''MSC Seashore'' is a ''Seaside'' EVO-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 Tourism, tours k ...

built for

MSC Cruises MSC Cruises () is a Swiss-Italian global cruise line based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1988 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). In addition to being the wor ...

at the

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

shipyard in

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. As of August 2021, she became the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of MSC's ''Seaside'' EVO class, a sub-class of the ''Seaside''-class of ships built with larger dimensions. She was joined by

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

''MSC Seascape'', since delivery in November 2022.

History

Planning and construction

On 29 November 2017, at the delivery ceremony of ''

MSC Seaside ''MSC Seaside'' is a ''Seaside''-class cruise ship currently owned and operated by MSC Cruises. As the lead vessel of the ''Seaside'' class, she lends her name to the company's ''Seaside'' class. At 153,516 GT, she would become the largest c ...

'', MSC announced it had signed an order with Italian shipbuilder

worth €1.8 billion for two new cruise ships, scheduled for delivery in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The two ships make up the ''Seaside'' EVO-class, described as a "further evolution of the ''Seaside''-class prototype" established by ''MSC Seaside'' and '' MSC Seaview.'' The order for the first ''Seaside'' EVO ship replaced an order originally placed for a third ''Seaside''-class vessel. The first ''Seaside'' EVO ship would become the largest ship to have been built in Italy. On 26 November 2018, MSC revealed the name of the first ''Seaside'' EVO ship as ''MSC Seashore'', the same day it held the steel-cutting ceremony for the ship at Fincantieri's shipyard in

. On 19 September 2019, the

keel laying Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a shipbuilding, ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel l ...

ceremony was performed for the ship, in which two coins were placed under the ship's keel for good fortune. She was floated out on 20 August 2020 and moved to a wet dock to complete her outfitting work. ''MSC Seashore'' was delivered in July 2021. On 22 December 2021, a 15-year-old died after falling from a balcony on the ship. The cruise line reported that it appeared to have been a suicide.

Operational career

Originally set to begin operations with her maiden voyage on 13 June 2021, ''MSC Seashore'' was scheduled to sail weekly Western

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

cruises, visiting

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

, and

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

. However, after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

caused construction delays at the shipyard, her debut was postponed to 1 August 2021, forcing MSC to deploy '' MSC Fantasia'' on her route until her debut.

Design and specifications

MSC claims ''MSC Seashore'''s changes in her overall design from her older ''Seaside''-class sister ships make up more than 65 percent of the vessel. She is larger than her sister ships: her height measures , her beam measures , and her length measures , an addition of . She also measures , an increase from , and includes 10,000 square meters of additional deck space, giving her the highest ratio of outdoor space per guest of any MSC ship upon her debut. Onboard, she has expanded guest capacity resulting from 200 additional passenger cabins, with 4,540 passengers at double occupancy or 5,877 passengers at maximum capacity, 758 more than that on ''Seaside''-class ships. The larger deck plan includes additional restaurants and lounge space, but fewer whirlpools. The ship has features designed to enhance efficiency, such as a

selective catalytic reduction Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) means converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () soluti ...

system to control the ship's emissions and

anti-fouling paint Anti-fouling paint is a specialized category of coatings applied as the outer (outboard) layer to the hull of a ship or boat, to slow the growth of and facilitate detachment of subaquatic organisms that attach to the hull and can affect a ve ...

to reduce wave resistance on the ship's hull. The MSC Seashore is the first new cruise ship to feature advanced air sanitation technology. According to MSC, the 'Safe Air' system reduces the risk of catching viruses.

References

Footnotes

Citations

* * * * * * * * {{Portal bar, Transport Seashore Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Monfalcone 2020 ships