MSC Cruises has introduced the French Antilles as a new destination for the 2012 – 2013 winter season. The inaugural voyage begins on 30th November 2012 when MSC Lirica departs from Genoa, Italy, for a 16-day/15-night cruise, arriving at her new homeport in Martinique just over two weeks later.
MSC Lirica’s course will take her from the Mediterranean through the Atlantic and on to the Caribbean, with scheduled stops in Marseilles, Barcelona, Funchal and, after five full days at sea, Bridgetown in Barbados. Scheduled stops then follow in Saint George in Grenada, Basseterre in Saint Kitts & Nevis, and Castries in Saint Lucia, arriving in Fort-de-France in Martinique on 15th December 2012.
From 15th December to 16th February 2013, MSC Lirica has a schedule of 10 7-day/8-night cruises, departing every Saturday from Fort-de-France, Martinique, and every Sunday from Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
There will be scheduled stops in St John’s in Antigua & Barbuda; Road Town on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands; Santo Domingo and La Romana in the Dominican Republic, and Philipsburg in St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles.
On 23rd February 2013, MSC Lirica starts her 16-day/15-night return cruise from Fort-de-France to Genoa. Scheduled stops are Pointe-à-Pitre, Castries, Funchal, Malaga, Barcelona and Marseille. Excursions will range from gentle tours around botanical gardens and plantations to canopy zip lines high above the rainforest, a visit to the fishing village where Christopher Columbus landed in 1502, and a Chocolate Tour to the Caribbean’s largest organic cocoa processing plants.
