MSC Summer Cruises Announced

 Sail the Mediterranean This Summer

Cruise lines continue to announce itineraries originating from non-U.S. homeports as CDC continues to impose different rules on the cruise industry.  The latest announcement will have half of their fleet sailing over the next three months and has already been safely sailing since August.

MSC Cruises today announced new and updated itineraries in the Mediterranean and across Europe for this coming summer, offering guests plenty of options for the upcoming holiday season. The ships offering these now fully confirmed itineraries will operate under the same industry-leading health and safety protocol that has been safely protecting over 60,000 MSC Cruises guests sailing on the line’s ships in the Mediterranean since August 2020.

Gianni Onorato, CEO, MSC Cruises, said, 

“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. The entire MSC Cruises team and I look forward to welcoming both returning and new guests on board one of our ships that will be at sea this summer and to provide them with a memorable, relaxing and, above all, safe holiday.

 “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.”

Three ships in the West Mediterranean, calling Italy and Malta

• MSC Grandiosa. The 4,842-passenger ship will extend its current seven-night sailings out of Genoa, Italy, that feature calls at Civitavecchia (the port for Rome), Naples and Palermo, Italy, as well as Valletta, Malta. The Spanish ports of Valencia and Barcelona eventually will be added to the ship’s itinerary as soon as these destinations confirm their availability. 
• MSC Seaside. The 4,132-passenger ship will sail out of Genoa starting May 1 with calls at Siracusa, Taranto and Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) in Italy; Valetta, Malta. The ship’s itinerary will then be enriched with calls to the French port of Marseille as soon as its availability is confirmed. MSC Cruises will introduce a special private beach experience in Taranto, exclusively for the ship’ guests.
• MSC Seashore. The 4,132-passenger vessel will sail out of Genoa starting on Aug. 1 on a seven-night itinerary featuring calls at Naples and Messina, Italy, Valletta; Barcelona; and Marseille.

Three ships in the East Mediterranean, calling Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro 

• MSC Orchestra will now depart on 5 June offering guests embarkation in the Italian ports of Venice on Saturdays, Bari on Sundays and then call at the Greek Islands of Corfu, Mykonos as well as Dubrovnik in Croatia. 
• MSC Splendida will commence sailing from 12 June with embarkation in Trieste, Italy on Saturdays and in Bari on Tuesdays, calling at Dubrovnik in Croatia, Corfu in Greece and Kotor in Montenegro. 
• MSC Magnifica  will sail from 20 June with embarkation in the Italian ports of Venice on Sundays, Bari on Mondays and Piraeus for Athens on Wednesdays, then calling at the Greek Island of Mykonos and Split, Croatia.

UK Domestic Cruises (British Residents Only) 

• MSC Virtuosa will perform her inaugural season in the UK and offer mini cruises from Southampton calling at Portland in Dorset on the Jurassic coast. From 12 June she will operate 7-night cruises from Southampton with embarkation in Liverpool, Greenock for Glasgow and also calling at Portland and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Germany, Northern Europe 

• MSC Seaview will homeport in Kiel, Germany starting on 19 June replacing MSC Virtuosa 
• MSC Preziosa is planned to depart on 21 June from Hamburg, Germany 
• MSC Musica will depart on 20 June from Warnemunde, Germany, if the German ports are open

Mr Onorato added, 

“We are extremely proud to be in a position to offer our guests and travel agent partners for the coming summer a growing choice of cruise holidays to a range of different destinations across the Mediterranean and Europe. We will be featuring some of our most innovative and more modern vessels in our fleet. And to make it even easier and safer for our guests to reach our ships from closer to their homes, all our itineraries will feature additional ports of embarkation. In the Mediterranean alone, MSC Cruises will offer its guests up to 15 ports of embarkation."

 “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. Their presence in this next phase of the return at sea of our fleet in the coming weeks represent our belief in the continued attractiveness for consumer of cruises as a holiday option. This is why we have confirmed our plans of new builds for the coming years and are looking forward to a gradual return at se of our full fleet in the coming months into the winter season."

MSC Cruises also confirmed the cancellation of its Caribbean sailings from ports in the USA up to and including 30 June, like many other cruise lines.

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Cruise to Europe

A Cruise Can Take You There: Europe

CLIA is focusing on destinations for 2017 Cruise Vacation Month.  According to the latest Cruise Travel Report 68% of Cruisers and 56% of Non-Cruisers cited the destination as the most important factor influencing vacation choice.

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Experience what cruising is really about as you encounter the vast, enchanting lands of Europe. From the fjords of Norway to the waterways of Venice to the ruins of the Mediterranean, explore the richness and beauty of Europe in a totally new way.   READ MORE

When you are ready for a longer cruise, set sail for the adventure of a lifetime & see where history was made.  Most first-time European cruisers start out with a Mediterranean cruise.  These usually set sail from historic ports like Rome, Italy or Barcelona, Spain.  Airfare will most likely be your largest expense of the cruise, so we recommend booking a 10 or 12 night voyage instead of a 7 night.  It's also a good idea to spend one or more days in your embarkation port prior to the cruise.   This maximizes the value and also helps get you used to the timezone change.

Our Favorite European Cruises (click images for details)

Hurtigruten Classic Voyage  12-Night Round-trip Bergen,Norway - Northern Lights Feb 25 - Mar 7, 2016

Avalon Waterways The Rhine & Moselle Northbound MS AVALON ARTISTRY II® Jul 12 - 26, 2015

Cruise with Chris 12-Night Mediterranean & Greek Isles Cruise Star Princess May 30 - June 11, 2011

 

National Plan A Cruise Month Promotions 

Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now. We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.

