June 17, 2021 - The first cruiser in Split after 9 months will sail into the Split Port on Friday, bringing 1,200 guests with it. 

Souvenir shops, get ready! On Friday, after a very long time, the first big cruiser arrives in Split, bringing about 1,200 passengers, who should stay there for ten hours, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.

As Vice Mihanović, director of the Split Port, revealed, the luxury cruise ship MSC Splendida should arrive at the external berth of the Split City Port on June 18 at 7 am, and the departure was announced the same day at 5 pm.

"Splendida comes from Corfu, and passengers will leave the cruise to the city in an organized manner, by bus and walking tours. We hope for a good epidemiological situation so that as many ships with tourists as possible enter Split in the coming months," says Vice Mihanović.

Admittedly, a cruiser also arrived in Split before Splendida on Monday, but it is a far smaller ship - the Belle de l’adriatique. The last major cruise ship to Split was seen last September, followed by months of drought that coincided with a bad epidemiological picture in Croatia and around the world.

"Currently, in the announcements for this year, we have the arrival of 155 cruisers in Split, but all this is very uncertain and depends on the pandemic. Failures are common. All this is far from the record 2016 when 286 cruisers came to Split, but the situation is getting a little better, and it will largely depend on ourselves," says the director of the Split Port Authority.

MSC Splendida is a huge ship, 38 meters wide and 333 meters long, can accommodate over three thousand passengers and has over a thousand crew members. There are 1,637 cabins on the cruiser, including 43 for disabled guests or tourists with reduced mobility. It has as many as 18 decks, including 14 for guests.

Splendida offers a wide selection of restaurants, bars, and lounges, four swimming pools, a well-equipped gym, and a luxury spa, award-winning family activities, and facilities, as well as a luxurious MSC Yacht Club with 71 spacious suites and all-day butler service.

As reported by MSC Cruises, the Splendida is their fifth ship to begin regular sailing this summer. MSC Grandios and MSC Seaside sail the western Mediterranean. The MSC Orchestra recently embarked on cruises in the eastern Mediterranean. The flagship of the MSC Virtuos fleet cruises the United Kingdom with reservations open to British guests only.

"They are fully supported by the leading health and safety protocol, under the protection of which tens of thousands of guests, as well as crew members, have been safely sailing onboard the MSC Grandios since its first presentation in August 2020, and protects local communities that visit. MSC Magnifica will continue sailing the eastern Mediterranean on June 20 starting from Italy - they will regularly sail to Split where they will achieve 20 ticks this year," said MSC.

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