MSC Cruises’ Magnifica ship arrived today (20 April) in the French port of Marseille, the final port of call of her itinerary.

The 1,769 passengers on board, of which 12 are from the UK, will be disembarking the ship today and tomorrow.

None of the passengers or crew members on board are displaying any symptoms of coronavirus (covid-19), the cruise line has confirmed.

MSC Magnifica left Europe in January on a 117-day world cruise, which was forced to be cut short after the global suspensions of sailings was announced.

Returning from Australia, MSC Magnifica called at the Australian ports of Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle for refueling and provisions, as well as Colombo in Sri Lanka, en route to France, with no new embarkations allowed.

A spokesperson for the cruise line said: “Disembarkation of the 1,769 passengers on board, of which none are displaying any symptoms of covid-19 and nor are any of the 927 crew members, started earlier today and will continue tomorrow under the auspices of Port Health of Marseille and other relevant authorities.

The last date that MSC Magnifica allowed any new embarkation of passengers or crew was on 10 March in Wellington, New Zealand, more than 40 days ago.

“Most estimates of the incubation period for covid-19 range, according to the World Health Organization, are between one and 14 days, with five days being the global average.

“All passengers and crew during the past 40 days remained healthy and displayed no flu-like symptoms.

“MSC Magnifica since Wellington called the Australian ports of Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle for refueling and provisions, as well as Colombo in Sri Lanka, en route to France.

“No new embarkations were allowed at any of these ports, expressly to protect the health and wellbeing of all passengers and crew and to insulate them from the ashore spread of covid-19. ”

MSC Cruises has provided onward travel from Marseille for all passengers through a variety of means, including road, rail and air.

“The company has also chartered aircraft where no schedule air service currently operates due to many commercial airlines grounding their aircraft as a result of the global pandemic,” MSC Cruises added.

All MSC Cruises’ ships have now come to a fleet-wide temporary halt. The cruise line announced on 30 March that it has further extended the suspension of its departures fleet-wide through to 29 May.

Visit msccruises.co.uk for more information.