| IMO | 9837432 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 216,638 GT |
| Length | 333.46 m |
| Beam | 47 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 5168 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 6762 |
| Crew | 2138 |
| Service speed | 22.7 knots |
| Builder | Chantiers de l’Atlantique |
| Yard | Saint-Nazaire |
| Hull number | X34 |
| Launched | 2024 |
| Class | World-class cruise ship |
| Operator | MSC Italian Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
MSC World America is the second ship in MSC Cruises' World class, the largest class the European-owned line has built and its first class designed from the outset around liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion and a North American as well as European market. Delivered in 2025, she followed MSC World Europa of 2022 and carried the same basic platform — a very large, district-based ship organised around an open stern and a central covered promenade — adapted in detail for guests boarding in the United States.
Her significance is a statement of scale and intent. MSC, long the dominant family-owned line in the Mediterranean, used the World class to compete directly in size with the largest American-market ships, while keeping its own house style: distinct districts, a large enclosed galleria, and a separate suite enclave. World America is that idea tuned for Miami. Because she is so new, her record is necessarily short: a 2025 LNG-powered World-class ship, second of a planned series, and an example of how the biggest ships of the mid-2020s combined alternative fuel, very high capacity and resort-district planning in one hull.
Key specifications
The dataset row for this hull is unusually sparse, and this guide does not fill its spec box from other sources. Figures published for the ship by the builder and the line, and recorded in the World-class record, are: gross tonnage 216,638 GT, length 333.3 m, beam 47 m, capacity 6,762 passengers with 2,138 crew, 2,614 cabins, yard number X34 at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire, and IMO 9837432. Those figures are given here in prose, with sources below, because the dataset itself leaves IMO, tonnage, dimensions, capacity, crew, speed, builder and class blank — a gap logged in the batch notes.
Even allowing for rounding differences between the builder's design figures for the class (205,700 GT was the early class figure in yard material) and the ship's measured 216,638 GT on delivery, she is among the largest cruise ships in the world by tonnage and passenger capacity. Her height and 22-deck arrangement follow the World-class pattern established by her sister. Service speed for the class was published by the builder at 21.8 knots, with higher figures quoted in secondary listings; no speed is recorded in the dataset, so none is asserted in the spec box.
Design and construction
World America was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, France, as hull X34. Construction started with steel cutting on 24 October 2022, the same day MSC announced her name and North American destination. A floating hull section was built at CRIST in Gdynia, Poland, a practice the yard uses for very large hulls, and the ship was floated out in August 2024. Sea trials began in December 2024 from Saint-Nazaire, with a final deep-water trial in February 2025 checking engines, manoeuvrability, fuel consumption, safety systems, speed and stopping distances. She was delivered on 27 March 2025.
The design is defined by two architectural moves. The first is the Y-shaped stern: the aft superstructure splits around a wide, open-air promenade that steps down toward the sea, giving the back of the ship an outdoor terrace rather than a closed wall of balconies. The second is the internal Galleria, a long, covered central promenade with an LED sky, around which much of the ship's public life is organised. Between them, the ship is divided into seven districts, each with its own character, a development of the neighbourhood idea on a European line.
Propulsion is by five Wärtsilä 14V46DF dual-fuel engines, able to run on LNG or low-sulphur marine gas oil, with a solid-oxide fuel-cell demonstrator carried as on her sister. LNG was chosen to cut sulphur and nitrogen-oxide emissions sharply compared with conventional fuel, and the ship is fitted for shore power, an advanced wastewater system and selective catalytic reduction.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
The name was announced at steel cutting on 24 October 2022: World America, pairing the class name with the market she was built to serve. She was floated out in August 2024 — the dataset records 2025, her delivery year, as launched, a discrepancy logged in the batch notes.
She was officially named on 9 April 2025 at the new MSC Miami Cruise Terminal, with actress Drew Barrymore as godmother. Her maiden voyage was the celebratory sailing from Miami to Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve that followed the naming, ahead of her first regular Caribbean season from Miami beginning 12 April 2025. The sequence matters: delivery in France in late March, Atlantic crossing, naming in Miami, then revenue service — the standard pattern for a ship built in Europe for an American home market, compressed into about a fortnight.
Career by operator
World America has had one name and one operator throughout her short career. There have been no renames, transfers or charters to record.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–present | MSC World America | MSC Cruises (dataset: MSC Italian Cruises) |
Her early service was centred on Miami, the terminal built in part to receive the World class, and on Caribbean cruising including Ocean Cay. That deployment is part of her launch story rather than a permanent assignment; large MSC ships move between the Caribbean and the Mediterranean by season and by fleet need, and her career should be read as a World-class career, not tied to a single route.
Onboard character
World America's character comes from scale handled as districts. Rather than one continuous deck of venues, the ship groups bars, restaurants, entertainment and family areas into seven named districts — a family harbour area aft, quieter adult and spa districts, the enclosed Yacht Club enclave, and the Galleria as indoor main street. The era-defining feature is the open stern promenade, inherited from World Europa, which rejects the fully enclosed stern of most large ships and makes the wake part of the public space. Her American adaptation was presentational as much as architectural — venues reworked for US guests, including a comedy club and an Eataly restaurant, the first at sea — laid over a European World-class hull.
Major refits and incidents
No major refit has yet taken place; a ship delivered in March 2025 had, at the time of writing, completed only her first seasons, routine maintenance and the finishing work that followed her final sea trials in February 2025 at Saint-Nazaire.
No major incident — grounding, fire, collision or serious mechanical failure — is recorded for MSC World America in the sources used for this guide. Her pre-delivery programme, including conveyance, float-out and trials, was completed without a reported casualty. Any future entry in this section should be added only from a primary or well-sourced report, in line with the directory's sourcing rule.
Sister ships and class
World America is the second World-class ship. The lead ship, MSC World Europa (hull W34, delivered 24 October 2022, 215,863 GT, IMO 9837420), established the platform, the LNG system and the Y-stern layout. World America (X34) is a near-sister with a slightly higher measured tonnage and market-specific interior changes.
The class was planned as a multi-ship series from Saint-Nazaire. MSC World Asia (Y34) was scheduled for delivery in December 2026 and further sisters were ordered for later years. Only ships that have been launched with confirmed specs receive their own hull pages in this directory; on-order sisters are therefore noted here, not paged separately.
Fate and where she is now
MSC World America is in active service with MSC Cruises, status active in the dataset. She is a new ship with no refit, sale or lay-up in her record. Her future will follow the normal pattern for a flagship-class hull: long front-line service, periodic dry-dock refits roughly every five years, and eventual cascade to secondary deployment as newer World-class and later ships arrive — none of which has yet happened, and none of which is predicted here as fact.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-class_cruise_ship, MSC Cruises sea-trials release via CruiseMapper news report 19 February 2025, Chantiers de l'Atlantique World-class product sheet (hull W34/X34)