MSC Cruises launched its summer 2022 campaign under the Cruise with Confidence program that confirms its industry-leading health & safety protocol, clear & flexible booking policy, vaccination & testing requirements and the return to independent exploration ashore will apply to all sailings through summer 2022.
The Cruise with Confidence promise will cover all new and existing bookings for sailings through the end of the next summer season. Procedures implemented under Cruise with Confidence have already allowed the cruise line to offer a safe and flexible cruise vacation to over one million guests throughout all phases of the pandemic.
“We were able to lead the restart of our industry in August last year thanks to a comprehensive and flexible health and safety protocol that was designed to adapt to the evolution of the pandemic ashore and has since set the standard across the travel and hospitality sector,” says Gianni Onorato, CEO, MSC Cruises, in a press statement. “With this, we were able to continue to offer the highest level of protection to our guests, crew and communities where our ships call to responsibly and safely welcome on board over one million guests for their getaway at sea.
With the pandemic continuing to evolve, we understand the importance of having clear information to reassure our guests that they can book a cruise with confidence and with flexibility to give them total peace of mind,” he continues. “We are thus extending our successful Cruise with Confidence guarantee to all cruises through summer 2022 to continue to offer new and existing guests a safe, flexible and enjoyable vacation option. Reinforced with the required COVID-19 protection plan, this insurance gives guests extra security before and during the cruise. Finally, we also see the return of a full experience ashore with the reintroduction of independent shore excursions where local regulations allow—there really has been no better time to book a cruise vacation.”
Guests can book and cruise with confidence thanks to the following elements:
- All guests and crew vaccinated and tested—All guests aged 12* and above are required to be fully vaccinated. Further, all guests aged two and above are required to submit a negative test prior to boarding. All ship crew are also fully vaccinated, regularly tested and follow strict health & safety policies.
- Booking flexibility free of charge—All cruises can be rescheduled free of charge up to 48 hours** prior to sailing, for any reason.
- Peace of mind thanks to COVID protection plan —All guests and their bookings are fully protected by the required COVID-19 protection insurance, covering events such as testing positive before boarding or at any point during your vacation. And at the end of the cruise, it will be simple to meet any testing requirements for returning home thanks to antigen or RT-PCR testing available either onboard or in the terminal.
- A full experience to make the cruise safe & enjoyable—Guests are free to disembark and independently explore ports of call wherever local regulations allow. MSC Cruises has worked in partnership with authorities in all the regions and countries in which the ships operate to ensure the cruise line’s protocol meets, exceeds and adapts to the required regional and national health and safety measures.
Additionally, the line continues to monitor and adapt its industry-leading health and safety protocol that was developed last year by the Blue Ribbon COVID Expert Group. Together, the panel of highly qualified and internationally respected experts helped inform MSC Cruises’ operating protocol to protect the health and safety of guests and crew during every aspect of the guest’s journey, while maintaining the line’s unique guest experience. Since its original inception, the panel has been reinforced with the addition of Dr. Robert R. Redfield, an American virologist and infectious disease clinician who most recently served as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2018 to 2021.
* For Red Sea cruises, guests aged 8 years or older need to be fully vaccinated with a vaccine recognized by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
For more information, visit msccruisesusa.com.
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