The Newest Member of MSC Cruises’ Fleet
On Sunday 12 July 2009, in Barcelona (Spain), MSC Cruises’ new flagship MSC Splendida was christened in style by screen legend Sophia Loren. The ceremony was accompanied by a special gala show starring world famous tenor José Carreras and other acclaimed artists. A spectacular fireworks display culminated the christening ceremony. Measuring 333.3m in length, MSC Splendida is longer than the Eiffel Tower laid horizontally, and at 66.8m high is as tall as a 23-storey skyscraper. She has a gross tonnage of 137,936 tons and a top cruising speed of 23 knots. Each of her two propellers is bigger than a double-decker bus, spanning 6m and weighing over 17 tons. MSC Splendida has a total surface area of 450,000 square metres, the equivalent of around 60 football pitches, including 55,000 square metres of usable floor space - more than the Palace of Versailles! The 1600-seat Strand Theatre alone occupies over 2,000 square metres: the size of 8 tennis courts. A further 1,700 square metres are dedicated to the sumptuous MSC Aurea Spa, another 1,000 square metres to the Royal Palm Casino and 400 square metres to children’s play areas. MSC Splendida has the capacity to accommodate 3,959 guests, with a ratio of more than 1 crew member for every 3 passengers. The ship has 5 swimming pools, including 1 covered pool and a spectacular Aqua Park with 150 water jets, as well as 12 whirlpool baths. A total of 1,637 cabins provide MSC Splendida with more guest rooms than New York’s famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. 82% of the accommodation is in outside cabins, and 1,256 cabins have private balconies. There are 107 suites, 99 of which are located in the luxury MSC Yacht Club zone, and 43 cabins are specially equipped for guests with disabilities. Her 18 decks are served by 25 different lifts, two of them panoramic. The ship’s lavish decor involves 43 different colours and includes 17,000 square metres of pile carpet, enough to carpet London’s Trafalgar Square as well as Times Square in New York! You could also cover 5 ice rinks with the 8,000 square metres of marble used on board. The ship is illuminated by an incredible 65,000 light bulbs - more than the entire New York subway system. If all the electricity cables on MSC Splendida were connected end to end they would stretch from Barcelona to Hamburg! There are 18 different bars and lounges, 4 restaurants (including the sumptuous L’Olivo specialising in the traditional cuisines of the Mediterranean) and 2 buffets. Between them, they serve 14 different menus each day, comprising 2,000 different recipes. Also there is a wellness and beauty spa, solarium, shuffleboard, jogging track, sports centre, squash and tennis courts, 5 swimming pools and 19 leisure and entertainment venues with casino, theatre and 4D cinema. MSC Splendida not only uses the latest technology to provide comfort and service but equally to achieve the highest standards of respect for the environment. The substantial investments in leading edge systems include an Advanced Water Treatment plant that can process up to 1,500 cubic metres of liquid waste per day using a sophisticated five-stage process that produces water so pure it can be released straight into the sea without harming the ecosystem, although it is generally stored on board and emptied into the systems in port or re-used in technical services such as washing the decks. Innovative technology in the cabins and public areas enables average energy savings of 25% thanks in part to a Cabin Monitoring System that “tells” the climate control system when cabin balcony doors are opened. Special clean incinerators handle paper and cardboard waste, while highly-efficient compacting machines and grinders are installed on board for the sorting and volume reduction of waste glass and aluminium, with all the latter being recycled. Earlier at the traditional handover ceremony at the STX Europe shipyard at Saint-Nazaire (France) MSC Crociere’s CEO Pierfrancesco Vago said “We are delighted to take delivery of this fabulous new flagship. Not only is she a pioneering example of environmentally-friendly ship design; but as the tenth ship in the fleet, she also represents an important milestone in MSC Crociere’s growth. The 5.5 billion euro investment programme we initiated in 2003 is nearing completion, and we now look forward to the arrival of MSC Magnifica in 2010.”