The MSC Seaview has departed from the German port of Kiel for the first on a seven-night cruises in the Baltic Sea, according to the cruise line’s press release.
The Seaview is the seventh MSC Cruises’ ship to resume sailings with guests onboard with a further three preparing to start future voyages, which will see half of the company’s fleet back at sea by the end of summer.
The vessel will homeport in Kiel until the beginning of October and the ship will welcome German and international guests for an itinerary to Visby on one of Sweden’s largest islands Gotland, Nynäshamn near the Swedish capital city of Stockholm and Estonia’s capital Tallinn before returning to her North German base.
MSC Cruises’ protected shore excursions are available at all ports of call.
In other MSC news, the weekend also saw Marseille added to MSC Seaview’s sister ship MSC Seaside’s West Mediterranean itinerary, the first French port to reopen for the cruise line and welcome international guests for weekly calls.
Five MSC Cruises’ ships are currently sailing in the Mediterranean – the MSC Grandiosa, MSC Seaside, MSC Orchestra, MSC Splendida and MSC Magnifica. A sixth ship, the MSC Virtuosa, has operated cruises around the UK for British guests only since May 20.
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.
The MSC Seashore will come into service in August with voyages in the West Mediterranean before the company’s newest flagship transfers in November to Miami for a season in the Caribbean.
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.
MSC Cruises has announced that it has chartered “the industry’s largest air charter program” for summer 2021 to make more ports of embarkation easily and safely accessible from a range of European countries.
Guests will have access to a seamless journey from their homes to the ship for their holidays at sea, all under the protection of the company’s industry-leading health and safety program now extended to also cover air travel.
This opens up a wide choice of ports, ships and itineraries this summer for MSC Cruises’ guests from Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland for sailings in the West Mediterranean, East Mediterranean and Northern Europe.
“As more of our fleet continues to return to service this summer, and our returning and new guests look to plan their holidays on one of our ships across Europe, we felt we had to respond to the impact that the pandemic has had on many airlines. As many are still not yet operating with a normal flight timetable, we wanted to give our guests from across Europe the peace of mind that they can reach their embarkation port in a seamless and safe way,” said Gianni Onorato, the CEO of MSC Cruises.
MSC Cruises’ industry-leading health and safety protocol will be extended to apply to the chartered flights, which will be operated together with some of Europe’s leading airlines.
“We have utilized the experience gained since we returned to operations last August and will work with our aviation partners to apply our industry-leading health and safety protocol to the charter flights so that we extend also to that portion of the guest journey the social bubble of the ship. This is yet another example of how we are pushing boundaries and delivering another industry-first to provide our guests with the confidence and the peace of mind that they need to be able to fully enjoy their holiday with us,” Onorato added.
MSC Cruises has committed to charter flights between July and October – more than 26,000 seats – from airlines, including Iberia, Alitalia, Air France, Eurowings and Neos, to fly from convenient and accessible airports across Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland so that guests can arrive at convenient times at an airport close to their embarkation port ahead of the start of their cruise holiday.
With many airlines having to alter their flight schedules at relatively short notice as a result of changing travel restrictions MSC Cruises decided to take charge of the situation and charter aircraft to assure its guests that their air transport connections will take off as planned and their holiday plans won’t be affected. MSC Cruises this summer will operate eight ships in Europe, six of which benefit from this full and rich fly and cruise program.
MSC Virtuosa just entering the River Mersey, Liverpool taken by Dave Jones
These are:
Western Mediterranean – MSC Grandiosa and MSC Seaside
Eastern Mediterranean – MSC Splendida, MSC Orchestra and MSC Magnifica
Northern Europe – MSC Seaview
Once guests land at airports they will then travel to the port ready for embarkation using private MSC Cruises transfers that are protected with the same high standards of MSC Cruises’ industry-leading health and safety protocol onboard its fleet of ships and now onboard its chartered planes.
In a further commitment to offer stress-free holidays and ensure the well-being of its guests for summer sailings, MSC Cruises has also worked with Europe’s largest insurance provider Europe Assistance to have a COVID-19 protection plan in place, priced at Euros €25 per person to cover guests before, during and after a cruise
Wetravel2u's Weblog 