Fresh from Dry Dock, MSC Cruise Ship Starts 7-Day ...

Should you’re wanting into Caribbean cruises which might be full of ports, MSC Cruises simply introduced a 19-deck ship throughout the Atlantic Ocean that might match the invoice.

Shortly after the arrival of MSC Grandiosa, the primary Meraviglia Plus class ship to homeport in the US, one other MSC Cruises ship in the identical class is now crusing the Caribbean.

However this ship isn’t crusing out of Florida.  The embarkation ports for this newly refurbished ship will make for some very distinctive cruises which might be not possible with a 7-day cruise from PortMiami or Port Canaveral.  In truth, these week-long cruises have solely one sea day and go to 5 ports of name.

After a brief, obligatory dry dock that solely lasted 23 days, MSC Virtuosa has efficiently accomplished a Transatlantic crusing and is now providing 7- and 14-night cruises out of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Barbados.

Beginning these cruises out of Southern Caribbean ports enable a 14-day crusing to go to locations like Grenada, Tortola, St Kitts, St. Lucia, Grand-Terre, St, Vincent and St Johns.  These two-week sailings will go to a few of these ports twice on the identical cruise.

Even a 7-day cruise out of Martinique will go to Guadeloupe, Tortola, St. Maarten, St Johns, and St Kitts.

A median 7-day cruise from Florida would possibly go to ports like Roatan, Grand Cayman, St. Maarten or St. Thomas.  However any additional into the Caribbean requires an extended length, which is what makes MSC Virtuosa’s positioning so distinctive, particularly for a ship of this dimension.

You possibly can anticipate 2 to three sea days on the common Caribbean and Bahamas cruise out of Florida.  On these MSC Virtuosa sailings, there are just about zero sea days, so it’s a fantastic choice for these desirous to expertise extra of the Caribbean itself.

However in fact, it’s going to require that flight to and from the Caribbean.  Many of the ship’s itineraries will begin in both Martinique or Guadeloupe.

A few of the ports visited on a 7-day cruise on MSC Virtuosa (relying on the date):

• Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
• Castries, St. Lucia
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Kingstown, St. Vincent
• St. George’s, Grenada
• Highway City, Tortola (British Virgin Islands)
• Philipsburg, St. Maarten
• Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
• St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda

The Dry Dock

The ship, inbuilt 2021, was despatched to Rotterdam, Netherlands for her dry dock.  This was primarily a technical inspection and for classification functions in order that elements of the ship under the waterline may very well be checked out and maintained.  

After 4 years of service, the ship remains to be pretty new, and no beauty refurbishments or enhancements would have been made. The hull was uncovered and cleaned and coated with an antifouling layer, and all the thrusters, propellers, and stabilizers have been inspected and repaired if essential.

On November 19, MSC Virtuosa left Rotterdam and started her repositioning voyage throughout the Atlantic.  The ship arrived in Martinique on December 6 after visiting a number of ports of name all through the Southern Caribbean.

About MSC Virtuosa

MSC Virtuosa is a 181,541 gross ton ship that has a most capability of 6,334 passengers (4,842 at double capability).  It’s a Meraviglia Plus-class ship, which is the second largest class with MSC Cruises, solely to be outdone by the 215,000+ World-class ships.

MSC Virtuosa has simply arrived again at homeport in Fort-de-France, Martinique at this time and is scheduled to depart on a 7-day crusing that may go to Guadeloupe, Tortola, St. Maarten, St Johns, and St Kitts.  

That’s a port-packed 7-day crusing that’s solely potential when departing from southern ports like Martinique or San Juan, Puerto Rico.

7-day sailings on MSC Virtuosa begin round $779 per particular person, relying on the time of yr.  The ship is scheduled to return to Europe in April 2026.

Simply final week, MSC Grandiosa arrived in Port Canaveral, and this ship affords a wide range of cruises, from 3- to 7-, and even 14-night durations.