Holidays ended badly and they returned home for a family from Messina who, together with 50 other Italian tourists, were stuck for three days on the MSC Poesia cruise ship in the port of Miami. The cruise ship for a tour of the Caribbean did not depart following a series of checks carried out by the United States Coast Guard.
However, the passengers’ nightmare turned into certainty when MSC announced that the cruise will not leave for the Caribbean.
MSC confirmed it had canceled the cruise after failing to resolve a “regulatory issue” in time for departure. Neither the company nor the Coast Guard provided further details. It all started when the itinerary was initially suspended for an inspection by the US Coast Guard. In a statement released to CBS News on Monday, the Coast Guard explained that its teams were “verifying the compliance of the cruise ship with international standards and US regulations”, after the detention imposed over the weekend by the Miami section for reasons related to safety and environmental protection. The MSC Poesia has a capacity of over 3,200 passengers and more than 1,000 crew members.
«Everything is calm on board – said Giuseppe Arena, an ice cream maker from Ganzirri, yesterday on the ship with his family that left Messina on 30 October – But we have no news of what is happening and why we have been stopped in port for three days. We only know that there is an inspection underway, with tanks coming and going.” After a long wait, the communication swept away any doubts about the restart, however leaving passengers waiting for clarifications. The family from Messina has disembarked and is returning home. “It was our holiday after so much work during the summer”, Giuseppe Arena’s bitter comment
