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At Cruise Shipping Miami, MSC Cruises announced the first of its new “Seaside” class of ships, set to debut in November 2017. The MSC Seaside will sail year-round from Miami to the Caribbean.
Following the first ship’s delivery from the shipyard, MSC Seaside will make her way to Miami for MSC Cruises’ first ever christening ceremony in the U.S. to take place in late 2017.
“The Seaside class of ships is part of MSC Cruises’ $5.3 billion fleet expansion plan that will allow the company to double its capacity by 2022,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC Cruises. “Today is a very exciting day for the company as this is the first major announcement related to the company’s new builds.”
With the ability to accommodate up to 4,140 guests at double occupancy, MSC Seaside will be the largest cruise ship ever built by Fincantieri shipyards.
The ship will have an interactive water park with five water slides and attractions for all ages. The park is being built by WhiteWater West Industries of Canada.
Aqua park highlights include:
– Slideboarding: Slideboarding is a unique waterslide and interactive video game all-in-one. Guests race down a two-story, 367 foot slide on a raft that includes an embedded game controller with colored buttons. The end goal – match the color of the flashing strobe lights seen on various sections of the slide with the colored buttons on the raft. The slide uses a smart gaming system that knows who riders are and tracks their progress and scores over the run down the waterslide.
– Duelling High-Speed AquaTubes: In a high energy competitive setting, guests race against other guests through a combined 525 feet of twists, turns and drops, on slides that partially extend over the side of the ship and give ridersa quick look at the sea below.
– AquaPlay & AquaSpray: To cater to its youngest guests, a portion of MSC Seaside’s aqua park will be designed specifically for tots, with an active and colorful water play structure. The AquaPlay area will have tipping buckets, spray cannons, solid stream jets, a raintree and a mini-slide. In addition, various interactive AquaSpray activities, such as jets, falls, forts and more will be found throughout the water park for all ages to enjoy.
– Adventure Trail: Directly connected to the aqua park is the Adventure Trail, a ropes course which allows guests to cross between soaring towers, rope bridges, climbs, crawl-throughs and slides as they enjoy a bird’s eye view of the water. Guests below will be able to use water spray cannons to soak their friends and family.
In addition, MSC Cruises announced that its Miami-based cruise operations will benefit from a newly renovated and expanded dedicated berth and terminal at PortMiami.
