In October, St Kitts and Nevis will be reopening and allowing international travel, including cruise ships. This means that international flights and ships with international passengers can resume operations here. It’s great news for the cruise industry in the US.

The government is working with agencies to make sure the opening of borders will happen safely to make sure there is no risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. Thus far, St Kitts has no cases of the virus.

Royal Caribbean has already been approved to dock two of their ships at Zante, which will allow 140 crew members to disembark, though they will be required to quarantine for 14 days.

There will be strict health measures in place when the cruise ships eventually return to Basseterre, St Kitts. Even when the borders reopen, it’s not likely too many US ships will be headed there, however; as most cruise lines have suspended operations until at least November. However, UK’s Fred Olsen Cruise Line is now featuring St Kitts in their 2021 and 2022 itineraries.

Unfortunately, most other Caribbean destinations are banning cruises until 2021, but we hope this announcement will help get the balls rolling for caribbean cruises to slowly start opening up again. This is definitely a step in the right direction!

Have you ever been to St Kitts and Nevis? What are your favorite Caribbean destinations?

More good news from MSC Cruises this week as they have successfully floated out the MSC Seashore. This means the ship has left it’s dry dock and will be headed to a wet dock to finish construction, mostly fitting out the interior spaces.

The MSC Seashore is going to hold 4540 passengers and around 1400 crew members. It’s the longest in MSC’s fleet at 1,112 feet and also the biggest cruise ship ever built in Italy. It’s the next evolution of the MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview.

She will have a wide range of accommodations, featuring more suites than her sister ships. There will be 28 terraced suites, two of them with private whirlpools. The MSC Yacht Club will have 2 new stateroom categories that offer 41 Deluxe Grand Suites and two Owners Suites that will also have whirlpools.

The MSC Seashore will also be great for families and groups, having modular staterooms that you can connect to accommodate six to ten people, also including 75 total accessible staterooms that are larger and more spacious.

She will also offer two brand new restaurants and five specialty restaurants with waterfront seating along the ship’s boardwalk so guests can dine al fresco. Also included will be a two-deck aft lounge, bigger casino and 20 different bars, lounges and cafes. The ship features a new aft pool design, larger indoor pool and an interactive waterpark for guests of all ages. The kids clubs will be in separate areas of the shop so younger and older children will have their own areas.

The MSC Seashore will have her inaugural season in the Western Mediterranean along with other Seaside class ships, starting in the summer of 2021, offering cruises out of Genoa and stopping in Naples, Valletta, Barcelona and Marseille. After that, she will head to Miamin in November of 2021 and offer 7-night Caribbean itineraries including stops at MSC’s private island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

Looks like MSC Cruises is the first major cruise line to resume operations! Their newest ship, the MSC Grandiosa is about to start sailing around Italy, offering 7-Night Cruises to Genoa, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Palermo, and Valetta.

Currently, these cruises are only available to western European citizens. The ship will have many new safety measures in place such as wearing masks in public areas and social distancing. The destinations they are visiting were selected because they have easy access to reduce crowds when getting on or off the ship.

If all goes well, MSC plans to have Grandiosa's sister ship, the MSC Magnifica, resume operations starting on August 29th.

There have been some other smaller cruise lines that have been trying to resume, such as AIDA Cruises and Hurtigruten, with mixed results. Fingers crossed that MSC can get things moving again and their passengers can enjoy a great cruise without a hitch!

Today is National Roller Coaster Day and to celebrate, Carnival Cruise Lines has added a brand new video showing off the roller coaster that will be on top of the Carnival Mardi Gras, the Bolt!

Aboard the Mardi Gras you’ll meet BOLT™: the fastest — and first! — rollercoaster at sea, but before that take a look at Cruise Director Matt Mitcham making a special visit to the test track of BOLT™ in Munich, Germany! Once on Mardi Gras you'll get to strap in and zoom your motorcycle-style speed machine around an open-air course high, high above sea level.