The 3,500-passenger Preziosa will be homported in Southampton, replacing the smaller and older vessel 2,500-passenger ship Magnifica.
It comes as Antonio Paradiso revealed that UK agents had driven the increase in sales this year, with forward bookings also looking strong, after more than 1,100 travel agents had the opportunity to experience MSC Cruises second-newest ship, MSC Meraviglia this year, despite it only launching in June.
Speaking onboard the line’s newest ship, MSC Seaside, at its launch in Trieste, Paradiso told TTG: “Sales for MSC Seaview [Seaside’s sister ship, launching in June] are equal to ex-UK sailings on Magnifica.
"We are also finding that passengers are willing to pay £40 more per person per day to sail on Seaview – which of course means more commission for travel agents."
Paradiso also confirmed that four MSC Ships would either be homeporting or calling in at UK ports next year, with agents set to again be invited onboard.
MSC Magnifica will be based in Southampton for part of the summer, while Meraviglia, Preziosa and Orchestra will all be calling in at multiple UK ports in 2018.
Paradiso also revealed the line was launching a new online training platform for agents – Masters of the Sea. The platform will provide training on all aspects of the line and its ships, including features such as food and beverage and entertainment.
"The UK is one of our key markets and we want to invest in this market by investing in the trade.
“The training we have done over the past two years with travel agents has been key to our growth in the UK. We’ve got six regional sales managers spending a lot of time with the trade and we’ve got 600 agents which are completely new to MSC, which we are really pleased about.”
When asked whether the UK would see one of the line’s many new builds – one a year until 2023 – in the UK, Paradiso said he would not rule it out.
MSC Seaside will sail from Trieste to Barcelona before heading across to Miami where it will be christened and will homeport, offering Caribbean itineraries.
