ABOARD THE MSC GRANDIOSA (AP) — Italy may be in a strict coronavirus lockdown this Easter, with travel restricted between regions and new quarantines imposed. But a few miles offshore, guests aboard the MSC Grandiosa cruise ship are shimmying to Latin music on deck and sipping cocktails by the pool. In one of the anomalies of lockdowns that have shuttered hotels and resorts around the world, the Grandiosa has been plying the Mediterranean Sea most of the winter with seven-night cruises, a lonely flag-bearer for the global cruise industry. The Grandiosa has tried to chart a course through the pandemic with strict anti-virus protocols approved by Italian authorities. The United States, meanwhile, could be among the last cruise ship markets to reopen, possibly not until fall and not until 2022 in Alaska.
Italy may be in Easter lockdown, but the party’s on at sea
