Departing Genoa on January 5 2019, the voyage consists of a 119-day round-trip onboard MSC Magnifica.

According to the line, the MSC World Cruise will give passengers the opportunity to cross six continents and call at 49 destinations spread across 32 countries.

MSC added that the sailing would offer guests the chance to explore New Zealand, Fiji and the Maldives as well as an “expanded comprehensive tour of ‘off the beaten path’ Caribbean islands” with nine ports of call scheduled in the region.

MSC Cruises chief executive Gianni Onorato said: “As a company, MSC Cruises is committed to providing truly special and unique experiences to its guests. For this reason, when developing the world cruise and its one-of-a-kind itinerary, we have listened to their feedback and know that for many the opportunity to travel the world in comfort and style is a lifelong aspiration.

“As one of the world’s truly international cruise companies, making available to our guests and travellers from around the globe a product such as a world cruise is a natural progression.”

As part of the sailing, MSC said guests will be able to book themselves 15 complimentary shore excursions of their choice and it would offer an “above-industry average stay” of 13 hours on shore per port of call.

MSC will begin taking bookings from its MSC Voyagers Club members for the World Cruise from today (November 14).

Members will have one month to exclusively book the entire cruise with sales opening up to the general public on December 14.