They say the more the merrier at Christmas – so why not share it with almost 7,000 other people on a ? I have always found to be a strange time of year. I’m generally a bit of a Scrooge-like character at home during this period. There is a part of me, probably the Jewish bit, that is uncomfortable with the stress about making just one day perfect.
So it has been a nice change for my wife, our two daughters and my in-laws to do a over the past three years. This year, we spent the festive period onboard MSC Cruises’ the largest ship in the Italian brand’s fleet, with capacity for 6,762 passengers. Setting sail from , the itinerary was full of stops, with ports of call including , Genoa, and Palma de Mallorca.
has spent much of the build-up to the season addressing how Santa makes it onto a cruise ship; . There was no landing pad on but there were nods towards St Nick across the ship including snowman cushions on the public seating and a life-size chocolate Santa – for display purposes only, sadly. Christmas trees were lined up across the indoor world promenade and a jolly inflatable St Nick even managed to raise a smile out of me.
The ship is the first of MSC’s World Class fleet – launched in 2022 – and will be joined by in 2025 and in 2026. It is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of efforts to be more environmentally friendly. At 1,093ft long and with 20 passenger decks, is pretty spacious.
A crystal chandelier hangs from its World Promenade as you.