MSC Cruises has restructured the UK & Ireland sales team and has appointmented of two further regional sales managers.

The cruise line has appointed Luke Vanderhoeven who will be joining the team as RSM South West & Wales & Claire Smith who will be joining to fill the newly created role of RSM Scotland, North East & Northern Ireland which will be complementing the recent hire of Colin Rillie as National Account Manager in the same region, both will report to Andrea Stafford head of retail who also recently joined the cruise line from Thomas Cook.

Vanderhoeven who previously worked in the Cruise Commercial team of TUI & Smith who has held several positions with TUI in Scotland both have an excellent knowledge and passion for cruise.

Steve Williams director of sales said ‘we are absolutely delighted to have Luke & Claire join our team to further develop MSC cruises on the high street as we embark on a period of rapid expansion, they will be instrumental in supporting, developing & training our trade partners in their respective geographical regions, both have an exceptional background in high street retail travel so will really understand the needs of our partners and work with them closely to grow their MSC cruise business.’

Antonio Paradiso MD said: ‘It is so rewarding one year on from my move to the UK to be in such a great position as we embark on the huge expansion plans earmarked for the cruise line as we embark on 11 new ship builds over the next 10 years. I see the UK & Ireland as one of the biggest opportunities globally for MSC and we now have a fantastic sales team in place to be able to educate the trade about what an amazing brand MSC is. We are now just 100 days from the launch of Meraviglia, the first of 11 smart ships on order and one of two new ship launches in 2017 alone. We are now in full swing for the inaugural season of our first ever full EX UK season with the beautiful MSC Magnifica. I believe the team we have in place are now one of the best in the industry and personally I am so excited for the growth and opportunities that we have here. We have just experienced a record breaking WAVE period in both the UK & Ireland so we have really started 2017 in great shape, just yesterday we recorded our best ever booking day in both the UK & Ireland. Luke & Claire’s appointments further show MSC’s commitment to our trade partners in helping them understand the brand and ultimately grow their business.