MSC Cruises plans a glamorous event in Dubai for the naming ceremony of the company's newest flagship MSC Virtuosa which will take place on November 27, 2021. 

During the past year, the crew was not allowed to go out in ports and most of them haven’t step foot on land for the entire length of their contract. However, with the recent developments and vaccination of the shipboard employees, things are slowly starting to move in the right direction. I spoke with my fellow crew members to find out if the crew is allowed to go out in ports and if the cruise lines organize protected shore excursions for them. 

MSC Cruises’ MSC Seaview has arrived today at her homeport Kiel ahead of the scheduled restart of cruises starting on July 3, as the first MSC cruise ship sailing out of Germany since the beginning of the pandemic last year. 

Today MSC Cruises announced the construction of its 22nd ship in the fleet at the steel cutting ceremony at Saint Nazaire shipyard in France. The latest ship will be named MSC Euribia after the ancient Greek goddess of the sea, entering in service in June 2023. The latest ship will be the most environmentally advanced vessel of MSC Cruises, as well as the second in the fleet to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the cleanest fossil fuel in the world. 

No doubt the internet is one of the most important things for crew working onboard the cruise ships. The net is the window to the outside world, connecting the crew with their loved ones back home.

Today, June 26, the cruise ship MSC Grandiosa arrived at the Port of Barcelona becoming the first international ship to call at the Catalan capital since the start of the pandemic. The arrival of the ship marks the restart of the cruise activity in Barcelona with about 2,000 cruise passengers onboard MSC Grandiosa, mostly Italians and Germans.

A passenger sailing on the cruise ship MSC Grandiosa was medically evacuated yesterday by the Italian Coast Guard after suffering from internal bleeding. 

The cruise ship MSC Splendida set sail from Trieste, Italy on June 12, becoming the fifth MSC Cruises vessel to resume operations. MSC Splendida will depart each Saturday from Trieste on a 7-night East Mediterranean itinerary along the Adriatic and arrive in Ancona on Sunday and Bari on Tuesday, calling at Corfu (Greece), Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia until 3 July when a stopover will be included in Ko

MSC Cruises will restart voyages from U.S. ports this summer on two of its ships. The company confirmed plans to return to guest operations from U.S. ports with updated itineraries on MSC Meraviglia and MSC Divina. After receiving CDC approval for simulation cruise, MSC Meraviglia will sail out of PortMiami starting July 17, 2021. MSC Meraviglia will begin 3- and 4-night cruises also from Miami on August 2, 2021.

This month three cruise ships are scheduled for regular stops at the port of Venice. The return of the cruise liners after a long 17 months ban saw the first ship MSC Orchestra sailing to the lagoon to pick-up about 650 passengers on Saturday, June 5. MSC Orchestra will make regular stops in Venice each Saturday during her 7-day Mediterranean voyages this summer.