MSC Magnifica, the 95,128 gross ton ship of MSC Cruises that entered service in 2009, will be lengthened by 23 metres in 2021 and once the work has been completed, it will operate a series of cruises from Southampton in the UK, the company said in a statement.
“The newly refurbished MSC Magnifica will undergo a transformation adding 23 meters to the ship that will deliver an additional 7,000 m2 of added space to the ship. This will result in 215 extra cabins, bringing the total number of balcony cabins to 63% of the overall ship, a new water park, a redesigned kids area, plus additional features such as two new restaurants and a new shopping area,” the company said.
MSC Magnifica is a unit of the Musica class and it currently has length of 294 metres and beam of 32 metres. The ship was built in France and it entered service in January 2009. It did not say where the work would be carried out or whether other ships of the class would also be lengthened at some point.
On the technical side, MSC Magnifica will feature two new major and important onboard environmental advances to complement a wide range of existing leading-edge environmental technologies across the company’s entire fleet: a state-of-the-art Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system and next-generation Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) system. SCR technology helps reduce nitrogen oxide into pure nitrogen and water through advanced active emissions control technology.
MSC Cruises also took the opportunity to install a state-of-the-art advanced wastewater treatment system on board that meets the highest standards and that purifies used wastewater to near tap-water quality.
The system meets the so-called ‘Baltic Standard’ and treats the wastewater to a higher standard than most waste standards available in cities around the world. To help reduce and continuously minimize emissions also while in port, the ship will be able to ‘plug in’ to the local power grid wherever such systems are available at berth.
MSC Cruises, which has its headquarters in Geneva, has stated earlier that it plans to upgrade an existing ship with an aim to operate it on the UK market. MSC Magnifica will make 24 cruises from Southampton between May and October 2021. It did not disclose where the ship would be based after that.
In 2015 the four Lirica class of ships underwent a significant renovation as part of the €130 million ‘Renaissance project’, to improve facilities and enhance the onboard experience. All ships were lengthened as part of the programme.
