MSC Cruises is a global cruise line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva. It was founded in Naples, Italy in 1989. MSC Cruises is the world's largest privately held cruise company, employing about 23,500 people worldwide and having offices in 45 countries as of 2017. MSC Cruises is part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), the world's second biggest container shipping operator. MSC Cruises is the fourth largest cruise company in the world, after Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings with a 7.2% share of all passengers carried in 2017.
MSC Armonia is a cruise ship that was built in 2001 for the now defunct Festival Cruises as MS European Vision. Since 2004 the ship has been owned and operated by MSC Cruises. At 58,600 gross register tons, she can accommodate 2,065 passengers in 783 cabins and 760 crew members.
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) is a Swiss-based shipping line. The company operates in all major ports of the world. It is the world's second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity. As of the end of December 2014, MSC was operating 471 container vessels with an intake capacity of 2,435,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). It has a division called MSC Cruises that focuses on holiday cruises.
MS MSC Opera is a cruise ship built in 2004, carrying 2,679 passengers in 1,071 cabins, and with a crew complement of approximately 728, currently operated by Swiss company MSC Cruises. She served as the flagship of the company until MSC Musica entered service in 2006.
Fincantieri S.p.A. is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013 and 50% of STX France in 2018, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world. The company builds both commercial and military vessels.
STX Europe AS, formerly Aker Yards ASA, was until 2012 a subsidiary of the South Korean STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.
MSC Poesia is a cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She was built in 2008 by the Aker Yards shipyard in St. Nazaire, France. She is a sister ship to MSC Musica, MSC Orchestra, and MSC Magnifica. She is the first ship in the MSC Cruises fleet to be officially named outside Italy, at the Port of Dover, Kent on April 5, 2008 by Sophia Loren.
MSC Splendida is a Fantasia-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises.
MSC Lirica is a Lirica Class cruise ship, owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She was the first newbuild cruise ship to enter service for MSC Cruises. She can accommodate 1,560 passengers in 780 cabins. Her crew complement is approximately 732; with half of them being Italian and the rest from developing countries in the far East.
MS MSC Sinfonia is a cruise ship owned and operated by the Italy-based MSC Cruises. She was built in 2002 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France for the now-defunct Festival Cruises as MS European Stars. She was the last ship built for Festival Cruises.
MS Qing was a cruise ship, formerly owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She was built in 1982 by the CNIM shipyard in La Seyne, France for Home Lines as Atlantic. Between 1988 and 1997 she sailed for Premier Cruise Line as StarShip Atlantic.
MS Golden Iris is a cruise ship owned an operated by the Israel-based Mano Maritime. She was built 1975 by the Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen, Denmark for Cunard Line as MS Cunard Conquest, but her interior fittings were subsequently installed at the Navali Mechaniche Affini in La Spezia, Italy. Following re-delivery from Navali Mechaniche Affini in 1977 the ship was renamed MS Cunard Princess. In 1995, the ship entered service with StarLauro Cruises, briefly retaining her previous name before being renamed MS Rhapsody. Later during her career with MSC Cruises the ship came to be marketed as MS MSC Rhapsody, but her official registered name remained Rhapsody throughout her MSC career. The ship was sold to Mano Maritime in 2009.
MSC Fantasia is an Italian Fantasia-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She entered service in December 2008. MSC Fantasia gives her name to the entire class of Fantasia ships. MSC Fantasia was the first of a new generation of larger ships to join the fleet. She was the largest ship operated by MSC Cruises, along with her sister ship MSC Splendida, until the launch of theMSC Divina in 2012 and theMSC Preziosa in 2013 and subsequent Meraviglia and Seaside classes. The Fantasia was also the first ship to incorpate MSC’s “ship within a ship” - the MSC Yacht Club.
Gianluigi Aponte is an Italian billionaire businessman, and the founder, owner and chairman of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the second-largest container shipping line in the world after Maersk.
MSC Magnifica is a Musica-class cruise ship operated by MSC Cruises. Constructed by STX Europe in Saint-Nazaire, the ship was launched in January 2009, completed in January 2010, and entered service in March 2010.
The MSC Divina is a 139,400 GT cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She was constructed from 2010 to 2012 being originally named MSC Fantastica while under construction. MSC renamed her when near complete in the shipyard to honour the actress Sophia Loren.
MSC Preziosa is a Fantasia-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She entered service in March 2013. The fourth ship in her class, she is an enhanced version of her first two class member ships, MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia and identical to the previous MSC Divina.
MSC Seaside is a cruise ship built for MSC Cruises. The first of MSC's next-generation Seaside class vessels, it is the largest cruise ship ever to be constructed by its builder, Fincantieri of Italy, and features a custom-designed multi-story aqua park built by WhiteWater West of Canada. The first steel cut took place on 22 June 2015 in Monfalcone. The keel was laid in Monfalcone on 4 March 2016, and the vessel was floated out of the shipyard on 26 November 2017. When it debuted, it was the 14th largest cruise ship in the world, behind Freedom of the Seas and Independence of the Seas.
MSC Seaview is a cruise ship built for MSC Cruises at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Italy. She joined the company’s fleet in June 2018.
