By
Rebecca Gibson |
Fincantieri has started laying the keel of MSC Cruises’ first Seaside EVO ship, MSC Seashore, at its yard in Monfalcone, Italy, celebrating the construction milestone with a traditional coin ceremony on 19 September.
Godmother duties at the ceremony were performed by long-standing employees Marianna Cicala, ground services planning manager for MSC Cruises, and Silvia Bozzetto, who is responsible for production planning and control commissioning at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard. Both placed coins under the keel to bring good fortune during the construction project and the ship’s operational life.
“The beginning of dry dock works of MSC Seashore, the largest ship so far built in Italy, is for us a source of great satisfaction: she is the symbol of ‘EVO’, a successful project for our group, innovating the already futuristic Seaside concept, that created two units highly welcomed by the market,” said Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri CEO. “It is a real challenge in terms of structural and managerial aspects, which powers the impressive workload for the shipyard and the local area. We therefore are very pleased for such a celebration which seals the fruitful partnership with MSC Cruises, and we are confident that there will be other similar moments in the future.”
During the ceremony, MSC Cruises revealed more details about MSC Seashore, which will mark a significant design evolution from the company’s two Seaside-class vessels. More than 40% of the ship has been redesigned to improve onboard spaces and the vessel will be 16 metres longer (339 metres in total), which has added 10,000 square metres of additional deck space.
Internal architecture has been fully reconfigured to include two central meeting points – one in the middle of the ship and another in the forward part – and to further enhance passenger flows. Plus, the ship will have 200 additional guest rooms, including new 75 larger cabins for guests with disabilities and new ‘cluster cabins’ where two or three adjoining cabins can be linked together to accommodate between six and 10 people. There will also be 28 more terraced suites and two suites with private whirlpools in the main accommodation area, as well as 41 Deluxe Grand Suites and two Owner’s Suites with whirlpools in the MSC Yacht Club ship-within-a-ship complex.
Guests will also benefit from ZOE – the world’s first-virtual personal cruise assistant in every cabin, two extra restaurants, a new double-decker show lounge in the ship’s aft, a redesigned aft pool and an interactive water park for guests of all ages.
Several of MSC Cruises’ signature spaces will be expanded, including the MSC Yacht Club, casino and indoor pool. Meanwhile, the five speciality restaurants will be relocated to make space for waterfront seating on the ship’s boardwalk and the clubs for young children and teenagers have been separated from a larger kids’ zone.
MSC Seashore will also be one of the first in the fleet to be fitted with a shore-to-ship power system to enable her to connect to local power grids while berthed in certain ports. The vessel will also have a next-generation advanced wastewater treatment system that meets the ‘Baltic Standard’ and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90% via active emissions control technology.
Other onboard environmental technologies will include hybrid exhaust gas cleaning systems that will remove 98% of sulphur oxide from ship emissions, advanced waste management systems, US Coast Guard-approved ballast water treatment systems, technologies for preventing oil discharges from machinery spaces, LED lighting, heat recovery systems and more.
“Today’s ceremony marks another key milestone in the construction of one of our most innovative all-around ships yet,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises. “Most importantly, MSC Seashore – which will feature the latest and most advanced environmental technology currently available – represents another proof of our long-standing commitment to preserve the environment in our ongoing journey to minimise and continuously reduce the impact of our operations.”
MSC Seashore is scheduled for delivery in June 2021.