GENEVA — MSC Cruises has announced the temporary suspension of all further sailings of the MSC Magnifica due to the ongoing pandemic.

The suspension will impact sailings from Nov. 8 through to and including Dec. 18. According to the cruise line, France and Germany are two key source markets for the ship’s 10-night voyages in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean that call in Italy, Greece and Malta.

When MSC Magnifica resumes operations after its temporary pause, it will continue sailing from Dec. 18 with a special eight-night Christmas cruise itinerary before sailing 10-night sailings across the Eastern and Western Mediterranean until the end of April 2021.

However, due to the continued closure of several ports, MSC Magnifica’s 2021 World Cruise has been forced to cancel. Guests will be contacted individually with rescheduling options.

Meanwhile, MSC Grandiosa will continue and extend its current sailings into next year, performing its seven-night itinerary in the Western Mediterranean with embarkation in Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo in Italy, as well as Valetta, Malta until March 27, 2021.

In addition, MSC Grandiosa will feature new measures as part of MSC Cruises’ health and safety operating protocol. These measures were activated over the past two weeks onboard the company’s two ships currently at sea, and are as follows:

• Additional onboard testing for all guests mid-way through their cruise, on top of the existing pre-boarding universal testing for all guests
• Testing of all crew during their time onboard has been increased from twice a month to weekly, in addition to pre-boarding testing for all crew and other ongoing health monitoring measures
• Increased frequency of onboard sanitation, particularly public areas and high touch points
• Tightening of the definition of ‘close contact’ for tracing purposes, reducing the time that individuals are in contact from 15 minutes to 10 minutes