Coin ceremony for MSC Preziosa
A significant milestone in the construction of MSC Preziosa was marked on 11 October at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, by a traditional maritime custom in which two commemorative coins were welded to the ship’s mast radar.
Following the termination of the agreement with the original owner, MSC Cruises signed a contract to take over the 140,000-tonne luxury cruise ship earlier this year. Renamed MSC Preziosa and designed by award-winning naval architects De Jorio Design International, the ship will be the thirteenth addition to the MSC Cruises fleet, as well as the fourth ship in the series of Fantasia class ships.
"I am delighted to celebrate this important milestone in the construction of MSC Preziosa, the beautiful ship who will complete our celebrated Fantasia class. She will raise our total capacity to over 40,000 berths and, joining her sister ships MSC Fantasia, MSC Splendida and MSC Divina, will allow us to offer the unparalleled features of this new generation of ship all over the world,” said MSC Cruises CEO Pierfrancesco Vago.
Laurent Castaing, General Manager of STX France, added, "I would like to take the opportunity of this new ceremony to congratulate both the MSC Cruises and STX teams for their joint commitment. Some impressive shipbuilding figures illustrate the ambition which is at the heart of the Fantasia class project: 30,000 tonnes of steel, 2,000 km of cables, 1,751 passenger cabins and, at the present moment, 1,000 people working every day on MSC Preziosa. It is STX's ambition to support MSC to become the European leader in the cruise market. "
During the ceremony, MSC Cruises head of onboard marketing and godmother to Preziosa, Daniela Picco, presented the coins along with Jeannette Le Queau from STX France, who has been involved with MSC since the start of its relationship with the Saint-Nazaire yard ten years ago.
The gold coin bears the image of Louis Oscar Roty’s La Semeuse, a sower moving forward with her bag of grain, which was depicted on French coins until the introduction of the Euro. MSC’s coin displays the company logo on one side and the cross of Genoa’s ancient coins on the other.
Vago also announced plans for the ship’s christening ceremony: “While marking this occasion, I am also glad to officially announce that MSC Preziosa will be christened on 23 March in Genoa, Italy, one of the our most visited and best loved destinations, and her first homeport for 2013."
MSC Cruises has a close relationship with the city of Genoa, which has been its homeport since the start of the company’s expansion programme in 2003 and hosts the headquarters of its catering subsidiary, MSC Italcatering. Next year MSC will be deploying nine ships from the port and, over the course of the year, nearly 930, 000 passengers will embark, disembark or transit during a total of over 200 calls.
Source: http://www.cruiseandferry.net/
