One of the main engines of MSC Seascape, which was officially christened in New York in December 2022, failed last week and only a reduced cruising speed was available.
On the week-long Western Caribbean voyage, Ochos Rios Jamaica had to be canceled after scheduled calls at Ocean Cay Bahamas, Cozumel Mexico and George Town Grand Cayman. The liner had to visit the Jamaican port on Friday, January 20th.
Instead, MSC Seascape spent the day at sea in order to return to homeport Miami Florida on time on Sunday, January 22nd.
On Saturday afternoon, January 21st, passengers once again had the chance to spend a few hours on MSC's private island in the Bahamas. This served as a small replacement for the failed call port.
According to Capt. Francesco di Palma, an external specialist had come to Grand Cayman onboard MSC Seascape to resolve the problem.
Seascape's guests automatically had the costs for trips in Jamaica booked through the company back to their onboard accounts. MSC Cruises said that following the journey, they would be compensated for the itinerary change. The cabin letter from the captain stated that they would be refunded 50% of the cruise fare paid.
Original itinerary of MSC Seascape (January 15-22, 2023): PortMiami (Florida, USA), Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve (MSC private island, Bahamas), sea day, Cozumel (Mexico), George Town (Grand Cayman), Ocho Rios (Jamaica), sea day, PortMiami
Updated itinerary of MSC Seascape: Miami, Ocean Cay, sea day, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, sea day, sea day and Ocean Cay, Miami
It is not yet known whether the next voyages of the ship can be carried out as planned.
For more MSC Seascape incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.