MSC Cruises is sending one of its newest and largest ships to the Canary Islands for the winter 2027-28 season. The MSC Euribia will run seven-night itineraries through the archipelago and Madeira, taking over from the MSC Fantasia, which shifts to the Euribia's current seven-night Western Mediterranean route.
The itineraries pack in a solid lineup of ports: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Funchal in Madeira, Lanzarote and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, plus a day at sea. A nice touch for anyone not keen on long-haul positioning flights is the choice of four embarkation points — Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Funchal, Arrecife or Santa Cruz de La Palma — so you can start and end in different spots depending on your flight plans.
MSC's CEO Gianni Onorato framed the move as a sign of how well the Canary winter programme keeps performing, noting that the ship will add capacity for the season. Winter sun cruising has become the region's calling card: reliable warm weather in December and January, short flight times from much of Europe, and islands varied enough that no two stops feel the same — Lanzarote's volcanic scenery, Madeira's levada walks and Funchal's old town, Gran Canaria's beaches.
Meanwhile the Fantasia takes over the Western Med route round-trip from Barcelona, calling at Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Palermo and La Goulette in Tunisia, again with a day at sea and multiple embarkation ports along the way — handy if you're flying into, say, Naples rather than Barcelona.
Bookings for both programmes open on 28 September, which matters if you want a specific cabin grade or sailing date; winter Canary cruises tend to fill early with repeat guests and northern Europeans chasing sunshine. As for the Euribia itself, the ship has had a varied 2026 — a Northern Europe season sailing to the Norwegian fjords from Kiel and Copenhagen, following an earlier stint in the Arabian Gulf. Moving it to the Atlantic islands for winter gives cruise fans a big, modern ship in a market usually served by smaller or older tonnage.