The Costa Luminosa has left Venice on a 106-day world cruise, calling in 41 ports before returning to Venice on April 22, according to Costa.
The company said around 2,000 guests are expected on the world cruise, with the majority (500 or so) hailing from France. There are more than 300 guests aboard from both Italy and Germany as well. The balance of source markets are Switzerland, Spain and Austria, Costa said.
The oldest passenger is 92 years old, while the youngest is a one-year-old from France.
Among the key destinations are the Antilles, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and California; as well as Hawaii, Polynesia, Fiji islands, Australia and Indonesia, in addition to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the Arab Emirates, Oman and Greece.
Extended calls are booked into Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore, Phuket, Cochin, Mumbai, Dubai and Muscat.
Filling the 2,250-passenger MSC Magnifica for its first world cruise could pose a challenge for MSC. Most world cruises are on luxury lines such as Silversea Cruises or Cunard Line, not contemporary lines.
None of the U.S.-based contemporary cruise lines, such as Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International or Norwegian Cruise Line, offer a 119-day cruise like MSC’s.
However, Costa Cruises, which competes closely with MSC in the Mediterranean, does offer a world cruise in 2017 on the 92,700-gross-ton Costa Luminosa, which carries about the same number of passengers as the 95,128-gross-ton Magnifica.
Roberto Fusaro, president of MSC Cruises North America, said the Magnifica was picked for the world cruise because it is the right size for the ports included on the itinerary.
“The pool has a magrodome — making the ship ideal for all weather — and the ship has a high proportion of balcony staterooms,” he said.
Fusaro said adding a world cruise will help MSC gain attention.
“We’ve already heard a ton of buzz and excitement from our travel agent partners,” he said. Clients like the wide range of activities and entertainment and multiple dining options a ship the size of the MSC Magnifica affords, he said.
Another feature that might help MSC fill the Magnifica is a relatively low price. MSC lists a lead-in price for the cruise of $16,999. A 120-day cruise on Cunard Line’s 2,014-passenger Queen Elizabeth departing in January has a starting price of $19,998. MSC’s price also includes 15 shore excursions.
The 7-year-old MSC Magnifica is scheduled to set off from Genoa, Italy, on Jan. 5, 2019, and sail west until it arrives back in Genoa 119 days later.
Along the way it will stop at 49 destinations in 32 countries and stay four days in French Polynesia, three days in both Hawaii and San Francisco and two days in Los Angeles.
Following a week in the Mediterranean, the Magnifica will spend five days at sea before reaching the Caribbean in mid-January. It will transit the Panama Canal on Jan. 25 and proceed up the coast of Central America, Mexico and north to San Francisco.
The next month will be spent crossing the Pacific with stops in Hawaii, French Polynesia and Fiji before arriving in New Zealand in mid-March. Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the Maldives precede an April 15 arrival in Dubai. The ship transits the Suez Canal in late April to arrive back in Genoa on May 3.
MSC and its predecessor company, Lauro Lines, have been in the cruise business since 1960, but had never entered the world-cruise derby.
“As one of the world’s truly international cruise companies, making available to our guests and travelers from around the globe a product such as a world cruise is a natural progression,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO MSC Cruises.
Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, but by the time our overworked brains get the message the vacation is often nearly over. Understanding this dilemma, cruise lines have devised some outstanding spaces that entice guests to slow down, relax and enjoy. These are the ones I love best.
Library, Oceania Marina
I immediately fell in love with Oceania Marina’s library, and I had plenty of company. It looks like a P.G. Wodehouse or Agatha Christie setting with guests who are reading, sipping and dozing while sprawled out on huge leather chairs.
Be sure to explore the nooks created by the shelves holding 2,000 books and periodicals to find your perfect place. You have to get up very early on sea days to stake out a chair and a favorite nook. On my cruise, some people come to the library at 4 a.m. to grab a chair near the fireplace. The library’s English country house atmosphere is beyond soothing. With the availability of coffees and snacks at the adjoining Baristas Coffee Bar, and computers for Internet access, some passengers make a day of it.
Spa Recovery Room, Costa Luminosa
Most ships’ spa recovery rooms have elegant, minimalistic loungers with a view of the sea, but not onboard Costa Luminosa. Here, guests who have had a massage or other spa treatment can chill out on canopied beds with filmy curtains in a shady, quiet room that seems to inhabit another world altogether. And if you prefer a sunnier spot to let the pampering soak in, you can push open the picket gate to the outside garden from your treatment room, step out and relax in a chair.
Explorations Cafe, Nieuw Amsterdam Explorations Cafe, powered by the New York Times, is my fantasy of what a retreat should be, and guests are constantly saying they need one at home. The ingredients speak for themselves: blissful, squashy leather chairs and couches, Internet stations, pastries, brownies, cupcakes, specialty coffees and thousands of books, magazines, DVDs, newspapers and table games — not to mention vast views of the sea. It’s full of guests from morning to night, sending emails, reading, chatting and playing games.
The Hideaway, Celebrity Silhouette Many ships have comfortable chairs, but Silhouette has nests that for me brought back memories of childhood retreats. Tucked away near an impressive 20-foot live tree that stands over the atrium, the intimate The Hideaway is an irresistible stylized tree house, with comfortable seating and suspended nests where guests can enjoy the peace, read or play with the Apple products from the Celebrity iLounge.
Seabourn Square, Seabourn Sojourn
I never thought I’d choose a purser’s desk for relaxation, but Seabourn Sojourn’s Seabourn Square makes dealing with questions both serene and pleasurable. The core of the ship and its collective living room, Seabourn Square includes purser and concierge functions but guests sit across from staff — there is no standing and waiting. And the atmosphere is eons away from a typical front desk. This open space at the heart of the ship is gently divided into areas for Internet access, a very fine library of books and magazines and plenty of seating options, from easy chairs and couches to tables and chairs perfect for enjoying the specialty coffees, teas and pastries that are always readily available.
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