MSC Cruises said the MSC Grandiosa will resume sailing in the Mediterranean on Jan. 24, after canceling a few cruises due to new COVID-19 restrictions in Italy.
Italy prohibited access to its seaports through Jan. 15, so the MSC Grandiosa canceled the Jan. 10 and Jan. 17 voyages.
Now, MSC Cruises' flagship will resume planned weekly cruises leaving every Sunday from Genoa, Italy, and calling the other Italian ports of Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo as well as Valetta in Malta. Embarkation will be available from each port in Italy.
The latest ministerial decree authorized the resumption of cruise operations using the health and safety protocols developed with Italian health, transport and safety authorities last summer. Since then, MSC Cruises has safely welcomed over 30,000 guests on its two ships based out of Italy.
This company's protocol was recently strengthened to include onboard antigen testing of all guests midway through the cruise, which is in addition to the existing pre-boarding universal testing for all guests.
All crew will be tested weekly, an increase from twice-a-month. The policy also tightens the definition of close contact for tracing purposes, reducing the time that individuals are in contact from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
MSC Cruises in August 2020 became the first major cruise line to resume sailing following the global shutdown in March. MSC Grandiosa set sail on Aug. 16 from Genoa in Italy with guests on board for the first of seven-night voyages in the Western Mediterranean.
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