MSC Cruises And Chicco Announce New Partnership

Childcare equipment, dedicated family guides, staff training, and special play areas on ships to be featured

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Jul 21, 2014, 02:42 ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MSC Cruises and Chicco have teamed up to bring even more happiness on vacation with a cruise tailor-made for babies. The brands, two global flag-carriers of Italian excellence, have joined forces to make a range of Chicco's outstanding products available to families in custom-built children areas on six ships of the expanding MSC Cruises fleet.

MSC Cruises and Chicco partnered to offer an ideal vacation for families with very small children free of any practical worries. Indeed, the well-being of babies is at the heart of the partnership and everything has been thought of in order to help parents handle the schedule of a baby's day: feeding, napping, changing and all other necessities.

"We are enthusiastically starting this new journey with Chicco, a dynamic company that marries an innovative approach with experience and tradition," declared Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC Cruises. "With this new collaboration MSC Cruises improves even more its family-oriented offers and services. We always have the safety of our guests in mind, especially children, and Chicco embodies exactly that, as well as the 'made in Italy' label that both our companies proudly represent across the world. We offer tailor-made vacations mixed with incomparable hospitality. The partnership with Chicco is set in the long term as they will play an essential role also in the design of specific and innovative kids' areas in the ships that are being built in France and Italy."

"It is with equal enthusiasm that we have embraced the collaboration with MSC Cruises, a partner and a project in which we have found the same values and the same attention that we give to families," commented Claudio De Conto, CEO of Gruppo Artsana to which Chicco belongs. "We are delighted and proud to have contributed our experience to design with MSC Cruises an onboard holiday fit for toddlers. Our expertise is the result of constant research with experts and especially with parents, as they know the needs of their children better than anyone else. It is a valuable knowhow that we have shared with MSC Cruises because for more than 50 years our biggest reward has been the smile of children - especially when on vacation with their parents."

MSC Cruises has made available on board a wide choice of Chicco childcare equipment, including strollers, bottle warmers and baby backpacks for shore excursions, to make cruising even simpler for families with babies and toddlers.

MSC Cruises will also give families a "Baby Globetrotter"– a printed guide packed with information on services and mini-club activities, game ideas, kids menus and handy tips for family excursions according to the ship's itinerary.

Furthermore, the Chicco Observatory, a developmental research lab focusing on the under threes, will provide the special training of MSC staff who will manage onboard childcare and give advice to families, in order to enjoy a relaxed and entertaining family cruise.

The collaboration between MSC Cruises and Chicco will be enhanced with the building of special areas on two Lirica class ships within the Renaissance Program*. These areas will also be found on the new ships to be built by STX France** and FINCANTIERI***.

*About the Renaissance Program

The $273 million Renaissance Program will see the four MSC Cruises ships in the Lirica class (MSC Armonia; MSC Sinfonia; MSC Opera; MSC Lirica) physically extended and refitted between September 2014 and November 2015 to increase their capacity and provide far enhanced onboard services. The work, entrusted to Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, will furnish each of the four ships with numerous new entertainment options, technological enhancements, more shops and nearly 200 new cabins per ship.

**About the ships to be built by STX France

The two units are due for delivery respectively in 2017 and 2019. The ships will be 1033 feet long and 141 feet wide, with a gross tonnage of about 167,600 tons, boasting 2,250 cabins for guests, nearly 820 crew cabins, and accommodating 5,700 passengers and 1,536 crew members.

*** About the ships to be built by FINCANTIERI

With a length of 1060 feet, a width of 135 feet and a height of 230 feet, the new Seaside ships built by FINCANTIERI will have a gross tonnage of 154,000 tons and will accommodate up to 5,300 passengers plus 1,413 crew members. The ships will boast 2,070 guest cabins, 759 for crew members, and 468,230 square feet of public areas available. The two ships will be delivered to the company at different times: the first in November 2017, the second in May 2018.

For more information about MSC Cruises, visit us online at www.msccruisesusa.com, call 1-877-4655 or contact your local travel agency. For MSC Cruises' latest news and updates, like MSC Cruises' Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MSC.Cruises.USA or follow along on Twitter at www.twitter.com/msccruisesusa.

About MSC Cruises
Onboard MSC's twelve vessels, guests enjoy the Mediterranean way of life. From the hospitality to the dining, guests are enveloped in the Mediterranean manner of enjoying life to its fullest. Guests are encouraged to slow down and enjoy everything their MSC vacation has to offer. Kids 11 and under sail free year-round on MSC Cruises with kids 17 and under sailing at reduced rates.

MSC Cruises is a privately-held, family-owned, Italian cruise line with a fleet of 12 ships: MSC Armonia, MSC Divina, MSC Fantasia, MSC Lirica, MSC Magnifica, MSC Musica, MSC Orchestra, MSC Opera, MSC Poesia, MSC Preziosa, MSC Sinfonia and MSC Splendida. The fleet cruises year-round in the Mediterranean and seasonally in the Caribbean, Northern Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, the French Antilles, South America, South and West Africa, The United Arab Emirates and the Red Sea. MSC Divina began sailing the Caribbean from PortMiami on November 20, 2013, becoming the line's first ship dedicated to North American travelers. In March 2014, the line announced the construction of two new cruise ships by STX France due for delivery respectively in 2017 and 2019. Two months later, the line announced the construction of two additional new builds by Fincantieri due for delivery respectively in November 2017 and May 2018. For more information, visit www.msccruisesusa.com.