MSC Splendida offers cheap cruises from Europe to the Middle East including a ride through Suez Canal. The cruise company will deploy Splendida in the Middle East in November and the voyage there is up for sale. You can combine it with the first Middle East voyage, that we previously wrote about.
The €10/night/person (de facto compulsory) service fee is not included. You may get a discount if you are a Voyagers Club member.
The prices include taxes and port fees on top of the cruise. You have four options for joining and leaving the cruise:
- Marseilles, France – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
November 13. – 26. (13 Nights)
€819 Inside / €879 Outside / €959 Balcony
Book - Rome (Civittavecchia), Italy – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
November 15. – 26. (11 nights)
€689 Inside / €749 Outside / €859 Balcony
Book - Genoa, Italy – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
November 14. – 26. (12 nights)
€779 Inside / €839 Outside / €939 Balcony
Book - Genoa, Italy – Safaga, Egypt
November 14. – 21. (7 nights)
€449 Inside / €479 Outside / €539 Balcony
Book
You can use the buffet restaurant all day which includes meals, a few juices, water and coffee. Usually, you would need to pay for any other drinks (from bars, in the room), but some fares include drink packages. If they don’t, and you’d like to treat yourself with drinks, you can either buy a drink package or buy onboard.
Route
The ship will navigate through this route. Optional stops are in brackets.
- Marseille, France
- Genoa, Italy (10 hours)
- Rome Civittavecchia, Italy (12 hours)
- Day at Sea
- Katakolo (near Olympia), Greece (9 hours)
- Heraklion, Greece (8 hours)
- Day sailing across the Suez Canal
- Day sailing across the Suez Canal
- Safaga (near Hurghada), Egypt (15 hours)
- Aqaba (near Petra), Jordan (13 hours)
- Day at Sea
- Yanbu, Saudi Arabia (13 hours)
- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Night onboard)
- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
The Ship
You will be onboard the MSC Splendida, which was built in 2009, is 333 m long and can carry up to 3,247 passengers. The cabins are very comfortable and even have a TV. Throughout the luxuriously decorated 18 decks, you’ll find a variety of services, such as a covered pool, many restaurants, and bars. There are also many opportunities to do sports, and children will also have enough places to entertain themselves. For movie lovers, there’s also a 4D cinema.
Flights
You can get to Rome and Marseille with budget airlines easily. Getting to genoa could be done easily with legacy carriers, or you could fly to Torino, Nice, Pisa or Milan and get there on the surface.
Flying back could be more of a hassle with no budget carriers serving Jeddah. From Hurghada, you can fly Wizz Air to Budapest or easyJet to Western Europe.
You can use the Go2 form to get cheap flights.
Cover Picture: IVANSARFATTI.COM