MSC Musica

MSC Musica is a cruise ship operated by MSC Cruises and the lead ship of the Musica class. Delivered in 2006 by Aker Yards at Saint-Nazaire, France, she measures about 92,400 gross tons and 294 metres, with 1,275 staterooms across 16 decks. She was the largest ship in the MSC fleet at her debut and marked the company's move into the size class that mainstream competitors were then building.

The ship introduced the interior signature that would define MSC for the following decade: a three-deck atrium centred on a cascading waterfall, with a crystal-topped grand piano suspended above a shallow pool and curved staircases wrapping the space. The design was repeated, with variations, aboard her three sisters.

Other facilities include a two-level main theatre, specialty restaurants covering Italian, Japanese and Chinese cuisine, a casino, a wine bar, a spa and thermal suite, and pool and sports decks on the upper levels.

Musica was christened in Venice in 2006, with Sophia Loren as godmother, in a ceremony held in the city that was then central to MSC's Adriatic operations.

She has since sailed Mediterranean and Northern European seasons, with winter deployments to South America and Asia, and remains in service as the oldest of the four Musica-class ships.