A Cruise Can Take You There (click for mini-series)

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Exploring Venice at Night

St. Mark's Square - Venice

Our ship overnighted in Venice, Italy which gave us the opportunity to explore the city of canals at night.  Taking a water taxi from the ship, we made our way to St. Mark's Square where we began our self-guided walking tour.

Here are just a few of the sights we saw that night.  Click on images to enlarge them.

Rialto Bridge

The Piazza San Marco may be more famous, but the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. As we approached the Rialto Bridge, there were many people checking out the local shops.  It was just starting to get dark.

Be Prepared to Climb Stairs

If you plan to walk through Venice, be sure you have good walking shoes and are able to climb stairs.  This is especially challenging if you have luggage and are heading to the train station (which was our main objective for the evening).  We wanted to figure out where we'd be going in the morning to catch the train back to Rome.

With its gondolas, canals, amazing restaurants, and unforgettable romantic ambiance, Venice is definitely a city for one's bucket list.  

Many Perspectives of Venice

Our first glimpse of this amazing city was from the ship's deck as we sailed past the canals to our dock.   Next we saw the city from a water taxi and then explored during the day by foot and finally gondola before returning to our ship for dinner.  The most amazing view was walking through the narrow streets and over canals at night.   The lights cast a glow that really changed the mood of the city.

 

Gondola's 

Along the Grand Canal, the restaurants were filled with visitors and local patrons enjoying an evening meal with a view.   The moon was almost full and shone brightly on the city below.

Returning to Our Ship

What a beautiful sight as we concluded our nighttime exploration of Venice via water taxi back to our ship.  

Time for You to Explore

We hope that you enjoyed this brief visit to Venice at night. Check out our Diary of our 12-Night Mediterranean & Greek Isles Cruise for more stories about Venice and our other ports as well as links to our photo albums.

  Photo Albums:

Venice - Evening 64 photos

 

Venice at Dusk  38 photos

 

Venice at Night  50 photos 

 

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Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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Smiles, Everyone Smiles

Fantasy Island - Smiles, everyone...smiles!

When @FriFotos announced this week's "Smiles" theme, the first thing that came to mind was the old Fantasy Island show where Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalba) lined the staff up and told them to smile as the guests arrived.   That became the catch phrase which is still remembered today.

Making Others Smile

The next thing that I thought about is how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to make other people smile each and every day.   My job (if you want to call it a job) is to match your vacation dreams with reality.  I know that once you arrive at your vacation destination (and possibly sooner) you are going to have smiles on your face.   How great is that?

My Own Smiles

I've also had the good fortune to have had many opportunities to smile personally as well.   For those that know me, you know that I don't really like to have my photo taken and my husband has to either work hard to get a picture with me smiling or catch me off-guard.   Sometimes, I can't help but smile, like in some of the images I'm including in my submissions for #FriFotos.

(For those that don't know:  #FriFotos is a weekly photo forum by @EpsteinTravels @TravelDesigned @CharlesYap. Theme is revealed every Tuesday 12pm ET.)    Recently, @spencerspellman joined the team as a permanent co-host.  We even had the chance to co-host one week earlier this year.)

Galapagos

My all-time favorite cruise was on Celebrity Cruise Xpedition to Galapagos.   As you can see in this picture, I had a smile from ear to ear as we embarked on one of our exploratory excursions via Zodiac boat.

You can read more about that trip in our blog post: Diary of Celebrity Xpeditions Galapagos.

The image above was taken on Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas.   I love penguins - even the stuffed variety, so that brought a smile to my face as well.

Greek Isles

Another of my all-time favorite cruises was our trip to the Mediterranean.   That trip started in Rome and ended in Venice with several stops along the way in Greece.

Here I'm pictured smiling in Santorini, which was indeed one of the best stops of the cruise.

Split, Croatia

What could be better than an unexpected surprise?  I couldn't have imagined how beautiful Split, Croatia would be until we actually arrived at the KRKA National Park & Waterfalls.

Read more about this trip in our blog post: Diary of Cruise with Chris to Greek Isles

Would Any of These Make You Smile?

I suspect that they would bring a smile to your face if you love nature, history, seeing new places, or simply getting away from your daily routine.

Of course, every trip can have a unique set of requirements in order to bring a smile to your face.  Knowing about the various destinations, the ships, the land resorts, tour operators, the do's and dont's for each destination, etc.  means that I can play "smile maker" (kinda like a match maker for creating happiness).  

Smiles from the Staff

Just like on Fantasy Island, the staff of cruise ships, resort destinations, hotels, excursion operators, and even passengers you meet during your trip can contribute to the enjoyment of your vacation.  When they have smiles on their faces, you can't help but smile back.  

Here, a few of the naturalists that were onboard the Celebrity Xpedition pose for a picture.  During our short visit to the Galapagos, we learned a lot from them and really enjoyed the visit because they were fun to be around.  They enjoyed what they do for a living and their smiles were genuine.

Add Your Smiles Photos to #FriFotos

We invite you to go through your photo archives and find some examples of "Smiles" to share on #FriFotos this Friday.  We think that doing so might even bring back a smile to your face as you remember a past experience.

If you like Travel & Photography join us each Friday!

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Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc

Smiles, Everyone .... Smiles