MSC Opera in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 30, 2010. Photo: Dex Sularte
MSC Opera
Cruise Line:
MSC Cruises
Entered Service:
March 2004
Original Cost:
$266 million
Builder:
Chantiers de I’Atlantique, France
Former names:
Gross Tonnage
59,058 tons
Length:
256.25 m
Beam:
28.8 m
Registry:
Italy
Passengers:
2,200
Crew:
701
Navigation Officers:
Italian
Classification Society:
Bureau Veritas
Overview MSC Opera is the second of a pair of newbuilds for MSC Cruises (the first being MSC Lirica), Italy’s largest privately owned cruise line (formerly Star Lauro Cruises). From a technical viewpoint, the ship is fitted with an azimuthing pod propulsion system instead of conventional rudders and propellers. All decks are named after operas. The decor has many Italian influences, including clean lines, minimalism in furniture design, and a collection of colors, soft furnishings and fabrics that work well together, and without any hint of garishness. Real wood and marble has been used extensively in the interiors. Facilities include the ship’s main show lounge, a night club/discotheque, several lounges and bars, an internet center with 10 terminals, a virtual reality center, a children’s club, a shopping gallery named Via Conditti (with shops that have an integrated bar and entertainment area so that shopping becomes a city-like environment where you can shop, drink, and be entertained all in one area). Gamblers will find pleasure in the Monte Carlo Casino, with black jack, poker and roulette games, together with an array of slot machines. There is also a card room and an integral library. Possible drinking places include the Sotto Vento Pub or the La Cabala Lounge. Outside on deck, a near 8-hole mini-golf course wraps around the funnel, while a walking/jogging track encircles the ship’s two swimming pools. The ship is designed to accommodate families with children, who have their own play center, youth counsellors, and programming.
Suitable for: MSC Opera is best suited for young adult couples, singles, and families with tots, children, and teens who enjoy big shop surroundings, a big city life, with all its attendant noise (some call it ambience), and passengers of different nationalities and languages (mostly European).
Accommodation There are eleven price levels, depending on grade and location: one suite category, five outside-view cabin grades, and five interior (no view) cabin grades. Included are 172 suites with private balcony, outside view and interior (no view) cabins. All cabins have a mini-bar and personal safe, satellite TV, several audio channels and 24-hour room service.
Cuisine/Dining There is one principal dining room (La Caravella Restaurant), with large ocean view picture windows in the aft third of the ship. There are two seatings for meals, in keeping with other ships in the MSC Cruises fleet, and tables are for two, four, six or eight. L’Approdo Restaurant is assigned to all passengers occupying accommodation designated as suites, although other passengers can dine in it too, on a reservations-only basis. Casual self –serve buffets (for breakfast and lunch) can be taken I Le Vele Cafeteria, or at the pool deck outside the fast food eatery, with grill and pizzeria. Meanwhile coffee/tea and pastries can be taken in the Aroma Café.
Entertainment The 713-seat Theatre dell Opera is the ship’s main show lounge. The rook can also serve as a venue for large social functions. The Opera Lounge is the lounge for social dancing with live music provided by a band. For the young and lively set, there is the Byblos Discotheque (the ship’s throbbing, ear-melting discotheque).
Spa/Fitness The Opera Health Center is located one deck above the navigation bridge. The complex features a beauty salon, several treatment rooms offering massage and body-pampering treatments, as well as a gymnasium with ocean viewsand an array of high-tech muscle-toning and strengthening equipment. There is also a thermal suite containing different kinds of steam rooms combined with aromatheraphy infusions. The health company is run as a concession by the Italian company Blue Ocean, with European hairstylists and Balinese massage and body treatment staff.
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