Cruise ship skips Malta port call due to strong winds

A cruise ship has been forced to skip a port call in Malta on Thursday as strong winds made it difficult to manoeuvre the Grand Harbour.

According to a report from Times of Malta, MSC Cruises stated that the MSC World Europa had to cancel a planned stop in Malta after a wind warning that was issued by Malta’s Met Office on Tuesday.

As a result, the cruise ship has been diverted to Palermo (Sicily).

Malta has faced strong winds over the past couple of days, with wind speeds reaching force six and seven.

These weather conditions tend to make sea travel particularly dangerous, especially for cruise ships.

The cruise company said that flights have already been set for passengers who were set to join the cruise from Malta or were due to disembark here.

Passengers onboard were informed of the change through a letter, stating that wind could possibly exceed 30 knots, making manoeuvres at the port unsafe.

A spokesperson for the Transport Ministry told Times of Malta that no other cancellations by cruise ships had been made.

MSC World Europa is the largest of MSC Cruises’ ships, weighing 215,863 gross tons and is 333.3 metres long. It began public operations from December 2022, and at the time of writing is the world’s eighth-largest cruise ship.

Unfavourable weather also led to Gozo Highspeed, the fast ferry service that operates between Malta and Gozo, to cancel trips on Tuesday, Wednesday, as well as Thursday, with normal service scheduled to resume on Friday.