Naples/Rome, April 1, 2025 – From today, cruise ships will be even closer to people's homes thanks to an integrated train/bus/ship service that will conveniently and easily connect guests' departure cities with the embarkation ports. This result is made possible by an agreement between MSC Cruises and Italo, both companies of the MSC Group, for cruises departing from the ports of Civitavecchia, Naples, and Venice.
Those who book an MSC cruise departing from these three ports can choose to use the combined Italo/Itabus journey to reach the ship directly from their departure city. This is a very important multimodal service to start the vacation in the right way by using different means of transport to conveniently and easily reach the ship at the embarkation port and to return home at the end of the cruise.
Leonardo Massa, Vice President Southern Europe of MSC Cruises, stated: “We are proud that the entry of Italo into the MSC group has already brought such an important and tangible result for our guests. The first part of a vacation begins when you leave your home, and it is essential that the experience of reaching the ship is comfortable, convenient, and maintains the standards of the services we offer on board our ships. We can therefore say that with this service, the cruise vacation starts in the right way because it makes the train + bus journey to the embarkation port easier. We are convinced that this service will be greatly appreciated by many guests and that we will soon take further steps to expand this synergy with increasingly comprehensive services.”
“Intermodality represents the future of transport; more and more travelers are asking for integrated and door-to-door services. For some time now, we have been committed to forging synergies of this caliber for the benefit of our passengers. Thanks to the arrival of MSC as a majority shareholder, we have strengthened our commitment in this direction. The connection to the ports represents a further step in this growth path, and I am sure we will continue to develop connections in the name of shared and green mobility,” said Gianbattista La Rocca, CEO of Italo and President of Itabus.
From today, thanks to this new service, from the main Italian cities, you will arrive with Italo at the station and from there take, with the advantage of a single ticket, Itabus to reach the ports of Venice (5 daily services), Civitavecchia (4 daily trips), and Naples (15 connections per day), on the days when the MSC Cruises ship is ready to set sail for an unforgettable vacation. This is the first train/bus/ship intermodality service in all of Europe. You can thus arrive at Venice Mestre with Italo and from there take Itabus to reach the cruise terminal and vice versa disembark from the ship, take the bus at the port to go to the station, and take the train; the same thing in Rome: you get off Italo at Tiburtina station and take Itabus directly to Civitavecchia where the MSC Cruises ship will be in connection. For the port of Naples, the service is extended: it will not only be active for cruise connections, but Itabus will independently serve the port to also connect maritime services to other destinations in the gulf.