MSC Opens 2024-25 Cruise Deployment for Sale

MSC Cruises today opened sales for a range of its winter 2024-25 season sailings. The line will soon provide details for its winter 2024-25 sailing programs in South America, Southern Africa and the Far East but today unveiled the voyages now available to book, according to a press release.

Highlights include six ships serving the Caribbean Sea and MSC Cruises’ flagship MSC Euribia operating for the first time in the Middle East.

Details are:

NORTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The MSC Meraviglia will operate from New York with seven- to 11-night itineraries to Port Canaveral for Orlando, Nassau in the Bahamas and MSC Cruises’ private island Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

The MSC Seascape will sail every Saturday from Miami with either 7-night cruises to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Ocean Cay or to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and Ocean Cay.

The MSC Seaside every Sunday will offer 7-night voyages from Miami, alternating between the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic or Mexico, Honduras or Belize, and the Bahamas.

The MSC Divina will also be based in Miami and offer an array of three- to 10-night itineraries, all including calls to Ocean Cay.  Longer sailings will take guests to Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

The MSC Seashore will homeport in Port Canaveral for three- to four-night mini cruises to the Bahamas, including calls at Ocean Cay, and also sail seven-night voyages with additional stops in Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico.

The MSC Virtuosa will homeport in Fort-de-France, Martinique and embark on back-to-back 7-night itineraries including Guadeloupe, the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia.

ARABIAN GULF

The line’s newest flagship the MSC Euribia will make her debut in the region from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will offer seven-night sailings to two other UAE destinations, Abu Dhabi and Sir Bani Yas Island, plus Doha, Qatar and Manama in Bahrain.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

The MSC World Europa will sail every Sunday from Genoa for a seven-night voyage with calls at Civitavecchia for Rome, Messina in Sicily, Valletta, Malta; Barcelona, Spain and Marseille, France

NORTHERN EUROPE

The MSC Preziosa will operate seven-night voyages every Sunday from Hamburg, Germany with calls at Zeebrugge for Bruges and Brussels in Belgium; Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Le Havre for Paris and Southampton for London. Additionally, one 21-night long cruise from Southampton will visit the Canary Islands, Madeira and Morocco.

RED SEA

The MSC Musica will offer seven-night sailings from Safaga, Egypt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Aqaba for Petra in Jordan, Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt and Sokhna Port for the country’s capital Cairo before returning to Safaga for an opportunity to visit Luxor.

MSC to Base 6 Ships in South America for the 2023-2024 Season

MSC Cruise in Port Photo Credit Spacejunkie2 (Flickr)

MSC Cruises will base six ships in South America for the 2023-224 season the line announced today as it started its 2022-2023 sailing season from the port of Santos in Brazil with the departure of the MSC Fantasia, according to a press release.

MSC said it will deploy five vessels in Brazil and one in Argentina next season to reinforce its position as the ocean cruise market leader in South America.

The MSC Grandiosa, MSC Preziosa and MSC Armonia will homeport in Santos, the MSC Seaview in Rio de Janeiro, the MSC Lirica in Itajai and the MSC Musica in Buenos Aires.  

The announcement today was made ahead of MSC Fantasia’s first of 132 seasonal sailings MSC Cruises that will operate in South America during 2022-2023 with four ships offering a 68 per cent increase in cabins compared to the 2019-2020 season.

The MSC Fantasia will be joined this season by the MSC Seashore – which MSC said was the largest and most modern cruise ship ever operating in the region.

The MSC Seaview and MSC Armonia will off a range of cruises in South America including 10 destinations in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and both Montevideo and Punta Del Este in Uruguay.

MSC Cruises forecasts that it will welcome nearly 400,000 guests for its 2022-2023 South American season including 50,000 international travellers.

Sales for MSC Cruises’ 2023-2024 South American season go on sale on Dec. 1.

Musica Marks MSC Cruises’ Full Return to Service

A Chocolate Tribute to ‘Return to FULL Service’ on the MSC Virtuosa last week, Photo Credit SpaceJunkie2.

The MSC Musica is resuming service today in Italy, marking the return to revenue operations of the entire MSC Cruises fleet.

One of the first cruise lines to welcome guests back during the pandemic, MSC has been sailing since August 2020.

After months of limited operations in Europe, the brand has been gradually adding destinations and ships back into its active lineup for the past year.

With the Musica kicking off its summer program in the Eastern Mediterranean, all of the fleet’s 19 cruise vessels are now in service again.

Sailing from Monfalcone every Sunday, the 2006-built vessel will offer week-long cruises to the Greek Islands and Italy through November.

Passengers will also be able to board the ship in Bari before sailing to Santorini, Katakolon and Heraklion.

After completing its European deployment, the vessel is set to cross the Atlantic, ahead of a winter program in South America.

Starting in December, the vessel will serve the Argentinean market, with cruises to Brazil and Uruguay departing from the Port of Buenos Aires.

The MSC Musica originally entered service in 2006, introducing a series of four ships known as the Musica Class.

Built by the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, the 92,400-ton cruise ship can carry 2,550 passengers in double occupancy and features more than 236,800 square feet of common areas.

Among them are five different dining venues, including two main dining rooms and a Japanese speciality restaurant.

The vessel is also equipped with two outdoor pool decks, a large spa, a two-deck theatre, a mini-golf course, a nightclub, a casino, a cigar room and several lounges and bars.

As the second ship to resume service for MSC Cruises this month, the MSC Musica follows the MSC Orchestra.

After a winter season in South Africa, the vessel returned to Europe on June 4, kicking off a summer program in the Western Mediterranean.