This afternoon MSC Opera arrived at the port of Messina, Italy, as scheduled, a day after being refused entry to Malta.

After undergoing a thorough formal medical review as per customary protocol, which included individual precautionary checks on passengers and members of the crew, the ship was cleared for disembarkation, MSC said in a statement.

Prior to docking, also as per protocol, the ship’s command had shared with the local health authorities details of its medical logbook showing that no passenger or crew members are (nor were) reported suffering from any flu-like symptoms.
Ships regularly undergo such steps as part of their clearance prior to receiving permission to start disembarking.

MSC Opera had previously received medical clearance from the relevant local health authorities at each port she called along this cruise’s current as well as previous itinerary.

The procedures applied today in Messina were already in line with the new draft national protocol that Italian authorities are currently working on to further strengthen and align all local procedures to protect the health of passengers as well as local communities. This draft protocol is also closely aligned with and built upon CLIA’s guidelines as already in place across all members.   

On Friday, the Government of Malta and MSC Cruises reached a mutual agreement that the cruise liner MSC Opera will not enter Malta's port this week.