Holidaymakers have always seen MSC Crociere ships as a beautiful destination in their own right, alongside the famous sites they visit. Thanks to the extraordinary creative work of De Jorio Design International. MSC Splendida takes the whole concept of ship as floating city to an entirely new level. Which is why it’s only right that we should take you round it in the same way as the tour of a beautiful city, mirroring a day in the life of a guest on board.
So, ladies and gentlemen, please follow me now that we’ve assembled in the main hall and reception - a spectacle of space and light inspired by the diamond, reflected in facet-shaped mirror steel and optical fibre lamps, gleaming panoramic lifts and an extraordinary grand piano, decorated with 20,0000 Swarovski crystals by artist Laura De Nadal.
Centre stage is a sweeping Swarovski crystal staircase that takes us up on our way to the typically Italian coffee bar L’Espresso, which completely immerses you in the world of coffee, featuring walnut pearl wall panels, parquet floors and a caramel-coloured onyx bar with Neo-Deco espresso cup motif. Next we take a leisurely stroll along the promenade and through the Photo Gallery with its exhibitions and passenger photos, displayed in gigantic gilded baroque frames. This naturally leads to the Galleria d'Arte, where Verde Alpi marble exhibition islands display informal bronze sculptures of the female form.
The hours pass quickly, absorbed in the art and sea views, so it’s already time for lunch. The panoramic Villa Verde restaurant with its massive sweep of glass expresses classic lines in modern materials, with dark maple, multicoloured marble and large golden grilles in a circular motif that creates a damask effect on the walls.
After a fine Italian lunch we explore the La Piazzetta main square. An authentic tribute to the Neapolitan Baroque, La Piazzetta is just like the heart of a historic Italian city, bringing together architecture from across the ages, including a classic 19th century Cigar Room in pure Italian Liberty style, a swinging sixties Duty Free and a typical bar with multicoloured lead glass decorations. Completing the ambience, a garden orchestra makes La Piazzetta the perfect place for an after-dinner stroll and of course just a little shopping!
It’s time for a rest now, either in the adults-only Playa del Sol, the Zen Area with its quiet views, or with the kids at the L’Equatore pool, maybe, with its impressive sliding glass roof for all-year fun and games.Continuing our tour, we assemble in the perfect meeting place, the Sports Bar. More of a pub than a bar, it not only offers, interactive video games, big-screen sports broadcasts and mini-bowling, but also immerses you in a sports ambience of comfy anthracite leather couches, wood-panelled walls with steel profiles and football carpets on one side, a circular bar with yellow car paint finish in the centre, and yellow lacquer panelling on the other side. Here you can enjoy an energising aperitif while admiring the many authentic trophies testifying to the extraordinary career of Italian sprinter Pietro Mennea, who set the 200 metre world record in Mexico City in 1979. Keeping them company you’ll find autographed equipment and kit from a whole spectrum of sports, including hockey, baseball, basketball, international football and Formula 1. There’s even a Ferrari nose cone!
Opposite the Sports Bar, there’s a total contrast in the Purple Jazz Bar. True to its name, the interlinking purple and grey couch seating snakes between ridged purple-hued laminate walls, punctuated by niches of square and rectangular coloured light, like the windows in a Le Corbusiermetropolis. The imaginative design perfectly complements the marriage of order and instinct in Jazz, mingling colour and cultures.
As the perfect end to our tour and any evening, we find ourselves in the Club 33 disco, a circular masterpiece suspended above the Acqua Park that conveys the rhythmic, liquid flow of time in dripping liquid shapes that spread like pools across the floor. It’s an image frozen in time as only dancing can be - or a cruise on the floating city and work of art that is MSC Splendida.
