MSC Cruises has announced that Master Raffaele Pontecorvo will become captain of MSC Bellissima when the ship debuts in March 2019.

Orazio Caci has been named hotel director while Antonio Iacarino will assume the role of chief engineer.

Born near Sorrento, Italy, Pontecorvo always wanted a career at sea and pursued his studies at Sorrento’s Nautical Institute Nino Bixio. He started his career with MSC Cargo in 1982, when he embarked MSC Corinna as a deck cadet. In 1990 he sailed for the first time on an MSC passenger ship as second officer and, from 1995 to 2000, he held the rank of staff captain on several ships. He became a captain in 2000 when he took command of the MSC Monterey.

In 2010 he was given the command of the recently-launched MSC Splendida, and in 2017 he became captain of MSC Bellissima’s sister ship, the MSC Meraviglia, following her delivery. 

MSC Cruises has also announced that Caci will become MSC Bellissima’s hotel director. A Norwegian national, Caci is a seasoned executive brining over twenty years of experience in managing luxury hotels and cruise line hotel operations, both onboard and ashore. Prior to joining MSC Cruises, he worked for several other international cruise lines. On top of Italian and Norwegian, his native languages, Caci speaks another five languages.

Iaccarino will become chief engineer of the MSC Bellissima. Born in Piano Di Sorrento, Italy, Iaccarino began his career on board MSC’s cargo ships in 1995 as a second engineer, and was promoted to the position of chief engineer in 2000. 2005 saw his technical and technological skills moved to MSC Cruises, first onboard the Company’s Lirica class as a staff engineer. He rose to the rank chief engineer just one year later.