MSC to Debut 2 Newbuilds in Winter 2022-23 Sailing Program

Posted on 3 February, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises has revealed the details of its winter 2022-2023 sailing program for 21 ships – including two newbuilds making their debut – to nearly 200 global destinations in 85 countries.

According to a press release, MSC next winter will introduce its first World-class of the ship and first LNG-powered vessel, the GT 205,700 MSC World Europa.

She will be based in Doha for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 football tournament to be staged during November and December.

The vessel will then offer cruises calling Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sir Bani Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates and Doha, plus Dammam in Saudi Arabia, with a mini-cruise on Dec. 20 before starting seven-night cruises in the Gulf region.

The Seascape next winter will become the second new ship to join MSC Cruises’ fleet and the line’s second Seaside EVO class vessel. She will offer two different seven-night itineraries from PortMiami with the first sailing on Dec. 11.

Winter 2022/2023 Sailing Program:

Middle East

The MSC World Europa will offer seven-night voyages including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas Island, Dammam and Doha.

The MSC Opera will also homeport in Dubai and sail to Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas Island and both Muscat and Khasab in Oman.

The MSC Splendida will homeport in Jeddah calling at Yanbu and Al Wajh in Saudi Arabia, Aqaba in Jordan and Safaga in Egypt.

Caribbean Sea

The MSC Seascape will start her inaugural season from Dec. 11 from PortMiami. She will offer seven-night East Caribbean itineraries calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Nassau in the Bahamas, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The ship will also sail 7-night West Caribbean itineraries calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Cozumel in Mexico, George Town in the Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios in Jamaica.

The MSC Meraviglia will offer three- to seven-night Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral including Nassau, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Costa Maya in Mexico, Cozumel and Belize City in Belize.

The MSC Divina will offer three- to 10-night sailings from PortMiami with all itineraries calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. Other destinations include Belize City, Isla de Roatan in Honduras, Costa Maya, Ocho Rios, Cartagena in Colombia), Colon in Panama) and Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.

The MSC Seaside will sail seveb-night cruises from Fort de France in Martinique, Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe and Philipsburg in St Maarten. There will be two different itineraries that include calls to destinations such as Castries in Saint Lucia, Bridgetown in Barbados, Saint George in Grenada), or St John’s in Antigua and Barbuda, Basseterre in St Kitts and Nevis and Roseau in Dominica.

Mediterranean Sea

The MSC Grandiosa will sail seven-night cruises from Genoa, Civitavecchia and Palermo in Italy, Valletta in Malta, Barcelona in Spain and Marseille France.

The MSC Virtuosa is offering sailings from Genoa, La Spezia and Naples in Italy, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona in Spain and Marseille.

The MSC Lirica will operate 11-night voyages from Genoa to Civitavecchia and Messina in Italy, Rhodes in Greece, Limassol in Cyprus, Haifa in Israel and Heraklion in Crete (Greece). The ship will also operate 10-night sailings from Genoa to Marseille, Barcelona, Tangier and Casablanca in Morocco, plus the Spanish ports of Ceuta, Malaga and Alicante.

Northern Europe

The MSC Preziosa is to sail seven-night sailings from Hamburg in Germany, Zeebrugge in Belgium, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Le Havre in France and Southampton in the UK.

South America

The MSC Seashore will do the new seven-night itinerary from Santos calling Maceio, Salvador and Buzios in Brazil.

The MSC Seaview will homeport for the first time in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil between December to March. She will offer 3 to 8-night cruises with different itineraries including the Brazilian destinations of Buzios, Ilhabela, Ilha Grande/Angra dos Reis, Ilheus and Salvador, as well as to Uruguay and Argentina.

The MSC Fantasia is Homeporting in Santos with a range of 3 to 7-night cruises with domestic calls including Ilha Grande, Buzios and Ilha Grande/Angra dos Reis, plus Montevideo and Punta Del Este in Uruguay and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

The MSC Armonia will homeport in Itajai/Santa Caterina with 7-night itineraries to Uruguay, Argentina and Ilhabela in Brazil.

The MSC Musica will homeport in Buenos Aires with sailings to Brazil including Ilhabela, Rio de Janeiro, Buzios and Ilha Grande/Angra dos Reis.

South Africa

The MSC Sinfonia will homeport in Cape Town with sailings to Mossel Bay in South Africa, plus Walvis Bay and Luderitz in Namibia.

The MSC Orchestra will homeport in Durban for voyages to Pomene and Portuguese Island in Mozambique, Walvis Bay and Cape Town.

MSC World Cruise 2023

The MSC Magnifica and MSC Poesia will both perform the MSC World Cruise 2023. The two ships, in an industry-first, will host more than 5,000 passengers for journeys around the world. Both vessels will depart from Civitavecchia and Genoa on 4 and 5 January 2023 respectively, Marseille one day later and Barcelona on 7 January. Once the two ships leave the Mediterranean Sea, they will part ways in the Atlantic Ocean for their separate global itineraries.

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique celebrate milestones

Posted on 4 January, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique have celebrated two milestones for the construction of the cruise line’s next generation of vessels.

