All cruises aboard the MSC Magnifica will be suspended between Nov. 8 and Dec. 18 due to reintroduced lockdowns in France and Germany – two of the vessel’s key source markets.

MSC has also canceled its 2021 World Cruise onboard the MSC Magnifica.

This has emerged from the company’s latest press release.

At the same time, MSC Cruises has announced that the Western Mediterranean voyages aboard the MSC Grandiosa will be extended through to March 2021 with “additional rigorous measures under the Company’s existing health and safety operating protocol.”

Those measures include additional coronavirus tests for all guests midway through the trip, increasing the testing regularity for crew members from twice-a-month to weekly, increasing the frequency of onboard sanitation, and tightening of what the company defines as “close contact” for tracing purposes from 15 minutes to 10 minutes of personal contact.

The MSC Cruises health and safety protocol was designed to “ensure the best protection possible for guests, crew, and the communities the ships visit,” according to the press release.

The company has tested these additional measures onboard its two ships over the past two weeks.

The MSC Magnifica is expected to return to service from Dec. 18 with her eight-night Christmas special voyage. She will then resume her current 10-night itinerary across the Eastern and Western Mediterranean until the end of April 2021.