''MSC Magnifica'' is a ''Musica''-class

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

operated by

MSC Cruises MSC Cruises ( it, MSC Crociere) is an Italian global cruise line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1989 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping C ...

. Constructed by

STX Europe STX Europe AS, formerly Aker Yards ASA, was until 2012 a subsidiary of the South Korean STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. With headquarters in Oslo, Norway, STX Europe operated 15 shipyards in Brazil, Finland, France, Norway, Romania and Vietnam. T ...

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

, the ship was launched in January 2009, completed in January 2010, and entered service in March 2010. MSC Cruises announced the suspension of all North American itineraries until June 30, 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Design and description

The fourth ship to be built to the ''Musica''-class design, ''MSC Magnifica'' was constructed by

in their shipyard at

, France. She was built at a cost of $547 million. The vessel is long, with a beam of . The 93,330-

gross ton Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

vessel can reach a maximum speed of . ''MSC Magnifica'' has 1,259 cabins – 2,550 passengers can be carried at double occupancy, while 3,605 can be carried at full capacity. The ship has 1,027 crew.

Facilities

The ship has 13 passenger accessible decks, three swimming pools, a gymnasium, spa, and wellness center, a 1,250-seat

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-style theatre, casino, cinema, bowling alley and a number of dining areas and bars.

Refit

On 10 September 2019, it was announced that ''MSC Magnifica'' would be dry-docked for two months starting March 2021, to be refurbished and stretched by . The 140 million euro renovation will bring two new restaurants, a new shopping area, a new water park, 215 new cabins (92 with balcony), and the most modern ecological systems: a state-of-the-art Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system and next-generation Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) system. The vessel will also get a shore-power system.

Construction and career

''MSC Magnifica'' was identified by the shipyard hull number T32 during construction. ''MSC Magnifica''s onboard disco is named after her shipyard hull number. ''MSC Magnifica'' was floated out of her dry dock in a launching ceremony on 16 January 2009. A 72-hour

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

period was completed on 17 January 2010. A flag-changing ceremony was held on 25 February 2010 in Saint-Nazaire. The ship was christened on 6 March 2010 at a ceremony in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

by the godmother to the MSC Cruises fleet, Italian actress

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

. ''MSC Magnifica'' received criticism in April 2014 after it was revealed that Brazilian police had to rescue eleven crew members on board that were living in 'slave-like conditions' whilst docked in

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. On 5 January 2019, ''MSC Magnifica'' began her first World Cruise. The ship departed from Genoa and sailed for 119. ''MSC Magnifica'' visited 6 continents, 32 countries and 49 destinations. The ship returned to Genoa on 3 May 2019. ''MSC Magnifica'' undertook a second World Cruise leaving in January 2020. The 116-night cruise started at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

on 5 January 2020 and intended to call at 43 ports in 23 countries. The vessel was scheduled to end her World Cruise in Genoa on 30 April 2020.

Incidents

Coronavirus pandemic

On 23 March 2020, the ship was headed for

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, Western Australia, for refueling and resupplying, but was denied permission to dock because authorities wrongly believed there were

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

patients on board; the crew denied having any cases of the virus on board. The ship was not allowed to dock in Dubai, and instead on 6 April made a "technical stop" in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

, Sri Lanka, where a 75-year-old German heart patient and a Sri Lankan chef, who had made a successful plea on social media to be allowed to repatriate himself, were disembarked. The Sri Lanka Navy took charge of them; On 14 April, the German woman who evacuated the ship died.German Woman Who Was Evacuated From MSC Magnifica Cruise Ship Dies 14 April 2020 HIRU NEWS
/ref> On 20 April 2020, ''MSC Magnifica'' docked in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, France, letting out all its passengers and terminating the cruise. MSC Cruises stated that no passengers and no crew members had shown any coronavirus symptoms. Some passengers had previously disembarked in Australia in mid-March and planned to fly to Europe, according to one report. The rest of the ship's guests had continued to France.

References

External links

''MSC Magnifica'' webpage
at MSC Cruises website
Deck Plans
from Seascanner.com {{MSC Ships Magnifica 2009 ships Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic