MSC Cruises

Company type	Privately held company
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1988; 37 years ago (1988)Naples,Italy
Founder	Gianluigi Aponte
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Cruises
Number of employees	23,500
Parent	Mediterranean Shipping Company
Subsidiaries	Explora Journeys
Website	https://www.msccruisesusa.com/

MSC Cruises (Italian:MSC Crociere) is a Swiss-Italian globalcruise line based inGeneva, with operations offices inNaples,Genoa andVenice. It was founded in 1988 inNaples,Italy, as part of theMediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). In addition to being the world's largestprivately held cruise company, employing about 23,500 people worldwide and with offices in 45 countries as of 2017^[update],^[1] MSC Cruises is thethird-largest cruise company in the world, afterCarnival Corporation & plc andRoyal Caribbean Group, with a 10.2% share of all passengers carried in 2021.^[2]

In 1988 Gianluigi Aponte, founder ofMediterranean Shipping Company cargo shipping company, decided to enter the cruise industry and purchased theAchille Lauro fromFlotta Lauro Line. He retained "Lauro" in the company name in honour of his mentor, naming the new cruise lineStarLauro Cruises.^[3] The original Lauro Lines (Italian:Flotta Lauro) was originally founded inNaples, Italy byAchille Lauro in the 1940s.

In 1990 Mediterranean Shipping Co. purchased theMonterey to sail for their StarLauro Cruises brand. The ship retained her original name that she had had since sailing withMatson Lines. Both theMonterey andAchille Lauro would sail under the StarLauro Cruises banner into the early 1990s. In November 1994 theAchille Lauro caught fire off the coast of Somalia whileen route toSouth Africa, with 979 passengers and crew aboard, two of whom died during the evacuation.^[4]

StarLauro line went on to acquire theEnrico C from Costa Cruises, renaming the shipSymphony, and the formerCunard Princess, renaming the shipRhapsody to the fleet.^[5]

In 1995, StarLauro Cruises was rebranded as MSC Cruises, with the livery changed from the blue funnel star logo to a white funnel with the MSC logo.^[6]

In 1997 MSC purchased theAtlantic fromPremier Cruise Lines, and renamed the shipMelody.

In the early 2000s, MSC initiated a rapid expansion program, and placed its first new build orders withChantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, for 65,000-ton ships. Based on a similar design to the French yard's platform forFestival Cruises, the two-ship order started the aggressive expansion of the cruise line. The line's first new build, theMSC Lirica, debuted in 2003. TheLirica also became the first MSC ship to be christened bySophia Loren, a tradition that has continued for all but one of the company's new builds.^[7] TheLirica was followed by sister shipMSCOpera in 2004.

In 2004, MSC Cruises acquired the fairly newly builtEuropean Vision andEuropean Stars from the bankruptFestival Cruises, renaming the shipsMSC Armonia andMSC Sinfonia.^[8]

In 2006 the first of the four Muscia Class debuted, also built atSTX France. TheMSC Musica was followed by theMSC Orchestra,MSC Poesia, and the final, slightly modified,MSC Magnifica in 2010.

In 2015, MSC Cruises announced that the fourMistral class ships had undergone renovation under the Renaissance Programme.^[9]

In July 2018, the company announced that it would build a second cruise terminal atPortMiami for itsWorld-class cruise ships as an expansion of its North American program. It was scheduled to be completed in October 2022.^[10]

In October 2018, MSC announced an order for four luxury ships of 64,000gross tons each.^[11] These ultra-luxury vessels were to be based on the cruise line's luxury concept, the MSC Yacht Club.^[11]

In January 2019, MSC Cruises unveiled the world's first virtual personal cruise assistant — ZOE, an artificial intelligence device designed byHarman International. It is currently featured onMSC Bellissima andMSC Grandiosa, and will be featured on future new builds upon their delivery.^[12][13]

In mid-2020, MSC Cruises suspended most (or all) of their operations for over six months during theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[14] On 7 January 2021, MSC announced it would restart cruises with theMSC Grandiosa andMSC Magnifica in the Mediterranean. Passengers were initially limited to residents of theSchengen Area.^[14]

In June 2021, MSC announced a new luxury subsidiary brand namedExplora Journeys, with four vessels planned, beginning with theExplora I.^[15][16]

In March 2022, MSC Cruises signed a multi-year deal withFormula One to become their official cruise partner.^[17] They were the title sponsor of the2023 Belgian Grand Prix.^[18]

In January 2023, MSC Cruises announced a new multi-year partnership agreement with theNew York Knicks. The deal gets MSC promotion during Knicks home games, including LED signage, virtual-on-court signage, and the opportunity to serve as the presenting partner during in-game t-shirt tosses.^[19]

