MSC Cruises has revised MSC Sinfonia’s and MSC Musica’s Eastern Mediterranean itineraries in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Sinfonia’s future eight 11-night voyages will see Haifa, Israel replaced by Istanbul in Turkey which also means Rhodes will be replaced by Piraeus, Greece and Izmir in Turkey will replace Limassol, Cyprus.

Starting 21 October 2023, Sinfonia’s new itinerary will be the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia and Messina followed by Piraeus, Izmir, Istanbul and Heraklion in Crete before the ship returns to Genoa, Italy.

Meanwhile, Musica’s future three seven-night voyages from Piraeus, Greece will see Haifa replaced by Rhodes on 18 and 25 October 2023 and Marmaris in Turkey on 1 November 2023.

Safety of passengers and crew amid Israel-Hamas conflict MSC’s ‘top priority’

MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato said the safety of the line’s passengers and crew is “always our top priority”.

“We have worked rapidly to revise the itineraries of Sinfonia and Musica to offer an extremely attractive alternative for the winter months,” he added.

The line has started the process of communication with all of its passengers and travel agent partners affected by the changes.

MSC will also update its website to reflect the confirmed details of the new itineraries to provide clarity for existing passengers, as well as for anyone looking to book future holidays at sea in the Eastern Mediterranean during the winter months.

Earlier this week Celestyal temporarily suspended all calls to Israel on its Three Continents itinerary until the end of November 2023.