MSC Cruises is the passenger arm of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the container-shipping group founded in Naples in 1970 by Gianluigi Aponte. MSC entered cruising in 1988 by buying the liner Monterey, acquired Lauro Lines the following year, and traded as StarLauro Cruises before the MSC Cruises name was adopted in 1995. Still family-owned, the line grew slowly with second-hand tonnage, then transformed itself from the 2000s onwards with a long run of newbuilds. The fleet below records that second phase. Four Lirica-class ships of about 65,500 GT, dating from 2000 to 2004, remain its smallest; the Musica and Fantasia classes built the fleet through the 92,000 to 139,000 GT range; and the Meraviglia, Seaside and World designs have since taken it past 200,000 GT. MSC World Europa and MSC World America, at about 216,000 GT, are mainstream ships on the largest scale the industry offers.
The fleet — 23 ships in this directory
launched 2000 · 65,542 GT · Lirica class · Active
launched 2001 · 65,542 GT · Lirica class · Active
launched 2002 · 65,591 GT · Lirica class · Active
launched 2004 · 65,591 GT · Lirica class · Active
launched 2005 · 92,409 GT · Musica-class · Active
launched 2007 · 92,409 GT · Musica-class · Active
launched 2007 · 92,627 GT · Musica-class · Active
launched 2008 · 137,936 GT · Fantasia class · Active
launched 2008 · 137,936 GT · Fantasia class · Active
launched 2009 · 92,409 GT · Musica-class · Active
launched 2011 · 139,072 GT · Fantasia class · Active
launched 2013 · 139,072 GT · Fantasia class · Active
launched 2016 · 171,598 GT · Meraviglia class · Active
launched 2017 · 154,000 GT · Active
launched 2018 · 171,598 GT · Meraviglia class · Active
launched 2018 · 154,000 GT · Active
launched 2019 · 181,541 GT · Active
launched 2019 · 181,541 GT · Meraviglia Plus class · Active
launched 2020 · 170,412 GT · Seaside EVO class · Active
launched 2021 · 170,412 GT · Seaside EVO class · Active
launched 2022 · 184,011 GT · Meraviglia Plus class · Active
launched 2022 · 215,863 GT · Active
launched 2024 · 216,638 GT · World class · Active
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Shipping_Company, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Group