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The first block of MSC Poesia's keel is lowered into place today at Aker's St. Nazaire yard in France today.
A traditional gold coin was welded into place at the base of the ship's mast. |
Construction on MSC's third Musica-class ship is officially underway. The keel was laid today for MSC Poesia at Aker's St. Nazaire (France) yard, and within two years those ugly unpainted pieces of steel will become one of MSC's most elegant vessels. When aboard MSC, you can feel a difference. It's still privately owned, and run in a very hands-on way. That family-run way of doing business has been very evident in the inception of MSC Poesia, and was just as visible in much of today's keel laying ceremony. Part of the tradition of shipbuilding is placing a coin in the ship's keel. Stefania Vago, the sister of MSC CEO and President Pierfrancesco Vago had the honor of placing the coin before Poesia's keel was laid today. Even this coin had a family connection. It belonged to her grandmother, a bridge player who had won this gold coin in a bridge competition, and it will forever be part of MSC's ship. Stefania Vago will also serve as MSC Poesia's godmother. Even the name of the ship came from the family. As they were looking over the designs for the decor, Vago's mother, Silvana Vago, said the ship had such harmonious lines, it should be called Poesia - "a poem on paper." And that is its name. The first ship in this series, MSC Musica, entered service last June. The series is sized at 90,000 gt with 2,550 lower berths. The next, MSC Orchestra is scheduled for delivery next spring. When completed in March of 2008, MSC Poesia's interior design will have evolved somewhat with some differences over her sisters, especially in the entertainment areas. A sports bar will be replacing the wine bar on MSC Poesia, and in place of the Chinese restaurant, Poesia passengers will find a Mediterranean-themed specialty restaurant which will have a nightly changing menu that will coincide with the ship's Mediterranean ports of call. MSC Poesia will first be placed in service in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. The Orchestra series is part of MSC's aggressive shipbuilding program. MSC also has two larger ships on order from Aker, MSC Fantasia and MSC Serenata. These will be sized at 133,500 gt and 3,300 lower berths.
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