MSC Armonia

MS "MSC Armonia" is a cruise ship that was built in 2001 for the now defunct Festival Cruises as MS "European Vision". She is currently operated by MSC Cruises. She can accommodate 2,065 passengers in 783 cabins. Her crew complement is approximately 760. MSC Armonia's itineraries cover Mediterranean ports including Venice, Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Corfu, Greece; Naples, Italy; and Genoa, Italy.

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. [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,522060,00.html
title=Genoa defends forbidden city from global protest
author=Rory Carroll
date=July 15 2001
publisher=The Observer
accessdate=2007-12-02] 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. [cite news
url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/072101/Worldandnation/Mayhem__fatality_surr.shtml
title=Mayhem, fatality surround G-8 summit
date=July 21 2001
publisher=St. Petersburg Times
accessdate=2007-12-02]

References