Tag Archives: MSC Meraviglia

MSC Becomes First Cruise Line To Resume International Sailings From Barcelona

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The port of Barcelona reopened at the weekend for international cruises when the MSC Grandiosa became the first ship to embark with Spanish guests and holidaymakers from other Schengen countries.

This was announced by MSC Cruises in a press release.

The seven-night cruise holiday calls at the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia for Rome, Naples and Palermo, plus Valetta, Malta.

“Barcelona is an integral part of our year-round itineraries in the Mediterranean and to see it reopen for our guests from Spain and other countries in Europe is extremely gratifying. This was a very welcome addition to the ever-increasing number of ports that are opening for business after such a long pause in operations. As the first cruise line to offer international cruises from Spain we are sure that our Spanish guests will enjoy the convenience of embarkation in Barcelona on Saturdays and enjoy the popular itinerary that MSC Grandiosa offers in the Mediterranean,” said MSC’s CEO Gianni Onorato.

According to the press release, the port of Barcelona is of strategic importance to MSC Cruises’ position as the market leader in Europe and earlier this month the company received the official approval to operate and manage an exclusive 11,670 squared-meter cruise terminal, which is due for completion in 2024.

MSC said that it worked together with Spanish national and local including the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Sanidad) and Ports of the State (Puertos del Estado) to “ensure that the health and safety measures implemented as part of the restart met and exceeded all local and national regulations.” According to the cruise line, this includes arranging for guests who disembark in Barcelona to complete an antigen test within 48 hours of ending their cruise.

MSC’s health and safety protocol was first implemented in August 2020 when the MSC Grandiosa began sailing in the Mediterranean and, since then, the company has safely welcomed onboard tens of thousands of guests.

The Grandiosa’s itinerary from the end of July will see the addition of another important Spanish port, Valencia with embarkation on Fridays. The ship will then call Barcelona, and onto the Italian ports of Genoa, La Spezia for Florence and Pisa, and Civitavecchia for Rome.

More ports will reopen in the coming weeks across Europe and MSC Cruises’ phased restart of operations is “continuing as planned,” the cruise line said, with the company “offering a choice of six different ships and itineraries this summer across the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.”

The MSC Seaview will start Baltic Sea cruises beginning July 3 from her homeport of Kiel in Germany with seven-night sailings to Sweden and Estonia and the MSC Seaside on July 4 will mark the official reopening of Marseille, France to cruising.

The MSC Magnifica resumed sailings last week in the East Mediterranean to join the MSC Splendida and MSC Orchestra in the region. The MSC Virtuosa since May 20 has been operating cruises around the UK for British guests only.

The MSC Meraviglia from Aug. 2 will resume Caribbean cruises from Miami and will be joined in the region from Sept. 18 when the MSC Divina restarts sailing from Port Canaveral near Orlando in Florida.

Passengers on Mediterranean cruise test positive for covid-19

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Two passengers tested positive for the coronavirus during routine checks aboard a Mediterranean cruise this week, MSC Cruises said.

The passengers, who were asymptomatic, got their positive test results on Monday, according to MSC Cruises spokesman Luca Biondolillo. They were not travelling together on the MSC Seaside. Biondolillo said the individuals and their travelling groups, as well as close contacts, were immediately isolated, and no one aside from the original two passengers tested positive.

According to the Times of Malta, the vessel was not allowed to make a regular call-in to Malta’s Valletta cruise port Monday. Instead, Biondolillo said, the ship made a “technical call” — where passengers don’t disembark — and then resumed its regular schedule with a stop in Sicily.

Both passengers and their parties left the ship in Siracusa, on the island of Sicily, and were taken home “by protected MSC Cruises transport” Tuesday, the cruise company said. The ship continued its normal schedule after the Siracusa stop.

“All of this took place in line with the protocol and in coordination with the local health authorities,” Biondolillo said in an email Wednesday.

Passengers on MSC ships are not required to be vaccinated, but they have to undergo several tests: two to three days before leaving for a cruise, just before getting on the ship and midway through the cruise, Biondolillo said.

“If anything, this is another demonstration that the protocol works,” he said.

The company started sailing in the Mediterranean in August 2020 and has seen “a handful such cases” since, Biondolillo said, adding that “many thousands” of passengers have sailed safely.

Cruise ships have slowly started service again around the world, but still have not resumed in the United States since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut the industry down last March. The agency is not requiring cruise ships to sail with vaccinated passengers but will allow those with at least 95 per cent of vaccinated crew and guests to skip test cruises meant to show how they will deal with covid-19 risks.

The first cruise from U.S. shores with paying passengers is scheduled to set sail later this month. The Celebrity Cruises ship will require everyone 16 and older to be fully vaccinated — a condition that comes into conflict with a Florida law that says businesses can’t ask for proof of vaccination status.

