MSC Preziosa
---
MSC Preziosa
The MSC Preziosa is a MSC Cruises ship belonging to the Fantasia class, operating primarily in the Mediterranean. It offers a cruise experience with a range of cabin categories, including interior cabins and balcony cabins. The ship features relaxation facilities such as the MSC Aurea Spa, an outdoor pool, jacuzzis, and a jogging track. Entertainment is particularly extensive, featuring a Vertigo water slide, a large-capacity theatre, a futuristic nightclub, a Royal casino, bowling, and a 4D cinema. It is strongly family-oriented, with spaces such as the Smurf play area and the LEGO mini-club, as well as onboard shops, à la carte restaurants, and room service. This ship is well suited for travelers seeking a vibrant Mediterranean cruise experience with a strong focus on family entertainment, leisure, and diverse onboard activities.
Itineraries of the MSC Preziosa
Price and Availability Notice
Prices displayed are provided for informational purposes only. They reflect the rates in effect at the time of their most recent update and are shown in Canadian dollars, per person, based on double occupancy, unless otherwise specified.
Supplier rates, exchange rates, taxes and fees, room or cabin categories, and promotions are subject to change at any time. The applicable price is the one confirmed by a travel advisor at the time of booking, subject to availability. Only the confirmed price shall be considered valid.
It is the traveler's responsibility to confirm the price, inclusions, and applicable terms and conditions before making a reservation. While every effort is made to keep our content up to date, transmission, display, or pricing errors may occur. In such cases, the correct price will be communicated to the traveler before any booking is confirmed. Certain terms, restrictions, and exclusions may apply.
Ship's attributes
Services And Amenities
- Elevators
- Self-service laundry room
- Casino
- Jacuzzi
- Pool
- Beauty salon
- Spa & body care
Specific needs
- Wheelchair accessible staterooms
Technical specifications
- Classe: Fantasia generation
- Tonnage: 139072
- Speed: 24.2 knots
- Passengers: 4345
- Decks: 18
- Length: 330 m
- Width: 38 m
- Height: 68 m
History
- 2013: Année de construction
- 2017: Année de rénovation
Frequently Asked Questions
MSC Preziosa carries 3,502 guests at double occupancy and 4,345 at maximum capacity across 1,751 cabins, 45 of them accessible, with roughly 1,388 crew. She registers 139,072 gross tons over 333.30 metres. Summer Northern European sailings routinely run closer to the maximum figure than the double-occupancy one.
The hull was ordered in June 2010 as Phoenicia by Libya's state shipping company GNMTC at the request of Hannibal Gaddafi. The contract collapsed in June 2011 during the civil war, and MSC bought the unfinished hull on 13 March 2012 for 550 million euros. She entered service as MSC Preziosa in March 2013.
Vertigo is a 120-metre waterslide launching from deck 18 on MSC Preziosa, including a nine-metre transparent section that cantilevers out over the ship's side. MSC bills it as the longest single-rider body slide in its fleet. Riders must be at least 120 centimetres tall, which rules out younger children.
MSC Preziosa carries the Doremi Castle aqua park on deck 16, with water cannons, fountains, sprays, a tipping bucket and dedicated slides for children under 120 centimetres. The area uses MSC's Smurfs licence. Youth programming still draws mixed reviews and runs thinner than what American lines put on comparable ships.
MSC Preziosa arrived in Hamburg in early May 2026 to begin a year-round Northern European deployment. Summer 2026 brings seven to fourteen-night sailings to the Baltic, British Isles, Iceland and Scandinavia. From late October 2026 through April 2027 she runs seven-night Western Europe and North Sea itineraries from five embarkation ports.
MSC Preziosa scheduled a fourteen-night Svalbard and North Cape voyage in late June 2026, calling at Longyearbyen, Honningsvåg, Tromsø, Molde, Olden and Stavanger. That is unusual reach for a ship this size. Set expectations properly: MSC is a mainstream line, so this is a big-ship cruise into the Arctic, not an expedition.
MSC Preziosa sets aside 67 suites on decks 12, 15 and 16 behind a keycard door. The fare covers a butler at any hour, a concierge, the panoramic Top Sail Lounge, an à la carte restaurant, a private pool and sun deck, spa thermal suite access, the Premium Extra drinks package and premium internet.
Families are welcome in MSC Preziosa's Yacht Club, and the YC2 suites with panoramic windows are built for them. Weigh one thing first: the enclave has a single pool and a single restaurant, and children drawn to Vertigo and the Doremi Castle will spend their days out in the main ship anyway.
MSC Preziosa announces, signs and prints menus in five or six languages including French, and Le Havre sits among her winter 2026-2027 embarkation ports. Of the four sisters she offers the most natural French presence thanks to her European guest mix. The actual proportion still shifts noticeably from one departure to the next.
MSC Preziosa was delivered in March 2013 and spent two weeks in drydock at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam in April 2025. She received MSC's first exhaust gas cleaning systems back in February 2017. Her Yacht Club restaurant refit is scheduled for February 2028, making her the last of the four sisters to get it.
Guests who prefer restrained, classic ship décor find MSC Preziosa loud, with crystal-studded stairs and heavily styled public rooms. Reviews also report uneven housekeeping, including towels left unchanged on longer voyages, and repetitive main dining menus. Anyone seeking quiet should know Northern European summers on this ship skew strongly toward families.
Hamburg requires a connection through Frankfurt, Munich, Paris or London from Montreal. Le Havre normally routes through Paris plus a two-hour land transfer, and Southampton runs via London. None of these ports has nonstop service from Montreal. Build in a hotel night before embarkation; the buffer is protection, not indulgence.
MSC Preziosa owns Vertigo, the 120-metre slide with its transparent overhanging section, which none of the other three carry. Her origin story is unique too, since her hull was ordered by Libya before MSC bought it. She is also the only one of the four committed to Northern Europe year-round through April 2028.
The Premium Extra package on MSC Preziosa covers specialty coffees, soft drinks, juices, bottled water, draught and bottled beer, wines by the glass, spirits and cocktails with gratuities included, up to fifteen alcoholic servings daily. Tobacco, souvenir glassware, ice cream, minibar stock and room service are billed separately.
Three documented events sit in MSC Preziosa's record: crew members arrested for cocaine smuggling in Brazil in March 2014, a 69-year-old Dutch passenger who disappeared in January 2018 when the man-overboard detection system failed, and another passenger who went overboard on 30 December 2023 and was not recovered.
