A fire has broken out on the cruise ship MSC Lirica today in the port of Corfu, Greece. Plumes of black smoke and flames were seen rising out of the cruise ship, which has been moored in Corfu since January 30. MSC Cruises reported that there are no crew injuries on the MSC Lirica. Firefighters and Coast Guard boats rushed to the scene to help put out the fire. 

MSC Cruises plans to restart Greece cruise program in April 2021, just in time for the upcoming Easter holiday. The company said in a press release that it is working closely with the relevant authorities including the Greek Ministry of Tourism for the reopening of local tourist services in time to serve cruise passengers.

Today, February 1 2021, MSC Cruises has taken delivery of the fleet's 18th ship, MSC Virtuosa. In a private ceremony held at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint Nazaire, France, the new ship received its official flag and was baptized. The ceremony was attended by MSC Cruises executive president, Pierfrancesco Vago, Captain Massa, as well as representatives of the MSC new construction team, along with representatives from the shipyard.

With the release of the vaccine for COVID for essential workers such as medical professionals and positive thus far response from people who have taken both doses of the vaccine, the cruise industry is starting to review options related to how they can implement policies related to vaccination in order to be able to return the crew to work and the guests to enjoy cruises. However, the views of each cruise line appear to be different, at least for now.

MSC Cruises’ flagship MSC Grandiosa resumed her weekly cruise operations with passengers on Sunday 24 January. MSC Grandiosa departed last night from the port of Genoa in Italy to resume its regular 7-night cruises in the Mediterranean after a short pause of operations during the holiday period.

MSC Cruises announced that MSC Grandiosa will resume the weekly voyages in the Western Mediterranean starting January 24, 2021. The company plans to return at sea with a second ship, the MSC Magnifica which will resume her scheduled 11-nights cruises in Italy, Greece, and Malta from February 14.

MANILA (Jan 4, 2021) - In a press release the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) capped its repatriation efforts in 2020 by bringing home 327,511 overseas Filipinos workers, coming from at least 90 countries around the world. The DFA said that 29.3 percent of the overseas Filipinos workers, or 95,974 in total, are seafarers from more than 150 cruise ships, oil tankers, and other bulk vessels.

Two MSC cruise ships departed from South America and set sail on a trans-Atlantic voyage back to Europe. The decision to cancel the South American season for MSC Musica and Sinfonia comes after the closing of the borders in Uruguay as well as Brazil’s decision to restrict the entry of foreigners by land and sea for 30 days, report Brazilian media.

MSC Cruises announced today that the company has received ‘certificate of compliance’ from the Japanese maritime classification society ClassNK for its health and safety protocol which is the first step towards the restart of cruises in Japan. In a press release, MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato said they are anticipating to resume cruises from Japan in  April 2021.

Several Italian news outlets including the newspaper Giornale di Sicilia reported an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases detected in Sicily.