MSC Cruises, which is headquartered in Geneva, announced this week that it plans to start short cruises on MSC Meraviglia from Miami to the Bahamas on Aug. 2. The company recently got approval from the CDC to conduct a test cruise on that vessel.

The company said it will “welcome both vaccinated and non-vaccinated guests,” with those who are not vaccinated subject to additional testing and restrictions. Rubén Rodriguez, president of MSC Cruises USA, said in a statement that he expects the majority of passengers will be vaccinated.

“The rapid distribution of vaccines in the U.S. has been a positive step toward helping vacationers get back to travelling, and we encourage our guests to take advantage of this added layer of protection when resuming travel this summer,” he said.

MSC Extends Pause, Retools Summer 2021 Program

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MSC Divina
MSC Divina.

MSC Cruises announced that it will further extend the temporary fleet-wide halt of its cruise operations through July 31, 2020.

Today, the Swiss-based cruise line also reconfirmed its March – November 2021 program, which will include two new ships currently under construction and a series of new or enriched itineraries and homeports, including a new home for MSC Divina in Central Florida at Port Canaveral.

Gianni Onorato, CEO, MSC Cruises: “While today we have taken the difficult decision to further extend the halt of operations of all our ships, it is important that we also look ahead as we know that our customers are dreaming of travel and are wanting to plan their holidays for next year. For this reason, we have now also confirmed our March – November program for 2021.”

“Shorter-term,” added Onorato, “Our ships will return to service only when the time is right, in phases and by region, and following guidance from the relevant national and international health and other regulatory authorities and the support of a new operating protocol especially focused on health and safety, which we will announce soon. This way, gradually, all of our ships will return to sea between then and the beginning of our summer 2021 season.”

MSC Meraviglia - Wikipedia
MSC Meraviglia.

The MSC Meraviglia will offer seven-night cruises from Miami, Florida departing every Saturday, while the classic and charming MSC Armonia will offer new three- and four-night getaway cruises, also from Miami, departing on Mondays and Fridays and calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

New for next summer, the MSC Divina will sail for the first time from Port Canaveral, Florida – a new homeport  – and offer a mix of three-, four- and seven-night cruises departing on Sundays and Thursdays.

MSC’s three Seaside-class ships will all be deployed together for the first time in the Western Mediterranean for Summer 2021.

The MSC Seashore will now come into service August 1, 2021, due to the delay caused by the temporary closure of the shipyard as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for this period, MSC Fantasia will temporarily cover her itinerary.

The MSC Seashore will have the highest ratio of outdoor space per guest of any ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet and will offer the popular Six Pearls itinerary calling the Italian cities of Genoa and, visits to Pompeii, Naples; Messina, Sicily; Valletta, Malta; Barcelona, Spain and Marseille, France.

Fincantieri | MSC Seaside
MSC Seashore due June 2021

She will be joined by sister ships MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview in their Genoa homeport and operate seven-night cruises. The company will also return to Tunisia in August when MSC Fantasia performs seven-night cruises from Genoa calling at Marseille, Barcelona, the port of La Goulette in Tunis, Palermo and Civitavecchia.

There are also nine- to 12-night cruises will also be available from Genoa, Italy in late summer to Morocco, the Canary Islands, Madeira and Portugal, Greece and Israel with MSC Poesia calling in the beautiful port of Haifa.

New for summer 2021, MSC Lirica will be deployed from Venice, Italy and will also offer embarkation in the northern Italian port of Trieste with a stunning itinerary calling Zadar, Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro and Corfu in Greece.

In addition, MSC Musica, MSC Orchestra, MSC Opera and MSC Sinfonia, will offer seven-night itineraries also departing from Venice and calling the Greek islands, Montenegro and Croatia.

Starting in May, the new MSC Virtuosa will spend her first summer season with seven- to 14-night cruises from Kiel, alternating between the fjords and the Baltic capitals, with all itineraries offering embarkation in both Kiel and Copenhagen, Denmark.

MSC Virtuosa's float-out in Saint-Nazaire | MSC Fans
MSC Virtuosa floats out.

The fjords of the Norwegian west coast and the Baltic Capitals can also be enjoyed on a seven-night to 14-night (back to back) itinerary available on MSC Splendida and she will also offer longer 10- and 11-night cruises to the Baltic capitals or North Cape.

The MSC Magnifica will homeport in Southampton, UK and offer seven-night itineraries to the fjords of Norway, 14-nights to the Baltic capitals or the Mediterranean in mid-August, 12-nights to the Canary Islands and a seven-night cruise calling the Northern Pearls of Hamburg, Germany; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Zeebrugge, Belgium and Le Havre, France.

The MSC Preziosa will offer from nine- to 14-night itineraries from Hamburg with destinations in Ireland, Iceland and North Cape and Spitzbergen in Norway.