More ships and new itineraries are featured in the 2008 brochure of the MSC Cruises as the privately owned Italian cruise line will, from April 2008, have a fleet of nine ships with the launch of the MSC Poesia. The 2008 brochure features itineraries including the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Caribbean, plus ocean voyages to South Africa and South America along with Christmas and New Year sailings.

The brand new flagship, the MSC Poesia will make her debut in Dover on April 5th, 2008 during an overnight Pier Side event. MSC Poesia (which translates as poetry), is the sister ship of the MSC Orchestra and MSC Musica. Sophia Loren will be the godmother and christen the MSC Poesia before she sets sail on her pre-inaugural voyage on 6th April 2008 from Dover to Venice. She will then offer 8 day cruises in the Mediterranean for the entire summer 2008 season.

The MSC Fantasia will then take the fleet to a 10 ships with her debut in November 2008.

The MSC Poesia and the MSC Musica will both sail from Venice on Saturday and Sundays respectively throughout the season. The MSC Poesia will visit Bari, Olympia, Izmir, Istanbul and Dubrovnik, whilst the MSC Musica will visit Bari, Olympia, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, Corfu, Dubrovnik.

The MSC Armonia sails from Genoa to the Black Sea and visits Naples, Athens, Yalta, Odessa, Istanbul, Messina and Salerno during the 12 day cruises offered in April, September, October and November.

The MSC Melody sails from South Africa to Genoa on 19th April 2008 and visits Tanzania, Kenya, The Seychelles, Egypt, Jordan and Italy during her 22 day voyage.

The MSC Armonia will offer more sailings from Dover than ever before, with 13 sailings between May and August. Itineraries range from the Baltic, North Cape to the Norwegian Fjords.

The MSC Armonia will sail from Genoa to Dover on April 23rd, 2008 visiting Malaga, Casa Blanca, Lisbon, Vigo, La Coruna, Le Havre during the 11 day voyage.

On 1 April 2008, the MSC Opera will sail from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Dover exploring the Brazilian coast, Cape Verde, Tenerife and La Coruna during this 19 day voyage of discovery.

Rome becomes a new embarkation port

The MSC Sinfonia will sail from Civitavecchia on Sunday, offering 8 day cruises visiting Genoa, Monte Carlo, Valencia, Malta, Tunis. The ship sails at 20:00 allowing for more flexible flight alternatives.

Finally, following customer response to previous themes, MSC Cruises will offer new and updated theme cruises ranging from Food & Wine, to Art at Sea to Classical Music and Dance.

Claudia Baino, Managing Director, MSC Cruises UK & Ireland comments “Having pored over every detail of our 2008 brochure and our new itineraries, we are proud and delighted to have achieved our most inspirational selection yet and we’re looking forward to hearing what our regular and new customers think. 2008 is such an important year for MSC Cruises as we launch two new ships and will be able to offer more itineraries to a broader clientele than ever before. We thank everyone for their support and look forward to a successful 2008!”