MSC Cruises Kicks-Off Campaign to Vaccinate All Crew Members

MSC Cruises this week announced that it was launching a crew-wide vaccination campaign that it hopes will be a “further level of protection” against COVID-19 as it continues its restart.

The first vaccines were given to Master of MSC Bellissima Captain Giuseppe Maresca and all of his crew. MSC will now prioritize crewmembers working on the 10 ships set to restart this summer in the Mediterranean and Central Europe, along with those scheduled to restart in the Caribbean out of U.S. ports.

The plan now is for all of its crew to be vaccinated as a further level of protection for them, and for guests, as the cruise line continues to ramp up its restart.

“As our ships prepare to welcome more and more guests over the coming weeks and months, we are pleased to announce the start of a comprehensive plan of vaccinations for all of our crew. Our aim is of adding a further level of protection for both themselves and the guests they will welcome for their holidays as we lead the way in the industry’s restart this summer,” Gianni Onorato, MSC Cruises CEO said.

While MSC is not requiring its guests to be vaccinated as of yet, all of the line’s summer sailings will operate under the same health and safety protocols that MSC deployed to its previous post-pandemic sailings in the Mediterranean, which have been operating since August 2020. Those cruises have already successfully sailed over 60,000 guests.

The full health and safety requirements can be found here. There are no vaccination requirements; however, international guests have restrictions on some of the sailings. The Grandiosa and Seaside sailings in the upcoming months will only welcome guests from the European “Schengen” countries along with Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia.

All guests will be required to complete a health questionnaire and report any symptoms or exposure to COVID-19 in the 14 days before embarkation. At the terminal, guests will then be required to undergo a contactless temperature check and a COVID-19 screening (antigen swab test). Depending on the screening results, guests may participate in a secondary review with medical professionals or be denied boarding.