MSC Reveals Details of 2019-2020 Cruise Season

MSC Cruises is heating up the 2019-2020 winter cruising season.

With itineraries that span the globe, the cruise line announced new ships, ports, destinations, a private island and more.

In the Mediterranean, the brand-new MSC Grandiosa will sail the Western Mediterranean during the winter 2019-2020 season. Sales open on March 5, 2018, for the mega-ship, which will be the first Meraviglia Plus-class ship and feature Cirque du Soleil at Sea onboard.

MSC Sinfonia will also sail the Mediterranean on longer, 11-, 12- and 14-night cruises.

A new 14-night itinerary will also be offered on the Sinfonia. The sailing calls at the historic port of Haifa, Israel. Guests spend two full days discovering the ancient cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Other ports of call include Civitavecchia (Rome), Messina, Genoa, Barcelona, Marseille, the Greek island of Rhodes, the southern Cypriot city of Limassol and Heraklion, Crete.

Guests can also book a new 12-night Mediterranean itinerary onboard the Sinfonia that sails from Genoa, Italy, to exotic destinations such as Tangier, Morocco; the Roman-Spanish city of Cartagena; and Funchal, Portugal. The sailing finishes in Civitavecchia (Rome).

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New in North America

MSC also announced that before the MSC Meraviglia heads to Miami, the ship will sail 12-night itineraries from New York.

Two 10-night, roundtrip New York sailings will be offered, calling in Bar Harbor, Boston, and Portland, Maine, before heading to the Canadian ports of Charlottetown, Corner Brook, Halifax, Quebec, St. John and Sydney.

MSC Meraviglia will complete a 17-night Trans-Atlantic cruise from Kiel, Germany, calling in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland and Canada before heading to New York.

With MSC deploying six ships for the 2019-2020 winter season, there will be even more ways for MSC visitors to experience the Caribbean in 2019 and 2020.

A highlight for guests is sure to be the opening of Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in the winter of 2019. The new private island is exclusively for MSC passengers and offers 40 acres of beaches split into six distinct areas, each with its own atmosphere.

Once in the Caribbean, MSC Meraviglia will sail two different Western Caribbean itineraries out of the Port of Miami. The MSC Seaside will continue to sail seven nights from Miami to the eastern and western Caribbean.

The MSC Seaside, MSC Meraviglia, MSC Divina and MSC Armonia will all call on the island. A specially built pier will allow guests open access to move between the port and the ships at leisure.

READ MORE: Another Big Addition for PortMiami

MSC Divina will return from the Mediterranean in November of 2019 and will sail two long cruises from Miami. The first cruise will be an 11-night cruise to Jamaica, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. The second will be a 10-night cruise that includes Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Maarten, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

MSC Preziosa will also be in the Caribbean. The ship will sail from Fort de France in Martinique and Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe. These two seven-night, seven-port sailings can be combined into one 14-night cruise, visiting the British Virgin Islands (Tortola), St. Maarten, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada as well as Saint Vincent and The Grenadines.

A New Ship in the Middle East

Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be home to one of MSC’s newest ships. The MSC Bellissima, which will enter service in the spring of 2019, will sail the Mediterranean and then move to the Middle East for winter.

Two different seven-night itineraries will be offered. Guests sail to Sir Bani Yas Island, exclusive to MSC Cruises guests when in port, and to Khasab and Muscat in Oman or Bahrain and Qatar.

READ MORE: MSC Cruises Will Add Lirica to UAE

The MSC Lyrics will join Bellissima in the region with longer sailings of the Persian Gulf. A 14-night itinerary offers overnight calls in Mumbai and Goa, and an 11-night sailing features Muscat and an overnight in Oman.

Around the World With MSC

MSC Cruises will offer a new world cruise onboard the MSC Magnifica in January 2020. The journey will call in more than 40 destinations and 23 countries, spanning five continents over three months.