The MSC Poesia cruise was canceled after the United States Coast Guard detained the ship in Miami before departure, stopping an 11-day trip before it ever left the Port of Miami. Fran Trascritti and Teresa Trascritti, who had flown in last Saturday for what they expected would be an anniversary voyage, never got underway.
Teresa Trascritti said, “This was our anniversary cruise.” The couple from Ross had boarded the ship the following day, only to hear from the captain shortly after that the departure would be delayed because an inspection was still ongoing and needed more time.
The cancellation is drawing attention now because passengers had already traveled to Miami and were left waiting on board after the ship was held. MSC Cruises told CBS News the trip was scrapped because of a regulatory matter that came up before the ship was set to depart, and said it could not get the issue resolved in time to sail from the Port of Miami.
For the Trascrittis, the disappointment was sharpened by what they said they saw and smelled around the ship. Fran Trascritti said, “What we can see and what we could smell is waste, sewage, and they are pumping out things in tanker trucks, but we don't know for sure if that's it or not,” while also noting, “We expected to be Jamaica and Colombia and the Panama Canal to see it, and then we end up seeing the Port of Miami cargo ships.”
That contrast sits at the center of the story: passengers describing visible signs of a problem outside the ship, while the cruise line would only describe the cause as a regulatory matter. Teresa Trascritti said, “It is definitely something I don't think we would ever encounter again, so I don't know, it's been, it's been different,” and Fran Trascritti added, “We've taken a lot of cruises over the years, this will be the most memorable.”
The couple said they were fully refunded, given a future cruise credit for the same amount, and had their travel home covered. They planned to return on Thursday, but the larger question remains why the inspection turned into a detention serious enough to cancel the sailing before MSC Poesia ever left Miami.
