MSC Cruises has announced it is postponing the restart of MSC Magnifica, until 26 September, just days after the successful reintroduction of sailings on MSC Grandiosa.
In a statement, the cruise line said: “In connection with the recent introduction of additional testing measures for residents of Italy having travelled to Greece, we are seeing cancellations and a softening in demand since the ship’s itinerary includes as many as three ports in that country. This has led to the decision to delay the restart of the ship by four weeks.”
As a result, MSC Magnifica cruise departures from 29 August to 19 September have been cancelled. The first cruise will depart from Bari, Italy with an unchanged itinerary on 26 September.
Cruises are currently only available to residents of the Schengen area, although the majority of guests are expected to be Italian.
MSC Cruises added that it believes that reservations will start to pick up again in the coming weeks due to the appeal of the itinerary.
UK & Irish guests can not book cruises departing before November, due to the current FCO advice.