By
Rebecca Gibson |
Hamburg welcomed its largest-ever homeporting cruise ship when MSC Cruises’ 137,936gt MSC Splendida arrived at the port on 1 May.
To mark her maiden call, MSC Splendida’s captain Giuseppe Maresca exchanged plaques with Jörg Pollman, Hamburg’s harbour master. Other attendees at the ceremony inlcuded Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC’s executive chairman, and Frank Horch, senator of Hamburg.
The 4,300-guest MSC Splendida is the first of the line’s Fantasia-class ships to be based at the port in north Germany, where she will offer 13 Northern European sailings throughout the summer. She will sail to destinations in the British Isles, the Norwegian fjords and Iceland.
“Homeporting MSC Splendida – one of our biggest and finest ships – here is a natural progression for us, following four years of increasing investment in Hamburg,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC. “MSC has already brought around 350,000 holidaymakers through Hamburg and this summer MSC Splendida will make 13 sailings, adding more than 100,000 to that total. Our decision to bring MSC Splendida here is rooted in a concrete commitment to this world-class destination.”
Several other MSC ships will be based in Germany this summer including MSC Orchestra and MSC Sinfonia, which will be based in Kiel and Warnemünde respectively. The ships will sail to the Baltics and Norwegian fjords and both will offer Gran Tours in Northern Europe, where guests can combine two consecutive cruises to create one 14-night voyage.