MSC Grandiosa, traveling on the anti-Covid cruise

The first image that forms in front of my mind’s eye when I cross the Promenade della Grandiosa – the only MSC ship operating this month (read this year) to be forgotten by cruise lines – is that of a huge pachyderm with the p ( l) empty reed or, at least, in a temporary and forced low-calorie diet.

At the time of his last departure before the cruise stop imposed by the Dpcm on December 3 (which provides for the stop to cruises from December 21 to January 6, MSC will start again on January 10, 2021), Great it has 300 passengers on board against a maximum capacity of 6334 “spreadable” guests within 2.

440 cabins. From August to today, together with her younger sister Magnifica, the flagship MSC, it transported 30 thousand passengers, compared to one million in the same period last year. To say that the most majestic of the sixteen passenger ships of the world’s largest privately-owned cruise group is traveling in a narrow gauge is an understatement, especially if you remember that range magico that the insiders know well: 85-90%. These are the percentages of capacity that allow a cruise ship to exceed the break even point, the threshold beyond which all costs are covered and profits are made.

Of course, it could have been worse, considering that diversification allowed the group headed by the Neapolitan shipowner Gianluigi Aponte to be able to continue in recent months with its core business, the cargo lines. Saddest fate was the one she met Scarlet Lady – the Virgin Voyages branded smartship – which could not even discard cellophane from the seats on board: the ship owned by His Majesty Richard Branson’s baronet it is still stuck in a corner of the port in Genoa, with the bow facing the city and the sea behind it, waiting to be able to raise the first anchor next spring, perhaps.

HOW TO TRAVEL TODAY
The aura of extreme organization, a custom for all large companies, is reinforced, if possible, by a series of strict anti-Covid procedures that have only one goal: prevent the virus from getting on board. The checks begin in the port, where a triage is set up that administers tampons for all potential passengers. Potential, yes: the boarding threshold is exceeded only if the buffer is negative; in the event of a positive outcome, as happened to three people coming from the Triveneto with a bus on which 18 passengers were traveling, everyone returns home.

After leaving my luggage inside my cabin in the Yatch Club, I go around the 14 bridges of the Grandiosa to get an idea of ​​what breeze it pulls. In all common areas, both closed and open, it is necessary to wear health aids and respect the rules that we all have learned to handle and know in recent months: mandatory mask, hand sanitization, body temperature measurement and request to wear a high-tech bracelet with Beacon technology which allows you to track movements for more than 10 minutes and less than a meter with another person. All this extra safety comes at a cost: MSC’s estimate – which also includes a number of indispensable adjustments, including the implementation of new air sanitation systems – amounts to 500 thousand euros each way, including this one week long. If you add to the higher expenses the fact that the reduction in guests does not correspond to a directly proportional decrease in service personnel, you can guess how far the aforementioned percentage is from the achievement. The conclusion is as simple as it is complex in its economic implications: the great – as indeed all the few ships of any company operating at the moment – is traveling at a loss. Why browse, then?

To answer is Leonardo Massa, MSC country manager for Italy: “We must give the signal that our ships are safe, indeed, they are the safest thing that exists right now. There are many passengers who are afraid to go ashore, where all the safety procedures on board are not in force ». When asked what do you think of the Dpcm of last December 3 that blocked the Christmas and New Year cruises, he smiles and shakes his head. Then he adds: “All the agencies that had sold the packages (also driven by an effective, perhaps too optimistic campaign launched by cruise portals, which had defined the ships “the only green zone in Italy”, ed.) had to cancel all reservations “.

With the possibility of spending the holidays on the ship no longer available, we think about 2021 but without hoping for a resounding stock market rebound, that according to Massa himself there will be no: “Things will pick up and we are happy about it, but gradually. The coming year will probably also have the next horizon of local tourism. This means, for our world, looking at cruises on the Mediterranean and in Northern Europe ».

I continue my exploration of the enormous geometric spaces of the Grandiosa, decorated, given the times, with sober Christmas trees and bright but not too bright lights. Although some shops and restaurants have lowered shutters – the parallelism with land cities is clear – most of the spaces are open and usable, including the casino, lounges and dance floors, the latter being the only area on the ship. in addition to the central hall, where small groups of passengers gather. Among them there is one group of 75 students – all enrolled in a masters in tourism – who do not seem to have an entire ship at their disposal in which to socialize and run around. For the rest, in the miraculously free elevators you can meet families with small children or adolescents and, a great classic on board, pairs of repeaters like the one formed by the lady Paola from Lucca and her husband, who calmly criticize the stop on cruises imposed by the government. Increase the dose Loredana, Marche, traveling with spouse and couple of friends, on her 45th cruise: «First negative swab in port, second done on ship three days later. I’ll just tell you one thing: up here you could eat on the ground, so much is the cleaning and disinfection. I find it absurd to make a company adapt and then stop it ».

The next day I meet Loredana on the walkway of deck 5, suitcase in hand, “Please write that after a week I’m sorry to get off” tells me. Another image forms in front of my mind’s eye: that of her and of millions, billions of people like her who, little by little, get off the ship with sadness but will soon make their coveted check out from this 2020 .