Ally

MSC Cruises’ new brochure, coming in July, will include Winter 2006/07 and Summer 2007 itineraries until November, the longest schedule the company has ever published.

Next year MSC will combine Libya with the Black Sea and continue its Greek Isles program with an overnight in Mykonos, said ceo Pierfrancesco Vago. As in 2006, the company will also offer a Monte Carlo-Valencia America’s Cup itinerary.

Longer cruises and new ports are among the trends. MSC Opera’s 11-night Caribbean sailings from Fort Lauderdale will feature new destinations including Costa Maya and, in Colombia, Santa Marta. Other ports are Curaçao and, in the Dominican Republic, Cayo Levantado.

MSC Rhapsody will offer longer cruises in Northern Europe, with 12-day itineraries from Amsterdam to the Norwegian Fjords, North Cape and the Baltic capitals, with new calls in Rønne (on the Danish island of Bornholm) and Riga, Latvia. In the Mediterranean, spring and autumn departures from Genoa will chart Alexandria with an overnight in Piraeus, an itinerary that alternates with Black Sea cruises.

New also are the spring and autumn itineraries for MSC Opera, which will start from Trieste and call at Ancona, Gythion, Piraeus, Corfu and Split. MSC Melody will position from Livorno for weekly sailings.

MSC Musica will operate year-round in the Med from Genoa, offering 11- and 12-day cruises alternating between Greece/Libya and the Canary Islands during Winter 2006/07 and a seven-night route including destinations in Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands and France in the summer. The ship will head to Brazil in November 2007. MSC Orchestra, entering service in Spring 2007, will stay in the Med, based from Venice for cruises to Greece, Turkey and Croatia.