Not so Fantastic for MSC Cruises

In an unfortunate coincidence of timing, MSC Cruises announced confirmation of their newest ship at the weekend, just as news reports were breaking about a passenger being killed when a gangway collapsed.
Construction work started in April, but it is only now that financing has been agreed between MSC, its bankers, and builders STX France at St Nazaire.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been closely involved in brokering the deal in order to provide jobs at the yard whose order book has been looking a bit thin since the completion of Norwegian Epic in June.
His intervention has sparked speculation that MSC will break with tradition and invite his wife, Italian-born Carla Bruni, to name the vessel – in May 2012 -instead of Sophia Loren, who has been godmother for every new MSC cruise ship since MSC Lirica 2003.
The announcement also revealed a change of name for the ship. It was originally going to be called MSC Favolosa, but Costa have also announced a new-build with that name; so welcome MSC Fantastica, not to be confused with MSC Fantasia which was launched in 2008.
The announcement was overshadowed by the news that a Spanish woman was killed when the gangway collapsed as she was boarding MSC Splendida in Genoa. The 62-year-old, from Barcelona, fell 30 feet and her head struck the quayside. Another passenger, a 65-year-old man, plunged into the water but escaped with bruising.
An investigation is under way.
Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises, said: “We are very close to the families of our guests involved in this absurd tragedy.
“Our priority today is to offer all the possible assistance to the relatives.”
Sources at the port have speculated that high winds may have contributed towards the collapse – the same reason given when a gangway at Palma de Majorca collapsed last year, injuring a passenger disembarking from MSC Fantasia.