GENEVA — MSC Cruises has released a complete list of confirmed itineraries now available for booking this summer.

All operating with the same industry-leading health and safety protocols that have been in place since August 2020, the itineraries will sail in the western and eastern Mediterranean as well as Northern Europe.

“Today we have clarity on which European destinations and ports will initially be open this summer and we have fully reflected this into a first set of new and updated itineraries for the upcoming season so that guests can book their holidays with us with confidence,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO. “Plus, I am confident that in the coming weeks we will be able to further enrich some of these itineraries as well as add more ships with new ones as more ports and tourist destinations, in particular in Spain and France, become available to receive ships and visitors.”

WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

MSC Grandiosa will initially extend its current seven-night itinerary, calling at the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo as well as Valletta, Malta. The Spanish ports of Valencia and Barcelona will be added to the ship’s current itinerary as soon as these destinations confirm their availability.

MSC Seaside will commence sailing on May 1 from Genoa, calling at the newly introduced ports of Siracusa in Sicily and Taranto in Puglia, as well as Civitavecchia and Valletta. The ship’s itinerary will then be enriched with calls to Marseille as soon as availability it confirmed. Plus, a special private beach experience in Taranto exclusively for Seaside guests will be introduced in addition to a range of protected excursions.

MSC Seashore will join the MSC Cruises fleet at the end of July to become its new flagship. From Aug. 1 until Oct. 31 it will offer seven-night cruises calling at Genoa, Naples and Messina in Italy, as well as Valletta, Barcelona and Marseille.

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

MSC Cruises will deploy three ships in the region for the upcoming summer season, offering ports of embarkation in Italy from Trieste, Venice and Bari, as well as Piraeus for Athens in Greece, and calling at the Greek Islands, Kotor in Montenegro, and Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia.

MSC Orchestra will now depart on June 5 offering embarkation in Venice on Saturdays and Bari on Sundays. It will call at the Greek Islands of Corfu, Mykonos and Dubrovnik.

MSC Splendida will commence sailing on June 12 with embarkation in Trieste, Italy on Saturdays and Bari on Tuesdays, calling at Dubrovnik, Corfu and Kotor.

Rounding out the offerings in the eastern Med is MSC Magnifica on June 20 with embarkation in Venice on Sundays, Bari on Mondays, and Piraeus on Wednesdays. IT will call at Mykonos and Split.

GERMANY & NORTHERN EUROPE

In light of ongoing uncertainty over the reopening of local ports, MSC Cruises is delaying the start of their summer season out of the country’s ports until June 15.

At the same time, MSC Seaview will homeport in Kiel, Germany starting on June 19, replacing MSC Virtuosa.

Additionally, MSC Preziosa is planned to depart on June 21 from Hamburg while MSC Musica will depart June 20 from Warenemunde, Germany, if the ports are open.

The three ships are scheduled to offer seven-nights and longer sailings either to the Norwegian fjords of the Baltic capitals, as per their current schedules.

“Albeit these ships represent only an initial portion of our fleet, they include our two latest jewels – MSC Virtuosa and MSC Seashore – both of which will have come into service for the first time in 2021,” added Onorato. “Guests who have vouchers for our cruises that were cancelled as a result of the pandemic ashore have waited patiently for a level of certainty about which ships will sail and where. I am pleased to say that they can now look forward with confidence to an incredible holiday at sea on an MSC Cruises ship either this summer or over the upcoming winter season.” 

MSC Cruises has also confirmed the cancellation of its Caribbean sailings from U.S ports up to and including June 30.

Guests who are impacted by any of the itinerary changes will be contacted by their travel advisor or MSC Cruises. Flexible booking conditions will apply to all bookings made before May 31. Click here for more information.