MSC Divina to homeport in Miami year-round from 2016

MSC Cruises announced earlier it will deploy MSC Divina from Miami year-round in 2016.

The decision will allow a global audience to benefit from added itineraries and increased availability of the unique MSC Cruises experience in the Caribbean.

The stunning 3,502-guest MSC Divina had been set to return to Miami for its winter Caribbean season in November 2015 before returning to Europe again in April 2016.

Instead, the redeployed ship will remain at its Miami home port and offer 24 seven-night itineraries to multiple Caribbean ports.

The week-long ‘butterfly’ cruises will alternate between MSC Divina’s traditional western Caribbean route and the eastern Caribbean, allowing guests to create longer 14-night voyages.

The sharpened Caribbean focus comes only a month after MSC Cruises revealed that MSC Seaside, the first of its next generation, under-construction ‘Seaside’ class of ships will also sail year-round from Miami to the Caribbean, starting November 2017.

MSC Cruises’ Miami-based operations will benefit from a newly renovated and expanded dedicated berth at Terminal 5 at PortMiami.

MSC Divina will sail 14 seven-night itineraries in the eastern Caribbean, with ports of call including Philipsburg, St Maarten; San Juan, Puerto Rico and Nassau, the Bahamas.

In the western Caribbean, calls will include Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Cayman Islands; Cozumel, Mexico and Nassau, Bahamas.

For summer 2016, MSC Divina’s planned western Mediterranean programme will now be operated by the 3,274-passenger MSC Fantasia.

The popular itinerary, which begins in Genoa, Italy, features seven ports in seven days – Cannes, France; Palma, Majorca; Barcelona, Spain; the newly-added port of Ajaccio, Corsica;  Naples, Italy; La Spezia, Italy; and Genoa.