their responsibility to visitors, stating, “As local travel partners, you bridge an important gap that can make or break a visitor’s impression of our destination.”
Following the opening ceremony, MSC Cruises’ Trinidad-born Regional Vice President, Sales (USA) – Mr Wayne Peyreau conducted a training workshop with the local travel partners. This provided the opportunity for them to forge alliances with MSC in order to enhance their destination marketing initiatives.
Since 2012, the TDC has been engaged in discussions with MSC Cruises in Sorrento, Italy and Miami with the objective of influencing the deployment of MSC Cruise Ships to Trinidad and Tobago.
As a result of these efforts, the MSC Divina, the largest cruise ship to have visited the country, and the MSC Orchestra were deployed to Trinidad in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Trinidad has become a popular port of call for the MSC family of ships with the return of the MSC Poesia in 2016-2017 and expected calls in 2018-2019.
MSC Cruises is a Swiss-based, global cruise company with headquarters in Geneva and Naples. A part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, it is the world’s largest privately owned cruise company and the world’s second biggest container shipping operator.
The MSC cruise itineraries include the Caribbean region.
