After nine successful sailings on MSC Grandiosa, MSC Cruises now has a second cruise ship offering cruises in the Mediterranean.
MSC Magnifica left Genoa yesterday and become the second MSC cruise ship to return to service. The ship implemented the cruise line’s comprehensive health and safety protocols that include protected “social bubble” ashore visits, allowing guests to also enjoy destinations at each port of call.
The cruise ship has commenced a 10-night cruise of relaxation and discovery in the West and East Mediterranean Sea with planned calls at the port of Livorno for visits to Florence and Pisa, Messina in Sicily, Piraeus for Athens, Katakolon for Olympia, Valletta in Malta, and Civitavecchia for Rome, before returning to Genoa.
MSC Magnifica will operate six enriched, long Mediterranean cruises before the end of the year, including a special 8-night Christmas voyage that will depart Genoa on December 18, 2020.
This is the second cruise ship to implement MSC Cruises’ comprehensive health and safety protocol, that has been endorsed by external medical experts and formally approved by the relevant national and regional authorities.
The comprehensive safety-first measures designed to protect the wellbeing of guests, crew and communities visited were first implemented in August when MSC Grandiosa became the world’s first major cruise vessel to return to service.
The cruise line’s flagship has now completed nine 7-night voyages and positively demonstrated the protocol’s effectiveness. The measures include protected “social bubble” ashore visits, allowing guests to also enjoy destinations at each port of call.
The MSC Cruises health and safety protocol includes universal health screening of everyone – guests and crew – which includes tests for COVID-19 before they can board a ship; elevated sanitation and cleaning measures throughout the vessel; managed social distancing; wearing of face masks in public areas; and technology to aid track and trace on board. In this initial phase, the ship’s capacity has also been reduced to 70 percent to ensure social distancing can be guaranteed on board.
For this initial phase of the restart of operations in the Mediterranean, MSC Grandiosa and MSC Magnifica are currently welcoming guests who are residents in Schengen countries only.
