''MSC Splendida'' is a owned and operated by

MSC Cruises MSC Cruises ( it, MSC Crociere) is an Italian global cruise line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1989 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping ...

. Constructed at STX France in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

, she commenced service in July 2009 with $550m investment.

History

MSC Splendida in Geirangerfjorden 20150604 1

''MSC Splendida'' was completed in 2009 at a cost of $550 million and is a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same 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 often share a ...

to ''

MSC Fantasia ''MSC Fantasia'' is a ''Fantasia''-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises and serves as the lead vessel for the ''Fantasia'' class of ships. She entered service in December 2008 and ushered in a new generation of larger ships for ...

'', originally, she was to be named ''MSC Serenata'', but the name was changed in May 2007 to ''MSC Splendida'' She measures 137,936 GT, and is 333.30 m long with a beam of 37.98 m, a height of 66.81 m and a draft of 8.29 m. Her capacity is 3,900 passengers. The two

Neopanamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

vessels were to be the largest ships in a European cruise line's fleet at the time of delivery. The then-unnamed vessel was part of a two-ship order made by MSC Cruises with STX France on 16 November 2005, for a tentative delivery in spring 2009. Construction began on then-''MSC Serenata'' on 12 April 2007 with the steel-cutting. The ship was launched from the shipyard on 18 July 2008. She began her sea trials on 21 May 2009 and completed them on 27 May 2009. The ship was delivered to MSC Cruises on 4 July 2009. She embarked on her maiden voyage on 4 July 2009 and returned 11 July, to be officially named on 12 July 2009, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

, her godmother.

Areas of operation

''MSC Splendida'' has cruised the

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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

and Far East. She was refurbished in 2017 before deploying to China. In 2020 March, the ship docked in Palong,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

beach during the coronavirus pandemic, after more the 2,700 passengers was disembarked. The ship is scheduled to serve

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

until summer 2020 before repositioning to Northern Europe and the

. The ship is scheduled to be based in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

for the 2023/2024 cruise season and will serve the South African market sailing to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, Reunion,

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

Amenities

The ship's horn system is programmed to play multiple songs, including "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at numb ...

" and "

We Are the Champions "We Are the Champions" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released from the band's sixth album ''News of the World'' (1977). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it remains among rock's most recognisable anthems.

" by

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, "

Seven Nation Army "Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album, ''Elephant'' (2003). V2 Records released the song to American alternative radio on February 17, 2003, as the lead single ...

" by

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wi ...

and "

Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 '' Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "F ...

Incidents

Bardo National Museum attack

On 18 March 2015, ''MSC Splendida'' was in port in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

with ''

Costa Fascinosa ''Costa Fascinosa'' is a that was ordered in October 2007 for Costa Crociere. Based on the ''Concordia''-class design, ''Costa Fascinosa'' was constructed by Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Venice. Part of a five-ship expansion of the Costa ...

'' when gunmen opened fire on tourists at the Bardo National Museum. Twelve passengers hailing from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Spain, Britain, Australia, Poland, and France, were killed.

Coronavirus pandemic

On 23 March 2020, around 14:00 CET, a Thai crew member working aboard as a buffet attendant was

medically evacuated Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

via lifeboat after she exhibited symptoms consistent with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

and was having difficulty breathing. At the time, the ship was near the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

and headed to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

to disembark all of its passengers. On 24 March 2020, MSC Cruises informed the crew that the sick crew member had tested negative. However, two days later, on 26 March, it was reported that the sick crew member had been tested again, and this time, the test had returned positive. As a result, 16 crew members were placed under quarantine. The ship later docked in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

so that some of its crew members could disembark. By 1 April 2020, 26 crew members had been placed under quarantine, with 3 crew members running high temperatures.

In popular culture

''MSC Splendida'' is featured on

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

film, ''

Manmadan Ambu ''Manmadan Ambu'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Written by Kamal Haasan, it stars himself alongside Trisha, Sangeetha and R. Madhavan, while featuring Oviya, Ramesh Aravind, Usha Uthup, M ...