Cruise Ship Designed for China Follows Traditional Template
Photo Credit: The MSC Lirica docked at Flåm, Norway, in 2009. Wikipedia / Churchill188
Skift Take
Cruise lines entering China face a dilemma: tailoring the onboard experience to the Chinese may remove some of the Western touches that Chinese travelers actually want from their vacation. MSC Cruises is searching for a middle-ground.
The rush to serve Chinese tourists has intensified in cruising, with Carnival Corp. announcing plans to introduce a China-focused brand last week.
MSC Cruises hopes to compete with Carnival in China and will introduce a new type of staff member to ease the transition to cruising for the Chinese when it homeports a re-designed MSC Lirica in Shanghai next year. It will also partner with Chinese celebrity chef Jereme Leung to create an oriental fusion restaurant and train the ship's staff in authentic Chinese cuisine.
Cruise Ambassadors tasked with acting
