MSC Armonia

MSC Armonia is a cruise ship that was built in 2001 for the now defunct Festival Cruises as MS European Vision.  Since 2004 the ship has been owned and operated by MSC Cruises.  At 58,600 gross register tons, she can accommodate 2,065 passengers in 783 cabins and 760 crew members.

History 

As the European Vision, she was chartered for the 27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy as a secure location to house world leaders. Terrorism fears were high in advance of the September 11, 2001 attacks and Al Qaeda was believed to be considering Genoa as a target. Although the ship was protected by a phalanx of anti-terrorism units including helicopters and missile launchers, U.S. President George W. Bush stayed instead at a dockside hotel.

Deployments 
MSC Armonia has cruised around the Mediterranean Sea and ports within the Eastern Atlantic. Most recently, she was homeported in Havana until December 2018 when she repositioned to Miami to offer cruises between the United States and Cuba, and later, the Caribbean. In November 2020, she will homeport in Tampa, Florida for the first time, sailing to the Caribbean.

Accidents 
MSC Armonia was involved in a docking accident in Roatan Honduras on April 10, 2018, when it made contact with the port with 2,679 guests on board. Damage to the ship was minor, the company says. After repairs, Honduran Port State Control authorities cleared the ship to continue its journey. At about 5:30 a.m. this Wednesday morning, the ship left for Belize and is scheduled for a 1 p.m. arrival.

The company says that all passengers and about 721 crew members were not injured.

Video of the incident can be view at https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2018/04/11/watch-msc-armonia-cruise-ship-crashes-into-dock-roatan/506382002/

References

External links
msccruises.co.uk Armonia page

Category:Cruise ships
Category:Ships of MSC Cruises
Category:2000 ships