ORLANDO, Fla. — Port Canaveral welcomed a fifth major cruise line less than two months ago, and it has already shifted up vessels, bringing yet another of the world’s largest cruise ships to the region.
MSC Cruises said arrivederci to MSC Divina, which debuted in mid-September, and buongiorno to MSC Meraviglia this past week.
The 171,598-gross-ton, 4,500-passenger Meraviglia is currently tied for 11th largest cruise ship in the world. Port Canaveral already handles Oasis-class ships of Royal Caribbean, all four of which are at the top of the list, and the new Mardi Gras from Carnival, which is ranked eighth.
Meraviglia, which means “wonder” in Italian, debuted in 2017 and has among unique offerings a 450-person venue for original Cirque du Soleil shows. Other highlights include 12 dining venues, including two options from Michelin-star recipient Spanish Chef Ramón Freixa, French chocolates and pastries from Chef Jean Philippe Maury plus sushi, teppanyaki and steakhouse among others.
The shift in vessels was always the plan, according to MSC Cruises USA President Rubén Rodríguez.
“We’re doing that deliberately,” he said. “We want to bring a ship with more features, more alternative restaurants, more variety of experiences, and to offer that with such a new ship, with so many features in a three- and four-day deployment is unusual, but we wanted to put our best foot forward.”
The ship is actually offering shorter and longer sailings, all with stops at the cruise line’s new private Bahamas destination, Ocean Key MSC Marine Reserve.
MSC Cruises’ arrival to the port had been in the works since 2020 but got delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, MSC, which has a much larger presence in Europe and other parts of the world, had based ships in Florida just out of Miami. It’s where its newest ship, MSC Seashore, just arrived, clearing the path for Meraviglia to shift north.
Now, the line is looking to attract customers among competitors Disney, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian.
“(North America) is a more mature market than most cruise markets. It’s the largest in the world. It has more brands and those brands are sophisticated and they do a great job. So it would not be sensible for us to take on those lines directly and try to be who they are,” Rodríguez said.
“You want to play to your strengths. And we have this unique European DNA. We have this international character. We have this passion for sustainability, and we know there are large groups of consumers, both cruisers and people that haven’t cruised yet to whom that appeals.”
To that end, the line has doubled down on its environmental efforts, especially at Ocean Key, where it is working with the Bahamas and both the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University on coral restoration projects for what used to be an industrial sand excavation site.
“There was a lot of cleaning up and working with experts to then rebuild it in a way that is sustainable, and respects the environment and promotes marine life,” Rodríguez said. “And we’re seeing it. We’re seeing the marine life come back.”
Meraviglia will continue to sail through May, when Divina, which was only at Canaveral for six weeks, will return for summer sailings and into October. The line has yet to announce plans for 2022-23 deployment.
Rodríguez is optimistic about its strategy as it breaks into a second full-time port as part of a larger North American expansion plan.
“I fully expect to see guests booking more cruises,” he said, “That’s one of the reasons for the variety of itineraries and for the variety of ships, so they have new reasons to come.”
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