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| The Savvy Cruiser's MSC-at-a-Glance |
 In the past several years, value-priced MSC Italian Cruises has embarked on a growth surge that now has it recognized as a direct competitor to Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean International, and Norwegian Cruise Line. The Musica, which will join the fleet in the summer of 2006, is the line's new flagship, joining two other recent launches, the Lirica (2003) and its sister ship, the Opera (2004). These liners have a very strong European flavor, as one might expect of the ships of an Italian cruise company. The Armonia and Sinfonia, roughly the same size, were built in 2001 and bought by MSC at auction in 2004 after the collapse of Festival Cruises. The earlier ships of MSC are older small-to-mid-sized vessels refurbished following purchase from other cruise lines, and are heavily patronized by budget-minded Europeans. The 1,064-passenger MSC Melody was previously Premier Cruise Lines' Starship Atlantic; the 566-passenger MSC Monterey is a half-century old liner that started life as the U.S. cargo ship Free State Mariner; the 780-passenger MSC Rhapsody was formerly the Cunard Princess.
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| MSC Italian Cruises Ships |
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- Melody, Monterey, Rhapsody
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