MSC World Europa was floated out for the first time at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Meanwhile, a traditional coin ceremony took place as the keel was laid for MSC Euribia, with Anne Claire Juventin, who is responsible for quality control at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Valentina Mancini, brand manager from MSC Cruises, performing the role of godmothers.

MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will become the first LNG-powered vessels to join the MSC Cruises fleet next year, with the construction on MSC World Europa II due to commence in early 2023. The three newbuilds represent an investment of €3 billion ($3.39 billion) by the cruise line.

“Today is another important milestone in our journey towards net zero emissions by 2050 for our marine operations,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises. “We have a lot more to do but I am pleased that despite all that we have faced from the pandemic over the last two years, we have still been able to achieve with our partners at Chantiers de L’Atlantique the launch of these new LNG vessels – the first ever made in France.”

Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises also confirmed that a fuel cell pilot plant known as Blue Horizon will also be installed onboard MSC World Europa. The plant will produce electricity from the ship’s LNG fuel through electrochemical reactions at its electrodes, unlike currently installed engine generators which produce electricity through fuel combustion.

The fuel cell technology selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises is the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) developed by Bloom Energy. The SOFC uses ceramic materials, allowing operation at temperatures of up to 800C at the core of the fuel cell. This allows for electrical efficiency of around 60 per cent and provides the opportunity to recover significant heat from the exhausts, which will bring the overall efficiency of the system close to 90 per cent. The Blue Horizon pilot plant installed onboard MSC World Europa will consist of two 75-kilowatt modules.

The technology will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent compared to conventional dual-fuel engines, without producing nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide or particulate matter emissions. SOFC is also compatible with a range of fuels, including bio or synthetic LNG, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen. The operational data and technical feedback from the ship will be provided to Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Bloom Energy to enable improvements of the technology in the future.

“With MSC World Europa, we have designed and built a cruise ship with an outstanding level of performance and efficiency,” said Laurent Castaing, general manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “The integration of this fuel cell demonstrator allows us to take a major step forward and imagine what the cruise ship of the future will be like.”

MSC World Europa has now been moved to a wet dock for work to continue ahead of her scheduled delivery in November 2022. The ship will spend her inaugural season in the Gulf region offering seven-night cruises from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction will continue on MSC Euribia, with a global design contest for artists to create artwork for the ship’s hull inspired by the sea and the marine ecosystem.

MSC and Chantiers Mark Double Newbuild Milestones

Posted on 7 December, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique today celebrated two significant new-build milestones for the construction of the line’s next generation of environmentally advanced vessels.

The new MSC World Europa was floated out, while the coin ceremony was held for the MSC Euribia. Of note, MSC also confirmed the World Europa will have a fuel cell on board.

The MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will become the first LNG-powered vessels to join the MSC fleet next year representing an investment of €3 billion in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) ships with the construction on MSC World Europa II due to commence in early 2023, according to a statement.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises, said: “Today is another important milestone in our journey towards net zero emissions by 2050 for our marine operations. Following billions of euros of investment, we are announcing significant construction developments in not just one but two of our next-generation LNG-powered vessels bringing us ever closer to our vision of the emissions-free cruise industry.

“We have a lot more to do but I am pleased that despite all that we have faced from the pandemic over the last two years, we have still been able to achieve with our partners at Chantiers de L’Atlantique the launch of these new LNG vessels – the first ever made in France that will also introduce potential new fuel cell technologies to make them even more efficient. We now need to take even bigger steps and we will need the continued support of our suppliers, partners and Governments to achieve this. We all need to work together to achieve our green future.”

Laurent Castaing, General Manager, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, added: “It is indeed a very special moment we are living today. This is not only because these ships are respectively the 15th and the 16th we are building for MSC Cruises- which shows the outstanding quality of the relationship we established between our two companies since the ’90s. This is not only because they will rank among the largest and the finest of the world’s cruise market. But it is also and especially because they represent a giant step towards what the cruise ships of the future will look like. At their delivery, they will have the best carbon footprint of the market, in terms of emissions per passenger and per day”

MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique also confirmed today the installation of a fuel cell pilot plant onboard the MSC World Europa known as Blue Horizon. The technology will use LNG to convert fuel into electricity at one of the highest efficiencies of any power solution available today, producing electricity and heat on the ship, the company said.

The fuel cell technology selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique (CdA) and MSC Cruises is the SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) developed by Bloom Energy.

The SOFC will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by about a further 30 per cent compared with a conventional LNG engine without producing emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides or fine particles.

Anne Claire Juventin responsible for Quality Control from Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Valentina Mancini, Brand Manager from MSC Cruises performed the traditional maritime ritual as godmothers representing the shipowner and the shipbuilder when they placed two coins under the keel as the historical sign of blessing and good fortune for the project, and the ship’s operational life at sea.

The float out of MSC World Europa, which will be the first LNG-powered vessel to join the MSC Cruises fleet took place at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire where she will now be moved to a wet dock for work to continue on the ship until her delivery in November 2022.