In August 2024,Shipping Italy reported rumors that MSC was in talks withMeyer Turku to build a class of four ships with a gross tonnage of 270,000, which would make it bigger than any other cruise ship at the time.^[20]

In December 2015, MSC Cruises signed a 100-year lease for the private island ofOcean Cay in the Bahamas to develop the land for an exclusive island experience.^[21] The site had previously been used to mine whiteAragonite sand for decades. After the original owners abandoned the 95 acre island, the land had to be restored to remove all of the old mining equipment, with MSC Cruises committing $200 million for the project, involving restoration and conversion of the island into a private resort.^[22]

The restoration required the work of many scientists to bring the area back into a functioning marine habitat. Once the Bahamian government granted the site marine reserve status, the project was officially named the Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve and was set to open in mid-November 2019. However, weather delays pushed the date to 5 December 2019.^[23]

Ship	Built	Builder	Joined MSC	Gross tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
Mistral-class
MSC Armonia	2001	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	May 2004	65,542	Panama	Built as the MSEuropean Vision forFestival Cruises
MSC Sinfonia	2002		March 2005	65,542	Panama	Built as the MSEuropean Stars forFestival Cruises
MSC Lirica	2003		March 2003	65,591	Panama	First purpose-built new build for MSC Cruises
MSC Opera	2004		March 2004	65,591	Panama
Musica class
MSC Musica	2006	Aker Yards (Saint-Nazaire)	July 2006	92,409	Panama
MSC Orchestra	2007		May 2007	92,409	Panama
MSC Poesia	2008	Aker Yards/STX Europe (Saint-Nazaire)	Oct 2008	92,627	Panama
MSC Magnifica	2010	STX Europe (Saint-Nazaire)	March 2010	95,128	Panama	ModifiedMusica class
Fantasia class
MSC Fantasia	2008	Aker Yards/STX Europe (Saint-Nazaire)	Dec 2008	137,936	Panama
MSC Splendida	2009		July 2009	137,936	Panama
MSC Divina	2012	STX Europe (Saint-Nazaire)	June 2012	139,400	Panama	ModifiedFantasia class
MSC Preziosa	2013		March 2013	139,400	Panama	ModifiedFantasia class[24]
Seaside class
MSC Seaside	2017	Fincantieri	Nov 2017	153,516	Malta
MSC Seaview	2018		June 2018	153,516	Malta
Seaside EVO-class
MSC Seashore	2021	Fincantieri	August 2021	170,412	Malta
MSC Seascape	2022[25]		November 2022	170,400[26]	Malta
Meraviglia class
MSC Meraviglia	2017	STX Europe (Saint-Nazaire)	May 2017	171,598	Malta
MSC Bellissima	2019	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	March 2019	171,598	Malta
Meraviglia Plus-class
MSC Grandiosa	2019	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	November 2019	181,541	Malta	[27]
MSC Virtuosa	2021		May 2021	181,541	Malta	[27]
MSC Euribia[28]	2023[29]		May 2023	184,011	Malta	Second ship powered byliquid natural gas (LNG) to join the fleet.
World Class
MSC World Europa[30]	2022[31]	Chantiers de l'Atlantique	December 2022	215,863[32]	Malta	Originally namedMSC Europa.[33] Largest ship built for MSC Cruises and first in the fleet powered by LNG withsolid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and having "G"-shape bow design.

MSC is also in negotiations with Finnish, Italian and French yards for new builds.^{[41][42][43][44]}

Ship	Built	Builder	In service for MSC	Gross tonnage	Notes	Image
Achille Lauro	1947	Scheepsbouw-Maatschappij De Schelde, Vlissingen,Netherlands	1988- 1994	23,629	Built forRoyal Rotterdam Lloyd as theMS Willem Ruys. Sank after catching fire in 1994.
Monterey	1952	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Maryland,United States	1990- 2006	20,000	Originally known asSS Free State Mariner. PreviouslyMonterey forMatson Lines andMonterey for Aloha Pacific Cruises. Scrapped in 2007.
Symphony	1951	Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson,England	1994- 2000	16,000	PreviouslyProvence for SGTM Line andEnrico CforCosta Cruises. Scrapped in 2001.
Rhapsody	1977	Burmeister & Wain,Denmark	1995- 2009	17,095	PreviouslyCunard Conquest andCunard Princess forCunard Line. Scrapped in 2022.
Melody	1982	CNIM (La Seyne-sur-Mer),France	1997- 2013	35,143	PreviouslyAtlantic forHome Lines andStarShip Atlantic forPremier Cruise Line. Scrapped in 2018.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMSC Cruises.

• Official website

  External videos
  The Secret Life of the Cruise – a 2018 documentary film directed by Ben Ryder showcasing the operations and management of a MSC cruise (Tubi, full episode)

• MSC Cruises
• Italian companies established in 1960
• Cruise lines
• Transport companies established in 1960

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