MSC Magnifica, the newest vessel from MSC Cruise Ships, arrived in Southampton on 26 February for a three-day showcase event. She is the fourth Musica class vessel will be named in Hamburg prior to her maiden cruise from Amsterdam on 9 March.

The ship was floated in January 2009 in a large ceremony at her dry dock in France. Able to carry 2,500 passengers, with more than 1,100 crew members, Magnifica measures 293.8m by 32.3m, 92,400gt and has 13 passenger decks.

With Magnifica ready to enter service, on 1 March 2010, a day after the showcase party for Magnifica, MSC Cruises announced it had signed a letter of intent for the delivery of a new ship, MSC Favolosa. This new Fantasia Class ship will in June 2012 join the existing eleven vessels, which make up the MSC cruises' fleet. The new ship will be completed at the STX Europe shipyard in Saint-Nazaire (France).

Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises stated: "We are immensely proud to announce the signature of a letter of intent for the building of a new ship, MSC Favolosa. The new ship will bring our capacity to 1,400,000 passengers in 2013, confirming both the success of our strategy and our confidence in further growth. This letter of intent is also a demonstration of our faith in the STX Europe shipyard, which we are delighted to be able to support in these challenging times."

Measuring 333.3m by 38m, MSC Favolosa will have a total of 1,751 cabins and will be able to travel at speeds of up 23.7 knots.

Picture supplied by Gary Davies Maritime Photographic