MSC Meraviglia Returns to Europe for First Time Since 2022
Passengers can board the seven-night rotation in Spain, France or Italy, with Tunis included as a call but not an embarkation port.
MSC Meraviglia has returned to Europe for the first time since 2022, beginning a Western Mediterranean season in May after nearly four years assigned to the Caribbean and North America. The 167,600-gross-ton ship is sailing seven-night cruises in the region through mid-October before a scheduled trans-Atlantic repositioning to the United States.
The deployment shifts one of MSC Cruises’ largest ships out of a North American cycle that included Port Canaveral and, most recently, three years of year-round departures from New York City. For European ports, it adds a 4,488-passenger vessel at double occupancy to the summer Mediterranean cruise season.
Western Mediterranean sailings use multiple embarkation ports
MSC Meraviglia’s regular weeklong itinerary includes calls in Barcelona, Marseille, Livorno, Naples, Palermo and Tunis. Passengers can embark at every scheduled port on the rotation except Tunis, giving MSC a multi-port boarding pattern across Spain, France and Italy.
Built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique, MSC Meraviglia was introduced in early 2017. It is the original ship in MSC’s Meraviglia class. The 1,034-foot vessel has 2,244 cabins and a listed maximum capacity of up to 5,700 guests, with about 1,400 crew.
New York deployment ends after three years
Before returning to Europe, MSC Meraviglia operated from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal between April 2023 and April 2026 as part of MSC Cruises’ first full deployment from New York. The ship’s New York program included itineraries to the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Canada and New England. The vessel had previously spent the 2022-23 winter season sailing from Port Canaveral.
After the trans-Atlantic voyage, MSC Meraviglia is scheduled to return to PortMiami for the 2026-27 winter season. It will sail from South Florida alongside MSC World America, MSC Seaside and MSC Poesia on six- to eight-night Eastern and Southern Caribbean cruises, with most departures also calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve in the Bahamas.
