MSC Cruises commenced its Northern Europe summer season over the weekend (3-4 July), when MSC Seaview departed from the German port of Kiel for the first of its seven-night cruises in the Baltic Sea.

MSC Seaview is the seventh MSC Cruises’ ship to resume sailings with paying guests, with a further three preparing to start, which will see half of the line’s fleet back at sea by the end of the summer.

Five MSC Cruises’ ships are currently sailing in the Mediterranean – MSC Grandiosa MSC Seaside, MSC Orchestra, MSC Splendida and MSC Magnifica. A sixth ship MSC Virtuosa has operated cruises around the UK for British guests since 20 May.

The weekend also saw Marseille added to MSC Seaview’s sister ship MSC Seaside’s western Mediterranean itinerary – the first French port to reopen for the cruise line and welcome international guests for weekly calls.

MSC Seaview will homeport in Kiel until the beginning of October and the ship will welcome German and international guests for an itinerary to Visby on one of Sweden’s largest islands Gotland; Nynäshamn near the Swedish capital city of Stockholm, and Estonia’s capital Tallinn.

The ship will call at Warnemunde from 23 July, adding another port in Germany that will allow guests to embark and disembark, as well as offering another option for shore excursions.

From 2 August MSC Meraviglia will resume Caribbean cruises from Miami and will be joined in the region from 18 September when MSC Divina restarts sailing from Port Canaveral.

MSC Seashore will also come into service in August with voyages in the western Mediterranean, before transferring to Miami for a season in the Caribbean from November.

MSC recently started construction on MSC Euribia, which the line claimed will be its most environmentally advanced ship to date. The ship, which is scheduled to launch in 2023, will operate on liquefied natural gas.