MSC Cruises Transforms Buffet Restaurants on Select Ships

MSC Cruises Redesigned Buffet Area and menu

MSC Cruises’ has transformed the buffet restaurants on board MSC Splendida, MSC Fantasia and MSC Poesia.

With the help of famous Italian food designer Paolo Barichella from food and lifestyle designers Enocultura, the buffet area has been restyled around new concepts of presentation and service, offering guests a sensational casual dining experience morning, noon and night.

The buffet is the most visited dining area on board, particularly during breakfast and lunch, and continually enhancing this area is a priority for a company which prides itself on making each cruise a culinary voyage of discovery.

“The idea behind the new buffet was not only to increase the quality of service and variety of fresh choices but also to create a real culinary experience and reshape the way we present food on board,” said Enrico Borniotto, general manager of MSC Italcatering. “Guests can now enjoy watching our skilled chefs prepare a range of fresh dishes, from MSC’s signature authentic Italian pizzas and breads to perfect sautéed pasta and tasty cuts of meat.”

“Aside from redesigning the area in terms of decor, we tried to bring on board the concept of the visible kitchen,” he continued. “Some guests cannot imagine that most of the food is fresh on such big ships and that pasta, pizza, bread and desserts are handmade. This is an extraordinary added value to be proudly presented to guests.”
  
“Restyling the buffet areas of the MSC fleet was an exciting project for me,” said food designer Barichella. “I am used to working with restaurants and chefs from all over the world, but this was my first experience with a cruise company. This restyled area will enable guests to discover MSC’s high quality, fresh products in a holistic way.”

The redesigned buffet now includes many different specialty corners, arranged with a more intuitive feel for guests trying to decide what delicious dishes to select. 

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Dining Options Onboard the MSC Splendida Sure to Please Anyone

(June 29, 2009) – When MSC Splendida launches on July 12 in Barcelona, the new flagship in the MSC Cruises’ fleet will offer guests the chance to experience a vast selection of food and spirits in its 18 bars and lounges, four restaurants, and two buffets.

Traditional fare includes provincial food and fine wines in L’Enoteca wine bar and spicy Mexican specialties in the Santa Fe restaurant. Villa Verde offers superb Italian delicacies with a panoramic view. The Bora Bora buffet extends the spectrum with its own special pizzeria for an exquisitely tasty but light alternative, while La Reggia serves sumptuously varied Italian dining on two floors.

The highly trained chefs on MSC Splendida offer a combined recipe collection of 2,000 different selections during a typical seven-night cruise, allowing guests to choose from 14 menus daily. Food is available onboard 24-hours-a-day.

L’Olivo, MSC Splendida’s specialty Mediterranean restaurant, is named after the olive tree which has contributed so much to the rich and diverse cultures nurtured by the ocean. It delivers the essence of these cultures from their aromas, history, and sensibilities to tastes. L’Olivo offers select authentic delicacies from 14 different Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey, each prepared to the highest standards using only the finest ingredients from their traditional areas of production.

MSC Cruises' MSC Splendida Offers Green Technologies

(June 29, 2009) – Reflecting the high personal standards and love of the sea of its owners, MSC Cruises has incorporated the latest and best systems for protecting the environment into the new MSC Splendida, which will be christened by godmother Sophia Loren on July 12. Like her sister ship MSC Fantasia, the MSC Splendida effectively utilizes “green” technology to ensure that she preserves the beauty of the sea and the air wherever she travels.

The many environmentally friendly features onboard include:

• A five-stage Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) plant that processes all wastewater produced onboard. Although the effluent produced by this system is so pure that it could be discharged into the ocean without harming the ecosystem, it is stored onboard for later transfer to land-based waste systems in port.


• Innovative Stateroom Monitoring System technology in the staterooms and public areas provides nearly a 25 percent reduction in onboard energy use. For example, this system is able to detect an opened stateroom window or balcony doors, adjusting the room temperature setting in the climate control system accordingly.


• Special high-efficiency incinerators handle disposal of paper and cardboard waste onboard, while compacting machines and grinders sort and prepare aluminium and glass which is later recycled in port.

These environmental safeguards of MSC Splendida match those used on her sister ship, MSC Fantasia, which earned the distinction of being the first passenger ship to receive the prestigious ‘6 Golden Pearls’ award from Bureau Veritas in recognition as one of the greenest ships in the world.

MSC Splendida is currently awaiting certification for this classification, which also includes meeting the highest standards for food quality and safety.

MSC Cruises cares about the environment and continues to take steps towards its improvement. The company was one of the first to sign the Venice Blue Flag agreement to reduce emissions in the Venice Lagoon through the use of ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel in its engines. For this year's World Environment Day, on June 5, , on June 5, MSC Cruises offered free onboard screenings of the Home by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, produced by Denis Carot, Luc Besson and François-Henri Pinault.

MSC Splendida Christened in Barcelona

(June 9, 2009) — MSC Splendida, the second in MSC Cruises’ luxurious “Fantasia” class of cruise ships, is scheduled to be christened in Barcelona on July 12 during a ceremony featuring several world-class performers.

Italian icon Sophia Loren welcomes MSC Splendida as the latest addition to the MSC Cruises’ fleet amidst lavish festivities. She continues the tradition of serving as the ship’s godmother, as she has for MSC Lirica, MSC Opera, MSC Musica, MSC Orchestra, MSC Poesia and MSC Fantasia. Like MSC Splendida, Loren represents the epitome of Italian elegance and style.

Jose Carreras, internationally-known Spanish operatic lyric tenor, lends his memorable voice to the celebration as well. Carreras was one of the “Three Tenors” (along with the Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti and the Spanish singer Plácido Domingo); they are credited with helping find a broader audience for opera. The recording of their first performance together, Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in Concert, won a Grammy Award in 1991.

Cruising the heart of the Mediterranean and the adjacent European Atlantic seaboard, MSC Splendida is set to embark on a series of inspiring itineraries to many of history’s most famous sites. Alexandria, Ashdod, Athens, Barcelona, Casablanca, Crete, Genoa, Madeira, Malta, Malaga, Naples, Olympia, Rhodes, Rome, Taormina, Tenerife, and Tunis are among the destinations.

Designed by De Joro Design Studio, MSC Splendida’s interiors will complement these famous sites of history with exuberant modern and classically refined Italian designs featuring many natural and traditional materials.