On 1 February 2016, MSC Cruises announced that they had converted their options for two new ships into firm orders, with the new vessels being a part of a sub-class that evolves from the cruise line's original Meraviglia-class platform, dubbed "Meraviglia Plus". Each new vessel was designed to be larger than their older Meraviglia-class sisters, at 181,541 GT, with a maximum passenger capacity of 6,334 guests. On 15 November 2017, on the day of the ship's steel-cutting ceremony at the STX France shipyard, MSC Cruises announced that the name of the first Meraviglia Plus-class ship would be MSC Grandiosa. Her coin ceremony was performed in July 2018 and her float-out occurred six months later, on 5 January 2019. MSC Grandiosa successfully completed her sea trials in September 2019.
Debut
MSC Grandiosa was delivered to MSC Cruises in a ceremony at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard on 31 October 2019. On 9 November 2019, the ship was christened in a ceremony by her godmother, Sophia Loren, whilst being moored in the riverElbe. The ship later returned to her dock at the Port of Hamburg before embarking on her inaugural cruise the following day, on 10 November 2019. Following her delivery, MSC Grandiosa sailed her first voyage from the shipyard to Hamburg for press events and her christening, with calls in Rotterdam and Le Havre. Her inaugural cruise set sail on 10 November 2019 from Hamburg to Genoa via Southampton, Barcelona, and Marseille, and was also hampered by a storm that forced the cancellation of Lisbon.
Operational career
For her inaugural season, beginning on 23 November 2019, MSC Grandiosa sailed in the Mediterranean with week-long itineraries calling in Genoa, Rome, Palermo, Valletta, Barcelona, and Marseille. She was expected to continue this rotation until repositioning to Santos, Brazil in autumn 2020 to cruise in South America for the 2020–2021 season, making her the largest passenger ship to ever homeport in South America. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing fleet redeployments, MSC Grandiosa will continue to operate in the Mediterranean through 2021. On 30 December 2019, MSC Grandiosa incurred a minor allision at the Port of Palermo after she struck the port's Vittorio Veneto pier with her stern on the port side when maneuvering to dock. Minor damage was reported on her stern and the pier, but no injuries were reported. The ship left for Valletta later that day.
Engineering
MSC Grandiosa is equipped with a selective catalytic reduction system that helps to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, along with a closed-loop exhaust gas cleaning system that reduces ship sulfur emissions by 97 percent.
