MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Co), whose fleet of container cargo ships is second only to Maersk Sealand worldwide is committing more than $3 billion in a bid to become a global player, and has enlisted Sophia Loren.

Cruise observers give MSC a chance, citing new ships, a rich parent company and a time-tested marketing theme that plays on the allure of Italy.

MSC will play heavily on its Italian heritage,following in the wake of earlier lines such as Italian Line, Sitmar Cruises and Costa Cruises.

It works, because passengers harbor warm and fuzzy feelings about the sunny country, say cruise experts.

"If you mention Italy, a smile comes to their faces and they like that very much,". The slogan also stoked the pride of the Costa Italian crew (which later became a part of Carnival Corp.)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Tom Stieghorst
Business Writer
December 5 2004

Five years ago, Italy's MSC Cruises treated North America as an afterthought. Mainly an operator in the Mediterranean, it put ships during the winter at Port Everglades and sold cruises through a small network of travel agencies.

It didn't attend trade shows in the United States, and it didn't join the industry's Washington, D.C.-based trade association.

"They were an unknown," said Jonette Shepherd, a travel agent at Unique Travel in Delray Beach.

MSC, still a relative unknown, is trying to change. This summer it hired a veteran South Florida cruise exec to run its North American operation and moved its U.S. headquarters from the suburbs of New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale.

In its biggest play for publicity yet, MSC snared Italian film legend Sophia Loren to introduce its newest ship, the MSC Opera, to 1,700 travel agents at Port Everglades last week.

MSC is committing more than $3 billion in a bid to become a global player, betting that even as a small operator it can crack an industry that has been consolidating in recent years. To do so, it must at least hold its own in the United States against stiff competition.

Cruise observers give it a chance, citing new ships, a rich parent company and a time-tested marketing theme that plays on the allure of Italy. But to date MSC's biggest weapon has been discount pricing -- a practice that can thin profits and undercut a luxury image. And once established that habit could be hard to shake.

MSC fares are as low as $495 for a seven-night cruise. That won't last, vows MSC Cruises President Richard E. Sasso. "The $495 [price] is our way of saying `come sail with us,'" he said. "Right now we need to create demand."

MSC has two ships sailing from Port Everglades this winter, starting this weekend. The 1,756-passenger MSC Opera will offer seven-night Caribbean trips while her sister ship MSC Lirica, built for 1,590 passengers, will offer 10- and 11-night cruises to the Caribbean and Panama Canal.

Both ships trade heavily on the line's Italian lineage. They have Italian waiters, food and decor. Even the deck nomenclature, from the Verdi Deck (lowest) to the Rossini Deck (highest), helps to reinforce the theme.

"Premium Class, with a True Italian Signature" is the company's ad slogan. "It's our European flavor, our style and our spirit, our personality that will really separate us," Sasso said.

Plain vs. pizzazz

But standing apart in the crowded Caribbean is getting tougher every year, especially in the winter when Alaska, the North Atlantic and even much of the Mediterranean is too cool to cruise. The top ships return to South Florida.

Lines such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival offer spectacular activities on board, while Princess Cruises is putting on-deck movies on its Caribbean ships. The premium ships that MSC wants to compete with from Celebrity Cruises and Holland America Line are on their own campaigns to become more luxurious and exciting.

This weekend, Celebrity debuted its new "Bar at the Edge of the Earth" with performers from Cirque du Soleil on one of its ships.

In contrast, MSC's new ships are fairly plain in design and amenities.

White with blue funnels, they are similar in size and in their percentage of prized balcony cabins (15 percent) to vessels that Celebrity introduced six to eight years ago.

Side-by-side comparisons do not favor MSC, although its ships are clean and look nice, travel agents say. Sasso said the line's service, food and Italian flair are just as important as ship attributes. "We have a `soft product' that we think is better than the others," he said.

Consumers give MSC mixed reviews.

A popular consumer Web site, cruisecritic.com, said its members collectively rate Lirica 2.6 on a scale of 1 to 5, while Costa Cruises' Atlantica, which also sails from Port Everglades, is rated 3.2 and Holland America's Volendam rates a 3.6.

Walter and Marney Frank of Boynton Beach cruised in January on the MSC Lirica. They praised the swing music of big band leader Les Brown Jr., but panned the food as "mostly inedible."

"The food was always salty, not hot and was always soggy, overcooked or undercooked," Marney Frank said.

Sasso said the cruise was Lirica's first from Port Everglades. "We did have some growing pains," he said.

Energetic salesman

Sasso also said MSC is continuously improving. In July, it took over catering responsibilities from what was previously a partnership. It made crew tipping optional and has started a series of on-board enrichment lectures featuring former U.S. ambassadors.

Many of the changes have happened since Sasso was named president in April. A former president of Celebrity Cruises, Sasso, 55, is recognized as an energetic salesman and capable executive with great credibility among travel agents.

"He's a fabulous, fabulous guy," said Shepherd of Unique Travel. "If anyone can help a cruise line, it's Rick," she said.

A resident of Delray Beach, Sasso relocated MSC's operation to South Florida and hired a half dozen cruise veterans to staff key management jobs. They plan to operate a ship year-round from Fort Lauderdale starting next winter.

In addition to the Opera, MSC earlier this year acquired two late-model vessels from the failed Festival Cruises and ordered a pair of 2,550-passenger ships from the Alstom shipyard in France for delivery in 2006 and 2007.

Funding the growth is MSC's parent company, Mediterranean Shipping Co., whose fleet of container cargo ships is second only to Maersk Sealand worldwide. Privately held, Geneva-based MSC has annual sales of $6 billion.

If the expansion takes root, MSC plans to expand staffing at its offices next to the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North in Cypress Creek from 50 now to about 200 within four years. Most of the work will be in sales/reservations.

Sasso said he gives up to 10 speeches a week to spread the gospel on MSC. The line can't afford television ads, but has stepped up spending in trade publications and newspapers and on co-op ads with travel sellers.

MSC's marketing tries to suggest its premium attributes, while also talking price. A recent ad shows a regular $1,400 price for a seven-night MSC Opera cruise slashed out and a $495 price substituted. MSC's advertised prices are in many cases not only below those of Holland America, Celebrity and Princess Cruises but Carnival Cruise Lines, too.

The Italian allure

In playing on its Italian heritage, MSC is following in the wake of earlier lines such as Italian Line, Sitmar Cruises and Costa Cruises.

Howard Fine, who was president of Costa's U.S. operation in the 1980s, coined "Cruising Italian Style" as his ad slogan. It worked, he said, because passengers harbor warm and fuzzy feelings about the sunny country.

"If you mention Italy, a smile comes to their faces and they like that very much," he said. The slogan also stoked the pride of the Italian crew, he said.

Costa, which like MSC was Italian-owned and eager to break into the U.S. market, was acquired in 1997 by Miami-based Carnival Corp., which along with Royal Caribbean Cruises now controls 80 percent of the North American market.

Fine, who now runs a tourism finance company in Fort Lauderdale called Tourism Development International, said he thinks MSC can do well, especially by exploiting future growth in Europe, where it knows the culture first hand.

"The only thing missing when I last saw the ships is that they were really geared to cater to the European market, which is somewhat less demanding," Fine said. MSC has taken pains to adopt its winter cruises to Americans, Sasso said.

In the United States, Fine said MSC should benefit from favorable economic seas. "Fortunately we're at a point now where the business has never been better. The ships are all full. There couldn't be a better time to grow and be introducing a new product," he said.
 

Cruise line to offer Italian ambience for American vacationers
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