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Cruise
Lines
MSC
Cruises...
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MSC Cruises
Finest
Italian
Hospitality
Afloat...
Choose
an MSC cruise ship
from the
menu above
or the links
below to
find out
everything
there is
to know
about the
ship you
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About
MSC
Cruises...
Mediterranean Shipping Company's MSC Italian
Cruises may be a relatively new entrant in cruising's leisure travel niche - it
was formed in 1987 - but the Geneva-based firm is one of the world's biggest
players in international shipping (it currently ranks as the second largest
container company).
Subsidiary MSC Italian Cruises, which is based in
Naples, was conceived around the premise of offering Europeans an
affordably-priced cruise vacation. That's a concept that, in 1990, was fairly
revolutionary.
At its inception, MSC Italian Cruises was created when
Gianlucci Aponte, owner of Mediterranean Shipping Company, acquired Starlauro, a
one-ship cruise line whose fleet consisted of the Achille Lauro (which had been
hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in 1986). This first ship continued its
troubled history even while under the MSC Italian Cruises flag - in 1996, the
Achille Lauro, while sailing a passenger cruise, caught fire off the coast of
Africa and ultimately sank. All passengers were safely rescued.
Beyond
the Achille Lauro, the company has built its fleet by acquiring mid-sized
"classic" cruise vessels whose launch dates range from the 1950s to the 1980s.
In recent years, however, MSC Italian Cruises, in an effort to keep up with
competitors like First European/Festival and Costa Cruises, has changed its
strategy - embarking on a first-ever newbuild program in company history. MSC
launched the 59,000-ton, 1,560-passenger MSC Lirica in 2003 and will premiere a
sister ship, MSC Opera, in 2004.
The MSC Italian Cruises fleet can be divided
into two categories: the very-value-priced refurbished "classic" ships and
newbuilds. In the former category are the 35,000-ton, 1,064-passenger MSC Melody
(built 1982; formerly known as Premier Cruise Lines' Starship Atlantic); the
20,000-ton, 566-passenger MSC Monterey (a former U.S. flagged liner built in
1952); and the 17,495-ton, 780-passenger MSC Rhapsody (formerly known as Cunard
Princess and built in 1977).
MSC Italian Cruises first new ship, the
aforementioned MSC Lirica, was launched in April 2003 - and built at France's
Chantiers de l'Atlantique. Sister ship MSC Opera was unveiled in summer 2004.
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The
MSC Cruises
Cruise
Fleet...
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CRUISECLEVER - MSC
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