MSC Cruises wants to bring winter sailings back to Alicante
MSC Cruises is exploring a comeback after cancelling its 2024 Costa Blanca sailings
MSC Cruises is staying in Alicante for at least two more years and is now looking at bringing back the winter season it dropped after just one year.
The Italian-Swiss line will keep the port on its itinerary in 2027 and 2028, completing a seven-year run that began in 2022 with its first embarkation base in the city. Calls have ranged from 18 in that first season to a record 32 in 2023, with 24 planned for 2026 and 27 scheduled for 2027.
MSC’s only winter season from Alicante, in 2023, offered ten departures between January 16 and April 6, on ten-night Western Mediterranean voyages aboard the MSC Lirica. It was dropped a year later when the company repositioned its ships amid instability in the Middle East, which also led to its Red Sea itineraries being cancelled. The winter departures planned for January 2024 never went ahead, although the summer base survived.
The company is now exploring a return, but not before 2028, as cruise lines plan two years ahead and are already working on 2029. A winter base would also help with the long-held aim of reducing the tourist season in the province.
In the meantime, MSC has already begun to extend its calls beyond the summer months. The MSC Euribia visited on Monday and the MSC Meraveglia on Wednesday, with more stops lined up for Friday November 13 and December 13 and 23. The 27 calls in 2027 will run from March 29 to December 23, still without embarkation.
Sofía Basterra, MSC Cruises’ communications director in Spain, put the growth down to a positive response so far, with 85,000 passengers expected on cruises calling at the city in 2026, 43,000 of them starting from Alicante.
“We feel very comfortable here because the relationship with local authorities and suppliers is excellent,” she said.
Image: MSC
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