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MSC Grandiosa

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

MSC Grandiosa opened the stretched Meraviglia-Plus sub-class at 181,541 GT, and in August 2020 became the first major cruise ship back in service after the global shutdown.

Length overall331.43 m
Beam43 m
Gross tonnage181,541 GT
Passengers4,842
Speed22.3 kn
Delivered2019
Our numbers

Derived metrics

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

Passengers per metre#21 of 116
14.6 pax/m passengers (double occupancy) ÷ length overall
Length-to-beam ratio#95 of 142
7.71 length overall ÷ beam
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

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

MSC Grandiosa331.43 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 Grandiosa = 1.23 Titanics · 3.2 football pitches · 13 blue whales · 4.3 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.

Plan a sailing on MSC Grandiosa

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Specification

The numbers

Length overall331.43 m
Beam43 m
Gross tonnage181,541 GT
Passengers4,842 (double) / 6,334 (max)
Crew≈1,704
Decks19
Service speed22.3 kn
Delivered31 October 2019

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

The story

What makes it different

MSC Grandiosa introduced the Meraviglia-Plus: the same architecture as MSC Meraviglia stretched by about fifteen metres and ten thousand gross tons, which bought an extra deck of cabins and a longer promenade without redesigning the platform.

Her real significance is historical. In August 2020, with essentially the entire world cruise fleet laid up, Grandiosa resumed Western Mediterranean sailings under a strict protocol — reduced capacity, universal pre-boarding testing, and shore excursions restricted to organised bubbles. She was the first major cruise ship anywhere to carry paying passengers again, and the template she ran became the industry's restart playbook.

In normal operation she is a Mediterranean workhorse: nineteen decks, the Galleria promenade under its LED ceiling, a Yacht Club enclave at the bow, and from 2024 a Caribbean season out of Miami alongside her newer fleetmates.

The class

The MSC Grandiosa line

Meraviglia-Plus
Lead ship of the stretched sub-class, followed by MSC Virtuosa. Roughly 10,000 GT larger than the original Meraviglia pair.
The 2020 restart
Resumed Mediterranean sailings in August 2020 under a bubble protocol — the first major cruise ship to return to service after the worldwide suspension.
Operators

Who operates the MSC Grandiosa

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

MSCCMSC CruisesWestern Mediterranean year-round, with Caribbean seasons from PortMiami from 2024.1
Quick answers

MSC Grandiosa, asked and answered

How long is the MSC Grandiosa?
331.43 m (1,087 ft) length overall — the #58 longest of the 142 ships on ships.fyi, and 3.2 football pitches end to end.
How big is the MSC Grandiosa compared to the Titanic?
The MSC Grandiosa is 1.23× the Titanic's length — 331.43 m against her 269.06 m. By volume the gap is starker still: 181,541 GT against Titanic's 46,328 GRT — roughly 3.9 times the tonnage, measured across two different rule eras.
Who operates the MSC Grandiosa?
MSC Cruises. Current status: in service.
Does the MSC Grandiosa fit through the Panama Canal?
Not the original locks — but yes through the 2016 Neopanamax locks: at 331.43 m by 43 m on a 8.6 m draft she clears the 366 × 51.25 × 15.2 m expanded gauge.