MSC Preziosa, Europe’s largest cruise ship set sail on its first grand voyage on Thursday. This pre-inaugural 9-day/8-night cruise from Saint-Nazaire in western France will end in Genoa, Italy on Friday, March 22. There a christening ceremony will take place before it departs on March 24 on its first official cruise. The five-night voyage begins in Genoa and includes stops in Naples, Messina, Tunis and Barcelona.
For the 2013, MSC Cruises has planned journey from one continent to another on one of their Grand Voyage cruises as they make their way back to Europe from USA, Brazil, Argentina, the Antilles or South Africa. Or how about from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean?
Europes largest cruise ship, MSC Preziosa, makes first voyage
Along with its sister ship the MSC Divina, which first set sail in May of 2012, MSC Preziosa (both are 333 meters long by 38 meters wide and can hold 4,345 passengers) holds the title Europe’s largest cruise ship, and is also one of ten largest ships in the world. It is the 12th in MSC’s fleet, making it the world’s third biggest cruise line, according to company CEO Pierfrancesco Vago.
Four swimming pools, the 30,000 square meters of public area, casino and theater, are some of its amenities. Decked out in black and purple velvet, white-veined black marble and giant mirrors in front of passengers’ beds, the Preziosa is a symbol of French shipbuilding prowess.
According to various reports, a shipping firm in Libya originally ordered it in 2010. But a year later payments were halted in the wake of the Libyan revolution against slain leader Moamer Kadhafi. MSC Cruises stepped in and purchased the already-in-progress ship from builder STX France.
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