MSC Sinfonia Kicks Off 2025–26 Season in Brazil with its New South America and Mediterranean Itineraries, Strengthening Regional Cruise Tourism

Published on December 3, 2025

MSC Sinfonia has arrived in South America to start its 2025 26 deployment, giving a fresh lift to Brazil’s cruise tourism sector. Following an Atlantic crossing without guests, the 2002 built Lirica class ship arrived in Santos on 25 November 2025, ready to act as one of five MSC Cruises vessels deployed in the region this season.

Its presence is more than a routine repositioning: The ship adds considerable berth capacity, supports tour operator activity, and helps channel more domestic and international visitors into key Brazilian coastal destinations, reinforcing the country’s role as a core South America cruise hub.

Short Cruises From Santos Drive High Impact Coastal Visits

From Santos, the MSC Sinfonia is operating a program of three and four night cruises aimed at travelers looking for short, high value getaways. These itineraries call at Ilha Grande and Búzios in Rio de Janeiro state, both known for beaches, marine activities, and boutique style tourism services.

Each call brings thousands of visitors who engage in shore excursions, hire local guides, use taxis and transfers, and spend in cafes, bars, shops, and beach clubs. For small businesses along these coasts, cruise arrivals often coincide with peak demand days, helping to stabilise revenues, support seasonal employment, and encourage new investments in tourism infrastructure such as piers, docks, and visitor facilities.

Short cruises also act as an entry point to cruise travel for many Brazilian residents, creating a pipeline of future customers who may later choose longer regional or international voyages, further strengthening the cruise tourism value chain.

Weeklong Itineraries Strengthen Brazil’s Coastal Tourism Network

From late December, the MSC Sinfonia expands into weeklong itineraries, reaching additional Brazilian ports such as Ilhabela and Angra dos Reis. These routes showcase a broader stretch of the Brazilian coastline, combining islands, historic centers and resort towns in a single journey.

Guests can embark not only in Santos, but also in Itajaí and Rio de Janeiro, creating multiple homeport options. This multi embarkation model spreads pre and post cruise hotel stays, airport transfers, and urban tourism spending across several cities, rather than concentrating all activity in a single port.

For Ilhabela, Angra dos Reis and other coastal communities, weeklong cruises usually mean longer days in port and a higher proportion of guests joining full day excursions, boat tours, hiking, cultural visits and gastronomy experiences. This deeper engagement supports destination branding and encourages some passengers to return later as land based tourists, extending the tourism impact beyond the cruise itself.

Fleet Change Underpins Strategic Cruise Deployment

The itineraries now operated by the MSC Sinfonia were originally assigned to the MSC Lirica, but were transferred in July for operational reasons connected to MSC’s wider fleet deployment strategy. From a tourism perspective, the continuity of the program is crucial: it ensures that ports, tour operators and hospitality businesses can rely on the expected ship calls and passenger volumes for the 2025 26 season.

The Lirica class design of MSC Sinfonia offers a familiar resort at sea environment, with multiple restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and family facilities, characteristics that support high guest satisfaction and make the ship attractive for regional source markets across Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

Multi Ship Presence Turns South America Into A Cruise Powerhouse

The MSC Sinfonia is part of a broader MSC Cruises deployment that also includes the MSC Seaview, MSC Preziosa, MSC Fantasia and MSC Armonia for the 2025 26 South America season. Together, these ships offer itineraries from ports such as Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Maceió, Salvador, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

This multi ship presence creates a dense network of regional routes that stimulate tourism flows between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, reinforcing the concept of a shared South American cruise region. Cruise capacity at this scale supports jobs in port services, transport companies, shore excursion operators, cultural institutions, and the wider hospitality industry. It also encourages long term investments in terminal upgrades, access roads, and visitor amenities, which benefit both cruise guests and non cruise tourists.

Costa Cruises Adds Competitive Capacity To The Region

Alongside MSC, Costa Cruises is contributing additional capacity with the Costa Favolosa and Costa Diadema sailing regularly in South America this season. The presence of multiple major brands increases itinerary choice, raises the region’s profile in international cruise catalogues, and supports competitive pricing that can attract more first time cruisers from the Brazilian and wider South American markets.

For ports listed on both MSC and Costa programs, such as Salvador, Maceió, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo, this means more frequent ship days, higher passenger footfall, and a stronger case for continued investment in cruise specific tourism products.

Eastern Mediterranean Season Extends Global Tourism Reach

After completing its South American winter program, the MSC Sinfonia is scheduled to sail back to Europe without guests around mid March, before starting a new season of weeklong cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean. These itineraries include ports in Italy and Greece, such as Piraeus, Bari, Argostoli, Santorini, and Corfu.

By linking South America in one season and the Eastern Mediterranean in the next, the ship effectively connects tourism regions on two continents, sustaining demand for shore experiences, local guides, and heritage sites across a wide network of destinations. It also keeps the vessel active in high appeal markets year round, maximising the economic impact of cruise tourism in both hemispheres.

Cruise Tourism Outlook For The 2025 26 Season

With the full integration of MSC Sinfonia into the Brazilian cruise calendar and the support of other MSC ships and those from Costa Cruises, the South America 2025-26 season is expected to bring numerous benefits to ports, cities and communities.

From short escapes to Ilha Grande and Búzios to weeklong journeys reaching Ilhabela, Angra dos Reis, Itajaí and Rio de Janeiro, each of these itineraries brings new tourism revenue, supports local employment, and strengthens South America’s position on the global cruise tourism map. When this same ship resumes operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, moving visitors between regions, cultures and coastlines, this role serves as an important driver for sustainable, year-round tourism growth.