A grandiose name for a truly grandiose cruise ship. MSC Cruises first vessel of the Meraviglia Plus Class will be named MSC Grandiosa. The name was announced during the steel-cutting and coin ceremony for the Meraviglia-class ship MSC Bellissima in the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, France.

“Today we celebrate a truly unique moment, it is the first time that two milestones of the construction of two different ships are celebrated on the same day. This is to be a testament to the strength and ambition of our investment plan, "said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chair of MSC Cruises.

Meraviglia Plus class is an evolution of the Meraviglia class with the first cruise ship, the MSC Meraviglia, which entered service in June 2017. The MSC Bellissima will follow in March 2019.

With a gross tonnage of 181.000, a maximum capacity of 6,334 passengers and a length of 331 meters, the cruise ships of the Meraviglia Plus class vessel will be significantly larger than the MSC Meraviglia and MSC Bellissima, which have 167,600 gross tons.

Some of the features onboard MSC Grandiosa include the Carousel Lounge at the stern of the ship, specially designed for Cirque du Soleil at Sea. On the other hand, a new art museum at sea, which MSC calls the "first art museum at sea", is new. It will provide a collection of classic and contemporary artworks on board, giving passengers access to some of the finest masterpieces in the world. However, the idea of artworks on cruise ships is not entirely new. Other shipping companies such as Royal Caribbean or Regent Seven Seas Cruises have long maintained a large collection of art on their ships.

From an environmental point of view, MSC Meraviglia Plus class ships will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology: in addition to an exhaust gas purification system and SCR catalytic converters, they will also have waste and recycling plants, emission-reducing energy and heat recovery systems and modern wastewater plants.