MSC Bellissima docked at Port Abu Dhabi’s cruise terminal (Mina Zayed) on Sunday, December 8. The 170,000-ton passenger liner is spending season 2019 in homeports Dubai and Abu Dhabi, from where offers roundtrips in the Arabian Gulf through March 2020.
With LOA length 316 m, Bellissima is one of the world's largest passenger ships and MSC Cruises' homeporting in the UAE underlines the growth in the country's cruise shipping business.
MSC's Arabian Gulf cruises alternate between east and west. Belissima's eastern itinerary visits Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas Island and two ports in Oman - Muscat and Khasab. The western itinerary visits Bahrain (Port Mina Salman) and Qatar (Port Doha).
Port Abu Dhabi handles seasonally 300,000+ cruise tourists. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi (one of UAE's 7 emirates)) has been investing hugely in the facilities at Port Zayed, thus adding airline check-in facilities and improving transport links. The decision to build a cruise dock in 2016 (close to Sir Bani Yas) was of huge importance.