Identical fleet sister MSC MUSICA

Aker Yards deliver the MSC ORCHESTRA
Latest in series of Musica class cruise ships


Aker Yards have recently announced the delivery of the latest Musica class cruise ship to MSC, the MSC ORCHESTRA.

The ship was handed over on the 3rd May 2007.

Earlier this year MSC announced they had ordered a fourth Musica class ship, the MSC MAGNIFICA, from Aker.

ORCHESTRA's other sister MSC POESIA will be launched next year.

These 89,000 ton sisters can carry 2,500 passengers with 242,000 square feet of public areas. MSC say the 85 percent of the stateroom are outside accommodation and that 65 percent of staterooms have balconies.

The ships are being built by Aker Yards in France.

MSC is a relatively youthful player in the cruise ship market. It's origins in cruising go back to 1987 as StarLauro SpA but only in 1995 did it become Mediterranean Shipping Cruises. In 2003 the acronym MSC was adopted.

StarLauro was formerly the Lauro Line and is well known through its operation of the ACHILLE LAURO, the distinctive liner that was hijacked by the PLO on October 7th 1985.