MSC Virtuosa Closes Southampton Season With 25-Night Brazil Crossing

MSC Cruises is closing out the Southampton summer season for its MSC Virtuosa, which recently completed a 12-night cruise to the Canaries and now moves into a run of shorter sailings before a 25-night trans-Atlantic crossing to Brazil departing November 7, 2026, EIN Presswire reported.

MSC Virtuosa's Final Southampton Sailings

The MSC Virtuosa began its Southampton deployment in May and has now completed the last longer sailing of the season, a 12-night cruise to the Canaries. The ship is scheduled to offer a series of four- to seven-night cruises to Northern Europe and Iberia, with four departures through the end of the month visiting destinations in Ireland, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.

The season ends with the trans-Atlantic crossing to South America, departing Southampton on November 7, 2026. The 25-night repositioning voyage will feature visits to destinations in the Mediterranean, the Canaries and Brazil before ending in Santos. The ship is set to offer winter cruises to Brazil departing from Santos, Salvador and Maceió.

The MSC Virtuosa will then return to Europe in 2027 for a summer deployment in the Western Mediterranean, which will include itineraries to Spain, France, Italy and Tunisia. The season runs through mid-November, when the ship is scheduled to return to South America for a second winter sailing in Brazil. As part of MSC's deployment for 2028, the 4,888-passenger ship is set to operate another summer season in the Western Mediterranean.

As the fourth ship in the company's Meraviglia class, the MSC Virtuosa was built at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France. The 177,100-ton vessel entered service in May 2021, spending its inaugural season sailing from the United Kingdom.

MSC Cruises' Fleet And Scale

MSC Cruises is the world's third-largest cruise line, operating approximately 25 ships across more than 250 global destinations under MSC Group ownership, according to akta.pro company records. The Geneva-headquartered company was founded in 1960 and reports a headcount range of 10,001 or more, with a revenue estimate of $5 billion+ and a valuation estimate of $10 billion-$25 billion.

Earlier MSC Southampton And Fleet Moves

MSC Cruises will run a three-night mini-cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge and Cherbourg on May 29, 2027, with MSC Meraviglia, priced from £440 per person, and it is the only short cruise from Southampton in 2027, EIN Presswire reported in October 2026. In September 2026, MSC Cruises' 6,764-passenger MSC World Asia completed final sea trials and is set for delivery on 25 November 2026, Rivieramm reported. In August 2026, MSC Cruises announced that MSC World Asia will be redeployed to sail the Southern Caribbean during the winter 2027-28 season instead of its previously scheduled Western Mediterranean route, Travelweekly reported.

What Comes Next For Southampton

While the MSC Preziosa is scheduled from Southampton during the 2026-27 winter, the MSC Meraviglia is scheduled to arrive in Southampton for its first season in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2027.