MSC Cruises is to join Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean International in basing a ship in the Middle East to run winter cruises in the Gulf region.
The 2,069-passenger MSC Lirica will be based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for 2011-12 running 19 seven-night fly cruises.
The programme includes Abu Dhabi departures every Sunday from October 30, 2011 to March 4 the following year and from Dubai, with departures every Friday from October 28 to March 9 2012.
Destinations include Muscat in Oman, Al Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The cruises include two nights in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
MSC Cruises UK and Ireland managing director Giulio Libutti said: “MSC Cruises is experiencing an unprecedented growth in the UK and Irish markets at present and we welcome the expansion of being able to offer more choice to our passengers by cruising to the United Arab Emirates.
“We see this as an exciting cruise destination and predict a high demand of sales.”