São Paulo – The Brazilian Television host Maria da Graça Meneghel, a.k.a. Xuxa, will be in Tunisian and Egyptian waters, in the Mediterranean Sea, in about a month. The artist will make a trip by the MSC Cruzeiros ship cruise company, and the route will include Tunisia and Egypt. The trip also includes Spain, the point of departure, Malta, Italy, France, Greece and Turkey. Xuxa, alongside the Italian actress italiana Sophia Loren, is going to be the special guest of the cruise, which will mark the maiden voyage of MSC Cruzeiros’ new vessel, Splendida.
The vessel will make a stop in Alexandria, Egypt, and in the port of La Goulette, in Tunis, Tunisia. The ship will only drop anchor in the two Arab cities on the occasion of its maiden voyage. The regular route offered by MSC includes one of the two: Tunis, in seven-night packages, and Alexandria, in eleven-night packages. The maiden voyage starts on July 13th, and the inauguration ceremony, to be attended by Xuxa and Sophia Loren, happens in the previous day in Barcelona, the capital of Spain.
The luxury ship is MSC’s most modern. It has capacity for 3,959 guests, according to information supplied by the company, and includes an area named MSC Yacht Club, with 99 luxury suites and a hall with a panoramic view. The premises are going to be inaugurated by Sophia Loren and Xuxa. The vessel also includes the MSC Áurea Spa, which offers colour therapy, aromatherapy, thalassotherapy, and Balinese massage using therapeutic waters. The suite will also offer Turkish saunas and baths, among other features.
Xuxa is the illustrious guest of the cruise, and the vessel’s godmother is Sophia Loren. Sophia is the official godmother to all of MSC’s vessels. The Brazilian television host has already been godmother to another of the company’s vessels, the MSC Musica, which was inaugurated in Brazil, and in which Xuxa shot one of her films, "O Fantástico Mistério de Feiurinha." The trip in which the footage was recorded passed through São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Búzios and Ilha Bela, and the TV host held a contest for passengers to appear in the film.
MSC Cruzeiros, which is based in Italy and operates in Brazil, owns nine ships. They sail in cruises across South America, the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and South Africa. MSC Splendida is the company’s tenth vessel. In 2010, the company will start operating yet another vessel, the MSC Magnífica. MSC Cruzeiros has been granted the "6 Golden Pearls" award, by the Bureau Veritas, in acknowledgement to its practices in the environmental field.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
