The world’s newest cruise ship lit up the pre-dawn sky this morning when MSC Cruises‘ new U.S. flagship – MSC Seascape – sailed past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River to dock at Pier 88 at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

MSC Seascape is one of the largest cruise ships ever to dock in Manhattan, at more than 170,000 gross tons with a capacity of 5,877 guests. She is also one of the more environmentally advanced cruise ships at sea, featuring a wide range of latest generation environmental technologies and solutions.

MSC Seascape’s arrival in New York marks the end of a 17-day journey from the shipyard where she was built in Italy.

The ship is in New York for a traditional maritime Naming Ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday evening and include wishes of good luck for her many future sailings from Hollywood legend and celebrated Godmother of the MSC Cruises fleet Sophia Loren. The ceremony will conclude with the customary breaking of a bottle of champagne against her hull.

MSC Cruises, which is part of the Geneva, Switzerland-based Cruise Division of MSC Group, chose New York for MSC Seascape’s Naming Ceremony to celebrate the brand’s growing commitment to the U.S. market and upcoming launch of service from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, which will result in local job creation with MSC Meraviglia operating year-round on a variety of itineraries covering Florida, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada, and New England.

Rubén A. Rodríguez, President, MSC Cruises USA, said: “We have ambitious growth plans in the U.S. and New York City plays a critical role in that expansion. We already host a large number of guests from the tri-state area on our ships sailing from Florida and around the world, and we are excitedto bring a modern and glamorous ship like MSC Meraviglia to New York next year to give cruisers a wide choice of itineraries, whether they’re looking for sunny Caribbean skies or Canada’s beautiful autumns. Having the brand new MSC Seascape here this week is our way of celebrating a fantastic future of cruising for New York City.”

MSC Seascape will depart New York on Thursday en route to Miami, where she will offer two different 7-night itineraries for her inaugural season in the Caribbean:

• Eastern Caribbean: Calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve and Nassau in The Bahamas, San Juan in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic
• Western Caribbean: Calling at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Cozumel in Mexico, George Town in the Cayman Islands and Ocho Rios in Jamaica

MSC Cruises is the world’s third largest and the fastest growing cruise brand. Its fleet of 21 modern and highly innovative cruise ships is deployed globally and calls at more than 150 destinations across 70 different countries and five continents. Each year, MSC Cruises ships welcome over four million guests from more than 170 nationalities.

Latest and Most Advanced Environmental Technology

The Cruise Division of MSC Group is committed to building some of the most innovative cruise ships in the world, and this innovation also applies to environmental performance. With a long-term objective to achieve net carbon neutral operations by 2050, each new ship represents another step toward this goal, alongside other investments to help accelerate the development of next-generation environmental technology. MSC Seascape is no exception and features the latest-generation environmental technologies and equipment that will minimise their impact. This includes hybrid exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS) and cutting-edge selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR), achieving a 98% reduction of sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions and reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 90%. The wastewater treatment system has been designed in line with the International Maritime Organization’s MEPC 227(64) Resolution and achieve purification standards that are higher than most wastewater treatment facilities ashore.