PORT CANAVERAL — It’s a lot later than originally planned, but MSC Cruises has finally made it to Port Canaveral.
MSC Divina set sail this month on its first voyage from the Central Florida port, joining Disney Cruise Line, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian as regular customers.
Debra and Michael Millner of Jensen Beach became the first to step on board. They said they normally cruise out of Miami and tend to leave home with enough time to deal with traffic but said driving into Port Canaveral was much easier, so they got to the terminal early.
“We’re standing there and they said, ‘You know, you’re the first people here,” Michael Millner said.
MSC officials then brought them on board, upgraded their cabin and threw them a confetti-filled affair before letting the rest of the reduced-capacity 1,200 passengers on board.
The private line has been increasing its North American footprint but mostly from PortMiami in the past decade. It plans on debuting a new ship in Miami later this year, but Divina, which first began sailing in 2012, marks the company’s first longtime foray from Port Canaveral, with planned three-, four- and seven-night trips to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
“It’s great to have another cruise partner show up here,” said Wayne Justice, chairman of the Canaveral Port Commission, noting that the port will see a record number of ships over the next year, and the port is now starting to see revenues exceed expenses. “It’s juggling, but it’s a fun problem to have.”
MSC originally announced plans to begin sailing from the port starting fall 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic kept adjusting it and every other cruise line’s plans.
“The path of finally getting to Port Canaveral was a mix of being prepared with the number of ships that we needed and the demand that we needed from the U.S. market and the ability to finally expand in the U.S. and then also from a timing perspective dealing with the pandemic and getting back into operations,” said the line Chief Operating Officer Ken Muskat. “The fact that MSC Divina is now our 11th ship to start operations since the pandemic started is huge for us and to be able to bring it to Port Canaveral is another milestone.”
Divina will have just a couple of months testing the Central Florida market’s taste for the line before it sends one of the world’s largest ships, MSC Meraviglia, to the port as a replacement.
Meraviglia was the line’s first ship to return to service from the U.S. when it began sailing from Miami in August. It will wait until the debut of new ship MSC Seashore before migrating up the coast to Canaveral, where it will sail from November-April. Then Divina will return.
“They do a little bit of a swap,” Muskat said. “I think it’s a tremendous opportunity because in a short time frame to be able to introduce the market to two very different ships ... We’re year-round now. We’re going to be here long-term.”
Divina was the first ship MSC based in North America for year-round sailing back in 2014 and has sailed out of Miami several seasons since.
At the time, the 3,502-passenger ship brought the brand’s signature European style and highlighted the ship-within-a-ship concept MSC Yacht Club, a private space for suite-level guests that has since been copied by other cruise lines, including Norwegian and Royal.
The ship is expansive with 18 decks named after Roman gods such as Apollo and Aphrodite, with countless public spaces and activities from bowling to a Formula 1 racing simulator to a 4D theater that can get a passenger a little lost moving through the ship.
Each one is visually striking and inviting, with modern yet comfortable designs in the chairs and tables. The paintings, sculpture and attention to detail definitely remind one of Italy, not to mention the brands like Segafredo coffee.
The ship has a modern, sweeping curvilinear style from its smokestacks down and simple dark blue and white color scheme on the outside. The public spaces inside include every color in the palate while the cabins range from burgundies and chocolate browns to cool blues and greens or purples and yellows with flourishes in the wall designs and furniture.
For the high rollers, you could stay in the Sophia Loren suite, in honor of the ship’s godmother.
When Divina makes way for Meraviglia, Port Canaveral will be welcoming yet another massive vessel, among the top 12 largest cruise ships in the world. The 171,598-gross-ton, 4,500-passenger Meraviglia, which means “wonder” in Italian, debuted in 2017 and has among its offerings a 450-person venue for original Cirque du Soleil shows.
Both ships will sail to the company’s relatively new private Bahamas island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, which did not get much use before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the cruise industry down in March 2020.
“What we’re really known for is sort of our European flair. You know we were born and raised European cruise line; we’ve expanded in the U.S. in a great way,” Muskat said, noting it’s now the third-largest fleet behind Royal and Carnival.