Cruise line chooses long-term employees to fulfil the roles of captain, hotel director and chief engineer
By
Rebecca Gibson |
MSC Cruises has chosen long-term employees to fulfil the roles of captain, hotel director and chief engineer onboard its newest ship, MSC Bellissima, which will enter service in March 2019.
Italian Raffaele Pontecorvo will serve as MSC Bellissima's captain. Pontecorvo began his maritime career with MSC Cargo in 1982 and first worked on one of the company’s passenger ships in 1990, working his way up through the ranks before deciding to permanently command cruise ships in 2004. Since then, Ponetcorvo has captained ships in four classes, including MSC Splendida and MSC Bellissima’s sister ship, MSC Meraviglia, following her delivery in 2017.
Fellow Italian Antonio Laccarino, who began his maritime career onboard MSC’s cargo ships in 1995, will assume the position of chief engineer. He will draw on his experience of providing technical and technological skills and knowledge during projects on all passenger ships in MSC Cruises’ fleet.
Meanwhile, Norwegian national Orazio Caci has been named as MSC Bellissima’s hotel director. Caci has more than 20 years’ experience of managing luxury hotels and hotel operations for several international cruise brands. He is also able to speak NorwegiaN, Italian and another five languages, which will enable him to easily interact with MSC Cruises’ global customer base.