MSC Cruises announced on Monday it was delaying MSC Magnifica’s scheduled restart due in Italy due to guests cancelling their cruises.

The cruise line issued a statement that said MSC Magnifica will now start up in about 4 weeks.

"In connection with the recent introduction of additional testing measures for residents of Italy having travelled to Greece, we are seeing cancellations and a softening in demand since the ship’s itinerary includes as many as three ports in that country. This has led to the decision to delay the restart of the ship by four weeks."

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MSC Cruises announced on Monday its new health and safety protocols that will be put into place when cruises resume in the Mediterranean.

The new procedures include universal COVID-19 testing for all guests and crew prior to embarkation, protected ashore visits at each destination only with an MSC Cruises excursion as an added level of protection for guests and the introduction of a COVID Protection Plan for further peace of mind for guests.

MSC Cruises announced it has formed its own group of experts to come up with a health policy for its ships to return to service.

MSC calls it a blue ribbon group that is comprised of experts in the fields of medicine, public health and sanitation, hotel services, HVAC, and more. The goal of the group is to create enhanced protocol and procedures for MSC ships to utilize going forward.

MSC Cruises announced on Monday a new, comprehensive and enhanced health & safety protocol for protecting guests and crew against COVID-19 onboard its ships.

The new policy is being developed in collaboration with relevant national health authorities and with the support of a team of external medical experts. This protocol will cover all aspects of the cruise, starting with the booking phase and all the way through to disembarkation and the return home.

MSC Cruises announced on Thursday it will extend its cruise suspensions through July 31, 2020, along with sharing its plans to resume shorter-term operations for winter 2020/21 season in phases and by region only when the time will be right and following guidance from the relevant national and international health and other regulatory authorities.

MSC also reconfirmed its March – November 2021 program, which will include two new ships currently under construction and a series of new or enriched itineraries and homeports, including a new home for MSC Divina in Central Florida.

MSC Cruises announced it has cancelled its Canada and New England sailings on MSC Meraviglia from Sept. 5 - Oct. 22, 2020.

MSC joined other cruise lines in announcing the cancellation of all of its Canada/New England 2020 sailings due to Canada's announcement that due to the COVID-19 pandemic they will be prohibiting cruise ships carrying more than 100 persons from operating in Canadian water until October 31, 2020.

MSC Cruises announced a 45 day pause of all of its sailings until April 30, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The global nature of the COVID-19 outbreak has forced MSC Cruises to halt cruises across the fleet. MSC had already halted ship operations across all areas considered as high risk for the virus, in the Mediterranean, the Gulf and Asia. Ships still in operations in South America and South Africa will also end their operations at the end of their current itineraries.

MSC Cruises announced it has cancelled its March and April sailings in the Persian Gulf due to ports in the United Arab Emirates closing cruise ports due to Coronavirus fears.

The change affects two MSC Cruise ships, MSC Bellissima and MSC Lirica starting from March 14, including the Grand Voyages of MSC Bellissima on March 21 and that of MSC Lirica on April 18.