Top Billing features the launch of the luxurious MSC Seaview
Ayanda finds everything from ten pin bowling alleys to a Michelin star restaurant and Salvador Dali gallery aboard Italy’s greatest ever cruise-liner the MSC Seaview!
The MSC Seaview is the latest generation in liners which offer an unrivalled cruising experience while conserving the oceans and Ayanda was in Italy to experience it first-hand.
She is the largest ship ever built in Italy but carries her size with grace and we’d been invited to the MSC Seaview’s home port of Genoa for her christening. This iconic silhouette will cruise the Mediterranean during the European Summer and South America through the Winter, transporting over 5300 passengers on the cruise of their lifetime.
A promenade lines the deck and with places to eat, drink, shop, swim and sunbathe, this feels like the seafront on The French Riviera. Inside, the multi-level, glass-walled atrium stretches over four decks, creating an atmospheric venue for live entertainment while two forty-metre glass-floored catwalks give guests spectacular ocean views. As dramatic as it is, look closer and as Trevor Young pointed out – this ship is created with the kind of detail you’d expect in a diamond necklace.
The 20 bars and 10 restaurants lend the kind of nightlife of one of the great European capitals. This city at sea is La Dolce Vita. While keeping your chocolate at just the right temperature the MSC Seaview earns a RINA Green star 3 rating, which is the highest level of eco-compatibility that can be awarded, for features like reduced emissions and energy-saving LED lighting.
If you’re watching your waste-line then head for the Asian Market inspired cooking of chef Roy Yamaguchi’s three on-board restaurants. These dishes are made with fresh ingredients, inspired by flavours of the chef’s childhood spent in Japan. With the MSC Seaview putting in at The Mediterranean’s most famous ports, the seafood does not come fresher.
The MSC Seaview is considered to have the most innovative art collection at sea. Their flagship gallery constantly evolves, featuring artistic masters like Salvador Dali alongside young stars of 21st century art whose works you can buy or simply learn about, from expert Bertrand Epaud. The showstoppers in the exhibition include a million-dollar Salvador Dali Sculpture Collection. Eleven works by the Spanish surrealist whose fame is second only to his countryman Picasso.
For wearable works of art – the boutiques offer jewellery, outfits and accessories from the biggest fashion houses in Milan. The ship is Italian after all. While you shop there are five different water slides to keep the kids entertained.
Ayanda had heard rumour of something equally fascinating – two full-sized ten pin bowling alleys - on one ship! After overdoing it for the cameras, our out-of-practice ten-pin champion needed the services of the ship’s luxurious Balinese spa to revitalize. Then back to the cabin to change for that evening.
Any ship offering this level of space and luxury with more than 5000 guests onboard – deserves to be celebrated.
Ahead of her maiden voyage, the MSC Seaview was due to be christened and this cruise company was going with an A-list as only the Italians can.
At 323 metres from stern to bow, with a crew of over 1400 strong, the MSC Seabreeze is a magnificent statement – for which the word bravo is not strong enough so, to this grand ship we say – Bravissimo!
