Tag Archives: MSC

MSC Meraviglia coming to America

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MSC Cruises will bring the new MSC Meraviglia to North America permanently in late 2019 to be one of three ships doing Caribbean cruises from Miami.

“The ship that will be christened in Le Havre in a few months will be coming here and will be staying here year-round,” said Roberto Fusaro, president of MSC North America.

MSC executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago said in January that one of the line’s Meraviglia-class ships would be positioned in Miami for the 2019-20 winter season but hadn’t said which one.

The MSC Meraviglia is the first in a class that will include two more ships, plus a lengthened version. It will have Cirque du Soleil shows in a customized $20 million theater and will also be the first MSC ship to feature MSC for Me, the digital concierge MSC recently announced. MSC Meraviglia is scheduled to launch in June with cruises in Europe.


The MSC Meraviglia will have four water slides.

MSC currently sails the MSC Divina year-round from Miami and is scheduled to employ the new MSC Seaside from Miami starting in November 2017. Fusaro said the plan after the winter season in 2018-19 is to send the MSC Divina back to Europe for the summer, while keeping the MSC Seaside and MSC Meraviglia in Miami year-round.

At a news conference at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference, MSC Cruises president Gianni Onorato reiterated the line’s pledge to use travel agents and said it plans to continue paying commission on such things as spa treatments, shore excursions and air as it grows capacity in North America. “We have a commitment to be the easiest company to do business with and the most profitable for our trading partners,” Onorato said.

This article has been updated to reflect that the the MSC Meraviglia will be coming to Miami for the winter 2019-20 winter season, not the 2018-19 season as it previously stated.

MSC Cruises Finalizes Two-Ship Construction Contract with STX France

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STX France and MSC Cruises have announced they have finalized the contracts for two new 177,000-ton cruise ships for MSC.

The two next-generation ships will be the largest ever built for a European cruise line.

Delivery is scheduled for 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The ships will be known as the “Meraviglia-Plus” class, an evolution of the smaller 167,000 GRT “Meraviglia” class. The first of two “Meraviglia” ships are scheduled to enter into service in June 2017. The will have capacity for 6,300 passengers in 2,450 cabins.

“I am extremely pleased to see us continuing to deliver against our industrial plan with the coming into force of the final contract for the two “Meraviglia-Plus” ships,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises. “I view this as a further reflection of the strength of the relationship in place from day one between MSC Cruises and STX France. It is for this reason that, in addition to having built at STX France all twelve of our existing ships, through 2026 up to eight more are currently planned to be built in France at STX.”

MSC Cruises said the two units finalized this week are part of the company’s €9 billion investment plan for eleven new next-generation cruise ships to coming into service by 2026

Work starts on MSC Seaside’s future Miami home

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A rendering of PortMiami’s expanded and renovated Terminal F.

Construction has begun on PortMiami’s Terminal F, which will be expanded and renovated to accommodate the MSC Seaside, a ship due to enter service next December. Terminal F will also be home to the MSC Divina.

Miami-Dade County is funding the $38 million project, which will enable the terminal to manage embarkation loads of up to 6,000 passengers, according to the county. The MSC Seaside will accommodate 4,140 passengers at double occupancy but will have a maximum of more than 5,000.

MSC Cruises said it has been “actively involved in the entire process of designing the new cruise terminal.” Under an agreement between the county and MSC Cruises, the port was obligated to expand the terminal.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/hSNjY-UF-go?rel=0Planned enhancements include an expanded waiting area with seating for 1,500, a larger VIP waiting area for MSC Yacht Club passengers, an improved baggage-claim area and the implementation of technology for faster embarkation and disembarkation.

The terminal is expected to be ready by Dec. 1 next year, just prior to the MSC Seaside’s arrival in PortMiami on Dec. 21.