Cruises from Southampton (2023)

MSC Cruises continues its all-year-round presence in the Port of Southampton with its most popular ship in the fleet, and later in the year, a brand new ship will visit for the winter!

April 2023

As the end of the winter season approaches, MSC Virtuosa will sail her final 7-night roundtrip voyage to Hamburg and then conduct a series of mini-cruises – highlighting the fun you can have on the ship in just three nights!

Finally, at the end of the month, she moves into her first Spring/Summer longer voyage of the season by setting sail to the beautiful Canary Islands on a 12-night voyage which includes a stop in the stunning city of Lisbon, Portugal!

May 2023

As Spring turns towards Summer, MSC Virtuosa will conduct two 7-night Norwegian Fjords voyages visiting wonderful ports such as Olden (home of the Briksdal Glacier) and Flaam, a beautiful little Norwegian port nestled deep in a fjord – with its own microbrewery!

May is wrapped up with two short mini cruises (3 and 5 nights) with calls to Rotterdam, Cork and Portland between the two of them!

June 2023

June marks a special one-off voyage for MSC Virtuosa, where she will sail on a fortnight cruise to Iceland and Norway – with a lovely overnight stop in Reykjavik for passengers, before crossing the Norwegian Sea and visiting the popular port of Alesund, followed by Maloy and Flaam before heading back to Southampton.

The second half of June sees MSC Virtuosa heading South, across the English Channel and down towards the Bay of Biscay in two back-to-back voyages to Spain & France – calling at ports such as La Rochelle, Bilbao and La Coruna – a great taster of some warmer weather and European ports.

That wraps up half of the cruises from Southampton in 2023 for MSC – there is still plenty to come, though!

July 2023

As we move into the school holidays and the peak season for MSC Virtuosa, she will conduct three back-to-back 14-night Mediterranean voyages! The first of which sets sail on the 1st July and heads from Southampton to Toulon (France) – the port has a natural deepwater harbour and is also the home of local fishermen (and restaurants) and also wine-making – make sure you sample the local delicacies whilst there! (sounds like the perfect combination!)

Great Spanish ports on each of the three voyages – make sure you spend some time wandering around Cadiz – you can literally walk into the old city from the ship, and the bustling market and cafes are an ideal way to enjoy some time ashore!

August 2023

This month sees the return of MSC Virtuosa back to the Canary Islands on a 12-night voyage, followed by a 2-night mini-cruise to Guernsey (which will certainly be a party event if you are going!) and then a 7-night voyage to Norway – whilst you may have missed the Midnight Sun by this point in the year – it will still be very light with daylight stretching from 4am until around 11pm each day!

September 2023

In September, MSC Virtuosa will first head back to Norway for the last time in 2023 on a 7-night voyage before returning and heading to the Canary Islands – this time on an extended 14-night voyage which also calls in at Casablanca (Morroco) and Cadiz (Spain) en-route to the Canary Islands and Madeira.

On her return, she will conduct a short 3-night mini-cruise to Rotterdam and back and then a further 4-night mini-cruise to Cork and Portland, before setting sail on a rare 15-night extended Mediterranean voyage on the 30th September! She will call at several Spanish ports during her trip including the ever popular Barcelona!

October 2023

As we head into the final month of MSC Virtuosa’s Southampton 2023 season, she will head to France & Spain once more on a 7-night voyage before conducting a slightly longer than usual mini-cruise (5 nights) which will call at Rotterdam, Cork and Portland – before arriving back into Southampton the 27th October 2023.

Meanwhile, the new sister ship, MSC Euribia, will arrive in Southampton for the first time on the 13th of October – she will officially kick off her Winter 2023/24 season with back-to-back 7-night voyages to Hamburg and other ports each week until April 2024! (The countdown to the Christmas Markets is on!)

27th October 2023 is a special day – mark that date! It will be the first time two MSC Meraviglia-plus class ships have been in Southampton on the same day and the first time that MSC Virtuosa will meet her younger sibling, MSC Euribia.

MSC Euribia will leave on a 7-night voyage to Northern Europe. Meanwhile, some lucky passengers will be boarding MSC Virtuosa for an incredible 27-night journey that will take the ship from Southampton, the Mediterranean Sea and along through the Suez Canal before eventually reaching Dubai where she will spend her Winter 2023/24 season (if you’ve not checked out the itineraries there – you really should!)

MSC Euribia will then continue her weekly 7-night Northern Europe itinerary – a perfect mix of sea days and Northern European ports to pass the winter by!

November 2023

MSC Euribia will continue to call in Southampton weekly during November (four times) as she continues her multi-port and multi-embarkation season. As we head towards the end of the month, some ports will start their Christmas Market season too.

Popular ports such as Hamburg will start their Christmas Markets earlier than others – look out for a full Christmas Market Guide from us soon!

These voyages will be an excellent choice for those looking at getting away for a quick Winter break – cruising before Christmas and outside of the school holidays offers excellent value for money – look out for offers from us nearer the time!

December 2023

Whilst MSC Euribia is again continuing her weekly 7-night voyages to Northern Europe (five times in December she will depart Southampton) – they will be anything but routine!

Expect to see the ship transformed into a Christmas Winter Wonderland – complete with outdoor mini-Christmas market, Gluhwein, hot waffles and more!

Enjoy the Christmas festivities at each port you call into and countdown to the 22nd December where MSC Euribia will perform her maiden Christmas Cruise, followed by the 29th December where you can see in 2024 with MSC Euribia on her first NYE Cruise too!

We hope you enjoyed this roundup of what MSC Cruises offers from Southampton in 2023!

Interested in seeing what 2024 has in store? Read Cruises from Southampton in 2024.