First Look: MSC Cruises' New Vista-Class Ship, MSC Meraviglia

msc meraviglia steel cutting ceremony

MSC Cruises has cut steel on its new Vista generation of megaships, the first of which will be named MSC Meraviglia at STX France, during a ceremony in Saint-Nazaire.

At the steel-cutting ceremony, MSC Cruises Executive Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago announced the name of the new 4,500 guest (double occupancy) ship — due to be delivered in May 2017 and open for bookings from June 2015 — and that it will spend its first summer sailing the western Mediterranean. The ship will have three homeports: Genoa, Marseille and Barcelona.

 
MSC Meraviglia and the other upcoming Vista project ships will be designed to call at any cruise port in the world, offering more variety in terms of itineraries.

msc meraviglia
 
The ship will also have "cluster cabins" for families, and an extended MSC Yacht Club, the self-contained luxury area on the foredecks, which will offer duplex suites, a solarium and a private lounge and restaurant. Vista-class ships will also have a variety of dining options and entertainment choices, panoramic spaces, a large theatre and an amusement park linked to an outdoor aqua park, as well as a three-deck interior promenade.
 
MSC Meraviglia will also have a range of tech-focused amenities, such as near field communication technology that enables guests to do things like make onboard payments, access their staterooms or geo-locate children by using their cruise card, bracelet or smartphone. The ship will also have a 5,167 square foot LED screen, which forms the entire ceiling of the ship’s interior promenade. This LED image vault will beam out compelling images and vistas day and night, including scheduled visual events.

msc meraviglia
 
MSC Meraviglia is the first of two identical ships on order from STX France, the second of which will be entered in to service in 2019. In addition, MSC Cruises has options for two further Vista project ships to be delivered by 2022.
 
The Vista project is the result of a development process under STX’s ECORIZON program to create cleaner, smarter and more efficient ships. They will be water emission free, and their hulls and propulsion systems will be optimized for energy efficiency. Scrubber technology will neutralize fumes and CO2 emissions. In addition, the ship is fully compliant with the Safe return to Port requirement.
 
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