Venice, a romantic MSC Mediterranean Cruises destination, is an artisan masterpiece. The city is built on 118 small islands, separated by canals, in a shallow lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. This UNESCO World Heritage Site overflows with beauty – from the gondola-lined canals and ancient marble palaces to historical architectural feats like St. Mark’s Basilica and the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo. Visiting Venice is like being in a fabled land, a scintillating mix of culture, history, and water.

On the Peloponnese shores stands the little seaside town of Katakolon, Greece, an MSC Mediterranean cruises destination. Situated on a headland overlooking the blue Ionian Sea, this charming location boasts a lighthouse, the Agios Nicolaos Church, and musical instruments museum. A short ride away lies the ancient site of Olympia, the extraordinary UNESCO World Heritage Site. 3000 years ago, it hosted Greece’s first Olympic Games in its Panhellenic religious sanctuary.

Port Said is an Egyptian city at the northern end of the Suez Canal, on the Mediterranean Sea. A concrete lighthouse dates from the canal’s opening in 1869. On the waterfront is the former department store Simon Arzt. Now disused, the art deco building offers a glimpse into the past, to when Port Said was a cosmopolitan trading hub.

Port Safaga (Bur Safaga in Arabic), where your MSC cruise ship awaits your return, is a village on the Red Sea coast. The town, whose economy is driven by the nearby phosphate mines, consists of a single windswept avenue running straight on, past concrete boxes with bold signs proclaiming their function. Silos and cranes identify the port, which runs alongside (but remains out of bounds) for most of this distance. However, inland from Port Safaga, a shore excursion on your MSC Grand Voyages cruise can be the opportunity to discover Luxor and the overwhelming concentration of relics in the area. A tourist mecca ever since Nile steamers began calling in the nineteenth century, visitors come to view the remains of Thebes, Ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom capital, and its associated sites. The town itself boasts Luxor Temple, a graceful ornament to its waterfront and “downtown”, while a mile or so north is Karnak Temple, a stupendous complex built over 1,300 years. Across the river are the ama…

When you disembark from your MSC cruise in Aqaba, you can enjoy its idyllic, sunny setting on the shores of the Red Sea, at the country’s southernmost tip. From something of a dowdy backwater, in the last decade or so Aqaba has transformed itself into a pleasant, if still under-resourced, leisure destination. Hotels at all grades are springing up in the town as well as at luxury waterfront developments up and down the coast; investment is coming in to improve the city’s infrastructure and facilities. Some of the best diving and snorkellingin theworld is centred on the unspoiled coral reefs that hug the coast just south of the town – an engaging contrast with the nearby desert attractions of Petra and Wadi Rum. The city centre forms a dense network of streets and alleys clustered just behind the beach road (called the “Corniche”). A shore excursion on your MSC Grand Voyages cruise can also be the opportunity to discover Petra. Tucked away in a remote valley basin in the heart of southe…

Port of Victoria, is located in Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. Port-Victoria has no fixed handling equipment. Ships are handled through ship's gear by the private stevedores.

A holiday in the Mauritius with an MSC cruise means disembarking at Port Louis. It is the capital of this island nation off the cost of Madagascar, which together with its twin Réunion, represents a must-see stop for an MSC cruise to Southern Africa. Port Louis has taken its role as the country’s first city seriously and has expanded over time with new streets, buildings and a beautiful promenade. After our cruise ship has docked, you will be able to take a stroll along the Caudan Waterfront, lined with some old cannons and numerous shops. Traces of Port Luis’s colonial past can be seen on Place D’Armes, where the statue of Bertrand François Mahé, the count of La Bourdonnais and a former governor of the island, observes passers-by surrounded by palm trees. A short distance away, stands the Government House. Dating from 1738, it is shaped like a horseshoe and protected by an iron fence guarded by the statue of a grave-looking Queen Victoria. In the same neighbourhood, there are also th…

A holiday in the Mauritius with an MSC cruise means disembarking at Port Louis. It is the capital of this island nation off the cost of Madagascar, which together with its twin Réunion, represents a must-see stop for an MSC cruise to Southern Africa. Port Louis has taken its role as the country’s first city seriously and has expanded over time with new streets, buildings and a beautiful promenade. After our cruise ship has docked, you will be able to take a stroll along the Caudan Waterfront, lined with some old cannons and numerous shops. Traces of Port Luis’s colonial past can be seen on Place D’Armes, where the statue of Bertrand François Mahé, the count of La Bourdonnais and a former governor of the island, observes passers-by surrounded by palm trees. A short distance away, stands the Government House. Dating from 1738, it is shaped like a horseshoe and protected by an iron fence guarded by the statue of a grave-looking Queen Victoria. In the same neighbourhood, there are also th…

Cruise ships rarely visit the port of La Possession, on the splendid Punta des Galets. This makes it one of the most unique stops of an MSC cruise to Southern Africa. As soon as you disembark, you can head off on an excursion to the so-called Circus of Salazie, the remains of an enormous volcanic caldera located a few kilometres from La Possession. Instead of geysers of lava, extinguished centuries ago, you will find an explosion of life, where marvels of nature live side by side with small towns scattered throughout a lush forest. The view you will enjoy as you ascend along the windy road is indescribable. However, not all of the fire has gone out. In the Piton de la Fournaise, you can still admire two active volcano craters, the Dolomieu and the Bory, which filled with lava in 2007. During your holiday with MSC Cruises, another excursion offered by MSC will introduce you to Saint-Denis and its impressive examples of Creole architecture. Its houses, a product of the woodworking skill…

When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s b…