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MSC Bellissima

MSC Cruises · Cruise · In service · built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique

MSC Bellissima repeats the 171,598 GT Meraviglia hull with a longer LED dome and a full digital concierge layer, and was the ship MSC used to open its Arabian Gulf and later Asian seasons.

Length overall315.83 m
Beam43 m
Gross tonnage171,598 GT
Passengers4,488
Speed21.8 kn
Delivered2019
Our numbers

Derived metrics

Computed by ships.fyi from the core specification — see how we calculate these.

Passengers per metre#24 of 116
14.2 pax/m passengers (double occupancy) ÷ length overall
Length-to-beam ratio#112 of 142
7.34 length overall ÷ beam
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

The MSC Bellissima's length overall, against things you already know the size of.

MSC Bellissima315.83 m
Eiffel Tower (height)330 m
Titanic269.06 m
Football pitch105 m
Boeing 747-876.3 m
Blue whale25 m
You (probably)1.75 m

The 747-8 held the longest-airliner record for over a decade, until Boeing's 777-9 took it by about 19 inches (76.72 m) — our sibling site aircraft.fyi measures everything that flies the same way.

One MSC Bellissima = 1.17 Titanics · 3.0 football pitches · 13 blue whales · 4.1 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.

Plan a sailing on MSC Bellissima

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Specification

The numbers

Length overall≈315.8 m
Beam43 m
Gross tonnage171,598 GT
Passengers≈4,488 (double) / ≈5,686 (max)
Crew≈1,536
Service speed≈21.8 kn
Christened2 March 2019, Southampton
GodmotherSophia Loren

Last verified: 2026-07-15 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi

The story

What makes it different

MSC Bellissima is the second and last of the original Meraviglia pair, and a near-repeat of her lead ship — same 171,598 gross tons, same 316-metre hull, same two-deck Galleria as the spine of the interior.

Where she differs is in degree rather than kind. Her LED dome runs longer than Meraviglia's, and she launched MSC's ZOE, an in-cabin voice assistant offered in seven languages — an early and slightly awkward attempt at the digital concierge idea that most of the industry has since adopted in some form.

Sophia Loren christened her at Southampton in March 2019, continuing a run as godmother that covers most of the modern MSC fleet. She has since worked the Mediterranean, the Arabian Gulf and Asia, and remains one of the most widely deployed ships in the fleet.

The class

The MSC Bellissima line

Meraviglia class
Second and final ship of the original Meraviglia pair, before the stretched Meraviglia-Plus trio.
The LED dome
Her Galleria ceiling is the longest LED dome at sea — roughly 80 metres — and the feature MSC marketed the ship on.
Operators

Who operates the MSC Bellissima

All 1 operator of record, verified 2026-07-15. Figures marked ≈ are approximate.

MSCCMSC CruisesMediterranean, Arabian Gulf and Asian deployments; christened at Southampton in 2019.1
Quick answers

MSC Bellissima, asked and answered

How long is the MSC Bellissima?
315.83 m (1,036 ft) length overall — the #88 longest of the 142 ships on ships.fyi, and 3.0 football pitches end to end.
How big is the MSC Bellissima compared to the Titanic?
The MSC Bellissima is 1.17× the Titanic's length — 315.83 m against her 269.06 m. By volume the gap is starker still: 171,598 GT against Titanic's 46,328 GRT — roughly 3.7 times the tonnage, measured across two different rule eras.
Who operates the MSC Bellissima?
MSC Cruises. Current status: in service.
Does the MSC Bellissima fit through the Panama Canal?
Not the original locks — but yes through the 2016 Neopanamax locks: at 315.83 m by 43 m on a 8.75 m draft she clears the 366 × 51.25 × 15.2 m expanded gauge.