A liner from the Italian-Swiss company MSC left the port of Marseille on Sunday for a test cruise with 339 passengers on board, the first step in a gradual resumption of cruises in France on June 30, announced MSC Cruises.
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The SeaSide, which can carry up to 5,000 passengers, left with only 339 tourists on Sunday afternoon for a seven-day cruise, during which cruise passengers will visit Taranto, Syracuse or Genoa, MSC said.
Cruises have resumed since May in Italy, but liners are not allowed to stop in France until June 30, according to a very strict health protocol.
The first boats, from MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises, should leave Marseille on July 4.
Another test cruise scheduled for June 27
The test cruise started on Sunday is carried out "
in close collaboration with the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône, the battalion of marine firefighters of Marseille and the Regional Health Agency
," said MSC in a press release.
During the test, “
all aspects of the protocol - from continuous screening to contact tracing tools and barrier measures - will be observed in real conditions
”.
Another test cruise is scheduled for June 27.
From July 4, the MSC Seaside will stop in Marseille every Sunday.
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The Covid-19 abruptly halted continued growth for 10 years in the sector, after a peak in 2019 at 29.7 million passengers worldwide, including 15.4 million North Americans and 7.7 million Europeans, according to a report by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), the cruise line association.
