MSC Cruises sails into 2018

MSC Cruises has the wind at its back as it readies for a busy year ahead, with a ‘terrific’ 2017 setting it in good stead for the next twelve months.

That’s according to Joseph Jiffo, senior vice-president, sales, who told PAX that the company has set its sights squarely on taking the North American market by storm this year – having already witnessed encouraging recent growth in Canada.

“The plan is obviously to grow our market share in North America,” he commented. “Our goal is to be an important player in the North American market, and we’re getting that way with a lot of the exposure we’re having – especially in Canada, [where] we’ve doubled our business. We’ve had a terrific 2017, and 2018 in Canada is shaping up to be an even better year.”

Following the sun

MSC unveiled ambitious plans for expansion last year, spearheaded by a $10 billion investment strategy that will see the company introduce 11 new ships by 2026. By 2020 alone, Jiffo says, the cruise line will have doubled its fleet capacity, with the recently-launched MSC Seaside set to make waves in the North American market.

MSC Cruises' latest ship, MSC Seaside, set sail in December 2017.

“‘Follow the sun’ is our campaign for the Seaside,” Jiffo said. “The ship is really built for the sun; it gets closer to the water. The ship is built for the North American market, for increasing our North American market share.”

The first ship in MSC’s fleet to go straight from the shipyard to the U.S., Seaside features distinctive ‘beach condo’-style architecture and a waterfront boardwalk to complement its terraced balconies and sunlit areas.

The ship, Jiffo confirmed, will undertake its first complete year of operation in the Caribbean (where progress has been steady following the hurricanes towards the end of last year) in 2018, with its year-round itineraries including ports of call in both the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Among the most notable features of MSC Seaside are its expansive windows and sunlit areas.

Further expansion in North America is expected in the coming years, with one new ship, MSC Seaview, set to debut in June, and Meraviglia’s homeport to relocate to the continent from Europe. “The fleet is going to be incredibly young as we continue to build,” said Jiffo.

“We’ll continue to grow the North American market. Divina is still a seasonal North American ship, Seaside [is] year-round, and then in the fall of 2019, Meraviglia will come over to North America, and be our second full year-round North American ship.”

The Ocean Cay restaurant aboard MSC Seaside.

Focus on agents

It’s no surprise that Jiffo and MSC continue to place strong emphasis on the importance of their relationship with travel agents, given the company’s commitment to strengthening its market share here. Stating MSC’s aim to ‘be very visible with the travel agent community,’ Jiffo noted the quality of a Canadian business development team that’s led by Ian Patterson, director of business development, Canada.

In addition to Patterson, Jiffo said, the company’s team north of the border includes Lisa Miller, its business development manager for Ontario, and Western Canada BDM Mavis Lau – with Gabrielle Lalime having just been announced as the new BDM for Quebec.

Central to the company’s resources for its agent community is its agent training program, MSC Academy (www.mscacademy.com). “The goal in our first year [2017] was to have 2,500 graduates in North America – Canada and the U.S.,” Jiffo remarked, “and we finished the year with over 4,000.

“It was a big success; in 2018, we’re going to enhance the MSC Academy, making it a more detailed program with more modules. We’re excited about growing that part of our education tool.”

Among the company’s strengths, Jiffo said, is its commitment to and understanding of the travel agent community. “One of the things we’re proud of is that we have a young BDM team in place that are hungry, and are knocking on doors,” he remarked. “At MSC, we call on every travel agency regardless of your sales performance. I find that in having face-to-face meetings, you have your biggest impact with the travel agent; we’re proud of the fact that we’ve got a good team in place.”

‘European-style cruising’

MSC Meraviglia, set to reposition to North America in 2019 to become MSC's second year-round North American ship.

For Jiffo, MSC’s uniqueness lies in its style of cruising, which bears the unmistakeable hallmark of its European roots. “It’s European-style cruising,” he explained. “M.S.C. – Mediterranean Style of Cruising. That’s what makes us different than some of the North American cruise lines.”

Canada, he emphasized, has played a strong role in the company’s progress in North America. “Because we have offices all around the world, we have a good percentage of our passengers coming from outside of North America,” he added. “Canada has done a fantastic job of adapting to the multicultural demographics that we have coming onto our ships. That’s a really big part of what we’re seeing.”

It’s the strength of its commitment to North America, and the potential it sees in the Canadian market, that has led MSC and Jiffo to identify amplifying its voice to the Canadian travel community as one of its key targets for 2018. “Continuing to get the message out to Canada – especially the travel agency community,” Jiffo commented. “That’s a priority.

“For us, it’s all about uncovering new business. In order for us to grow, we have to find that new business, and so you have to … plant the seeds of opportunity.” With that in mind, Jiffo said, agents can expect to see MSC’s BDMs out in full force at various agent consumer events and trade shows throughout 2018 – a move he hopes will spur further growth in Canada.

“It’s well ahead of the pace,” he said of the company’s progress north of the border. “Canada is growing ahead of our capacity growth. It’s just a matter of us being very visible in [terms of] both the consumer and the agent – that’s very important to us.”

Further information is available at www.msccruises.com.