Msc-Sinfonia

On the afternoon of April 11, 2025, the Corfu Port Authority was informed that the'MSC Sinfonia', which was moored in the new port of Corfu with 2193 passengers and 730 crew members on board, had sufferd a failure of the starboard side propeller of the propulsion-steering system. The Corfu Central Port Authority initially prohibited the departure of thecruise ship. Upon the presentation of a seaworthiness certificate from the monitoring classification society, it was permitted to depart for a single voyage, accompanied by the tug 'Megalochari XIV' (IMO: 9199452), to the port of Bari, where it arrived late on April 13, and not at 8:00 a.m. as originally planned. On the way from Corfu to Bari, the ship sailed at only four knots at times, thus not reaching the necessary cruising speed to arrive at the port on time. MSC Cruises has canceled its Eastern Mediterranean cruise, which was scheduled to begin on April 12 in Bari, less than 24 hours before departure. Guests with different embarkation and disembarkation ports, were also affected by the cancellations. Guests affected by the cancellations will receive a full refund of their travel costs and a travel credit for a future MSC cruise equal to the price they paid. Meanwhile, technicians were working diligently to resolve the issues. How long this will take was not yet known, as it depended on the severity of the technical issues. The ship remained stationary in Bari as of April 14

Following the Hamas attack on Israel, cruise lines are now refraining from calling at Israeli ports for security reasons. As the shipping company MSC Cruises announced on OCt 12, 2023, the itineraries of the “MSC Sinfonia” and the “MSC Musica” (IMO 9320087) in the Eastern Mediterranean have been revised. On the eight subsequent voyages of the “MSC Sinfonia” until the beginning of 2024, the port of Haifa will be replaced by Istanbul, which also means that Rhodes will have to be replaced by Piraeus and Limassol by Izmir. On the following three trips of the “MSC Musica” from Piraeus, Haifa will be replaced by Rhodes on Oct18 and 25 and by Marmaris in Turkey on Nov 1. TUI Cruises had previously adjusted the route of two trips on the “Mein Schiff 5” (IMO: 9753193). The ship will not dock in Haifa and Ashdodas planned, but in Marmaris and Santorini insted. The “Nieuw Statendam” (IMO 9767106), which was in the port of Haifa at the time of the attack and was originally supposed to stay in port until the evening of Oct 8 and then head to Ashdod, instead left Haifa on Oct 7 and made its way to Alanya. The “Odyssey of the Seas” (IMO: 9795737) and the “Celebrity Apex” (IMO: 9838383) also did not call at Haifa as planned, but changed course and called at Bodrum and Limassol instead. The “Norwegian Gem” (IMO: 9355733) canceled the stop in Ashdod and instead also headed for Limassol.

A passenger of the 'MSC Sinfonia' was medevaced by the Brindisi Coastguard with serious health problems on July 22, 2023. At the time of the call, the vessel was transiting on a northerly course and was approximately 35 miles off the coast of Brindisi. A patrol boat was tasked with the medical evacuation. During the operations, health care was provided by the MSC medical staff and through the remote support of the Centro Internazionale Radio Medico which, following the diagnosis made, arranged for transport to the hospital. The patrol boat with the rescued person and the ship's medical team on board moored at the dock of the Port Authority where an ambulance was already waiting. The patient was transferred to the Perrino hospital in Brindisi.