MSC Cruises has extended the temporary fleet-wide halt of its cruise operation through to 31 July 2020.

All affected UK and Irish guests will receive a future cruise credit for 125 per cent of their cruise value which can be used on any ship, for any itinerary, through to the end of 2021.

All future cruise credits will be issued automatically and guests will be able to redeem their voucher starting from June 21 and reschedule their cruise to a time that suits them.

Alternatively, guests can apply for a refund equal to the original amount of the cruise fare paid only and the additional 25 per cent will not be included.

The announcement comes as the Swiss-based cruise line reconfirmed its full 2021 summer programme, starting in March 2021, which will include two new ships currently under construction and a series of new or enriched itineraries and homeports.

The 2021 summer season will include mini-cruises of three or four-nights, standard seven-night long sailings and longer cruises of nine, 11 and 14-nights.

MSC Cruises’ three Seaside-class ships – MSC Seaside, MSC Seaview and MSC Seashore – will all be deployed together for the first time in the Western Mediterranean.

MSC Seashore will now come into service from 1 August 2021 due to the delay that was caused by the temporary closure of the shipyard due to the Covid-19 pandemic and for this period, MSC Fantasia will temporarily cover her itinerary (with guests receiving a shipboard credit of €100 for this change.)

MSC Seashore will have the highest ratio of outdoor space per guest of any ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet and will offer the cruise line’s ‘Six Pearls’ itinerary, calling at the Italian cities of Genoa and, for visits to Pompeii, Naples; Messina, Sicily; Valletta, Malta; Barcelona, Spain and Marseille, France. 

She will be joined by sister ships MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview in their Genoa homeport and operate seven-night cruises. 

MSC Cruises will return to Tunisia from August when MSC Fantasia operates seven-night cruises from Genoa calling Marseille, Barcelona, the port of La Goulette in Tunis, Palermo and Civitavecchia. 

Nine to 12-night cruises will also be available from Genoa, Italy in late summer to Morocco, the Canary Islands, Madeira and Portugal, Greece and Israel with MSC Poesia calling in the port of Haifa.

New for summer 2021, MSC Lirica will be deployed from Venice, Italy and will also offer embarkation in the northern Italian port of Trieste, with an itinerary calling at Zadar, Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro and Corfu in Greece.

MSC Musica, MSC Orchestra, MSC Opera and MSC Sinfonia, will sail seven-night itineraries also departing from Venice and calling the Greek islands, Montenegro and Croatia.

MSC Virtuosa will spend her first summer season with seven- to 14-night cruises from the German port of Kiel, Germany alternating between the fjords and the Baltic capitals, with all itineraries offering embarkation in both Kiel and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Seven-night to 14-night itineraries to the Norwegian fjords and the Baltic Capitals will be available on MSC Splendida, which will also offer 10 and 11-night cruises to the Baltic capitals or North Cape.

MSC Magnifica will homeport in Southampton, UK and offer seven-night itineraries to the fjords of Norway, 14-nights to the Baltic capitals or the Mediterranean in mid-August, 12-nights to the Canary Islands and a seven-night cruise to calling the “Northern Pearls” of Hamburg, Germany; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Zeebrugge, Belgium and Le Havre, France.

MSC Preziosa will sail nine- to 14-night itineraries from Hamburg with destinations in Ireland, Iceland and North Cape and Spitzbergen in Norway.

MSC Meraviglia will offer seven-night cruises from Miami in Florida departing every Saturday, while MSC Armonia will offer new shorter three-and four-night getaway cruises also from Miami departing on Mondays and Fridays and calling Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

MSC Divina will sail for the first time from Port Canaveral, Florida – a new homeport for MSC Cruises – and offer a mix of three-, four- and seven-night cruises. With this new home port, MSC Cruises’ guests will now have the option of exploring the Orlando area pre- or post-cruise.

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve will remain a key highlight of cruises in the Caribbean, with all three ships calling at the private island destination in The Bahamas. 

CEO of MSC Cruises, Gianni Onorato, commented: “While today we have taken the difficult decision to further extend the halt of operations of all our ships, it is important that we also look ahead as we know that our customers are dreaming of travel and are wanting to plan their holidays for next year.

“For this reason, we have now also confirmed our full summer programme for 2021.

“Shorter-term, our ships will return to service only when the time is right, in phases and by region, and following guidance from the relevant national and international health and other regulatory authorities and the support of a new operating protocol especially focused on health and safety, which we will announce soon.

“This way, gradually, all of our ships will return to sea between then and the beginning of our summer 2021 season.”

Visit msccruises.co.uk for more information.