| IMO | 9843792 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 170,412 GT |
| Length | 339 m |
| Beam | 41.0 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 4540 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 5632 |
| Crew | 3322 |
| Service speed | 21.8 knots |
| Builder | Fincantieri |
| Hull number | 6306 |
| Launched | 2020 |
| Maiden voyage | 2021 |
| Class | Seaside EVO-class cruise ship |
| Operator | MSC Italian Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
MSC Seashore is the lead ship of MSC Cruises' Seaside EVO class, built by Fincantieri at Monfalcone, Italy, and delivered in July 2021. The Seaside design had been Fincantieri's breakthrough for MSC — a ship styled for warm-weather, outdoor cruising, with an unusually large amount of open deck and a waterfront promenade close to the sea. The EVO version stretched the concept: at 170,412 GT she is 16 metres longer than the original Seaside pair, with some 65 per cent of her public spaces redesigned. She was also the ship with which MSC committed itself to the North American market in earnest — her interiors are themed on New York City, and her formal naming took place not in Europe but at the line's private island in the Bahamas. Her dataset row is thin; the particulars below come from her published specifications.
Key specifications
MSC Seashore measures 170,412 GT, 339 metres in length with a beam of 41 metres, a height of 76 metres and a draught of 8.55 metres, across 20 decks. She carries 4,540 passengers at double occupancy and 5,632 at maximum capacity, with a crew of about 1,648. Installed electrical power is 65,040 kW, driving two fixed-pitch propellers for a speed of 21.8 knots. She was built as Fincantieri hull 6306 at a reported cost of €900 million and is registered at Valletta, Malta.
Design and construction
The Seaside EVO contract was signed on 29 November 2017, when MSC converted and extended its Fincantieri programme. The design keeps the Seaside signatures — a 540-metre waterfront promenade wrapping the ship at deck 8 level, an aft infinity pool, and glass-floored catwalks — while lengthening the hull and reworking most public areas. She was also the first cruise ship fitted with Fincantieri's "Safe Air" sanitation system, an HVAC design using UV-C irradiation developed in response to the pandemic that coincided with her construction. Her keel was laid on 19 September 2019; construction continued through the COVID-19 disruption that closed Italian yards in spring 2020, and she was floated out at Monfalcone on 20 August 2020.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Following her float-out on 20 August 2020, the ship was delivered to MSC on 26 July 2021 and made her maiden voyage on 1 August 2021 from Genoa, in the Western Mediterranean. Her formal christening came later, in the market she was built for: on 18 November 2021 she was named at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, the line's private island in the Bahamas, by her godmother Sophia Loren. The New York theme runs to a replica of the Statue of Liberty standing in the ship's Times Square shopping and casino area — a deliberate statement that this Italian-owned, Italian-built ship was aimed at American guests.
Career by operator
| Years | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | MSC Seashore | MSC Cruises |
She has had one name and one operator. After her debut Mediterranean season she crossed to the United States, the deployment for which she was designed, and she has remained a North America-facing ship of the fleet.
Onboard character
The Seaside concept was "the ship that follows the sun": more outdoor space per guest than any earlier MSC design, with the promenade at water level rather than high in the ship, outdoor dining and bars along it, and the aft infinity pool and glass Bridge of Sighs — a glass-floored bridge 22 metres above the pool — as its set pieces. On Seashore the EVO redesign sharpened the idea and dressed it in a New York skin: Times Square with its Statue of Liberty replica, a redesigned Chef's Court of specialty restaurants, and an enlarged MSC Yacht Club of almost 3,000 square metres. About 13,000 square metres of the ship is outdoor space. It is a resort turned outward to sea and climate, the opposite philosophy from her French-built fleetmates' internal gallerias.
Major refits and incidents
No major refits or significant incidents are recorded for MSC Seashore in the sources used for this guide. Her construction spanned the pandemic — she was floated out in August 2020 while cruising worldwide was suspended — and she entered a market still restarting, events that shaped her delivery-year career but involved no casualty to the ship herself.
Sister ships and class
The Seaside EVO class has two ships: MSC Seashore (2021) and MSC Seascape (2022), both from Monfalcone. They are enlarged derivatives of the original Seaside class, MSC Seaside (2017) and MSC Seaview (2018), from which the EVO pair take their name, their promenade-centred layout and their "Sea" naming convention.
Fate and where she is now
MSC Seashore is in active service with MSC Cruises, the lead ship of the Seaside EVO class and one of the pillars of the line's North American programme.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Seashore, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaside-class_cruise_ship