MSC Virtuosa

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MSC Virtuosa is a Meraviglia-Plus-class cruise ship owned by MSC Cruises. Built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, she is the second ship in the Meraviglia-Plus line and a sister ship to MSC Grandiosa. The project began in 2016, with steel-cutting in 2018, a coin ceremony in 2019, and a launch in 2019. Delivery was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and she entered service on May 20, 2021 from Southampton after being delivered on February 1, 2021.

She is about 181,541 gross tons, 331.4 meters long, with a beam of 43 meters (50 meters max) and a height of 64.9 meters. The ship has 16 decks, travels at about 22.3 knots, and can carry around 4,842 guests at double occupancy (up to 6,334) with a crew of about 1,704.

MSC Virtuosa’s early itineraries were disrupted by the pandemic. She finally began with three- and four-night Western Mediterranean cruises in autumn 2020, but in 2021 she sailed British Isles itineraries from Southampton starting June 12, limited to UK residents. Spring 2021 Northern Europe and Baltic routes were instead operated by MSC Seaview. Later in 2021 she repositioned to Dubai for winter, offering seven-night Persian Gulf itineraries to the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. In 2022 she returned to Southampton for a UK-focused summer season (May–November) with 2–14 night cruises to Northern Europe, the Baltics, Norwegian Fjords and the Canary Islands, and she was announced to be based in Southampton year-round into summer 2023.

There have been notable incidents at sea. On October 12, 2024, a woman died after going overboard; search and investigations followed. On May 3, 2025, a man died after an on-board altercation; a second man was arrested on suspicion of murder (later released on bail) and another man was arrested on May 11 on suspicion of manslaughter (also released on bail). Like her sister ships, Virtuosa is equipped with a selective catalytic reduction system that cuts NOx emissions by about 80% and a closed-loop exhaust gas cleaning system that reduces sulfur emissions by about 97%. The ship can also run on shore power when docked.

In late October 2025, MSC Virtuosa entered dry dock at Damen Verolme Rotterdam for routine maintenance and left on November 19, 2025, starting a 17-night transatlantic repositioning cruise to the Caribbean.