MSC Cruises will sail its first ever season from Athens’ port of Piraeus in summer 2021. The line will also return to Turkey, with embarkation in Istanbul, plus calls for the first time at Kusadasi on two new Eastern Mediterranean itineraries.

MSC Lirica will homeport in Piraeus for the entire summer 2021 season. She will sail 23 seven-night cruises from May to September, with calls in Mykonos, Haifa, Cyprus (Limassol), Rhodes, and Kusadasi, before returning to Piraeus.

MSC Fantasia will sail 25 nine-night cruises between April and September 2021 from Istanbul to Kusadasi, Katakolon, Corfu; Bari and Trieste before returning to Istanbul.

Achille Staiano, vice president of global sales, said: “I’m very confident that these two new cruises will lead to great interest and demand for prospective guests from Europe and North America as well as to local markets. Piraeus will play a major new role for us with guests embarking at Athens’ port for the first time and we’re very excited to sail back to Turkey after a four year absence. And as we continue to grow as a business and introduce more ships to our fleet then looking further ahead I believe that we will have a greater presence in both Greece and Turkey.”