MSC Cruises has confirmed that its entire fleet of 19 ships will be at sea during summer 2022 with almost 500 voyages for the season.MSC Virtuosa, one of the cruise line’s newest ships, will return from a season in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to Northern Europe and will replace the Magnifica and homeport in Southampton in the UK from May 2022.
MSC Cruises will base five ships in Northern Europe and offer more than 50 different itineraries with a variety of itineraries ranging from three to 21 nights in length, and multiple embarkation ports.
The Magnifica will spend the summer in Northern Europe and take on the cruises previously announced for the Orchestra offering the exact same itineraries out of Hamburg with 10-,11- and 14-night cruises.
There will be more than 40 itineraries in the Mediterranean throughout the summer 2022 season with the deployment of 14 glamourous ships, MSC Cruises said. This is the most vessels the cruise line has ever had in the region, with multiple embarkation ports on offer – from mini-cruises to longer cruises of up to 21 nights.
A brand new itinerary will be the Orchestra calling regularly in Lisbon offering MSC’s guests from Portugal a chance to cruise from a local port for the whole summer season.
The new 10-night itinerary will call Genoa in Italy, Marseille/Provence in France, Malaga, Cadiz/Seville, Alicante/Costa Blanca, and Mahon/Menorca in Spain, Lisbon in Portugal, and Olbia in Emerald Coast/Sardinia in Italy.
Also, in the Western Mediterranean, next summer will be the Grandiosa, Meraviglia, Opera, Splendida, Seaview and the Seaside, as well as the Magnifica and Poesia in fall.
The Musica, Fantasia, Sinfonia, Armonia and the Lirica will operate in the East Mediterranean.
The Fantasia in autumn 2022 will offer 11-night cruises from Trieste with calls in Izmir/Ephesus or Istanbul. The Magnifica will offer 11-night sailings from Genoa to Morocco and the Canary Islands. The Preziosa will sail from Hamburg to the Northern Pearls in seven nights while the Poesia will be deployed on mini-cruises in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the Caribbean, MSC’s flagship the Seashore will continue to sail out of PortMiami whilst the Divina will offer three-, four- and seven-night cruises out of Port Canaveral (Orlando) with both ships calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in The Bahamas.
The Bellissima will be deployed in Asia with cruises in Japan and China.
MSC Cruises guests since August 2020 have been sailing under the protection of the line’s health and safety protocol that was developed with the input of a Blue-Ribbon Panel of experts. During the last 16 months, the measures in place have either been eased or tightened to match the evolution of the pandemic, the cruise line wrote.
All MSC Cruises’ holidays are now only open to vaccinated guests and this will continue to be the case for summer 2022.
The line said that it will continue to implement the appropriate measures to ensure “the highest level of protection” for its guests and crew.
Edited by: John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor