North America still key market for MSC Cruises
Despite announcing the dropping of year round sailings from the US from next year, MSC Cruises says it is still committed to the world’s largest cruise market.
The Europe based line is "preparing for some significant growth in the North American market long term," according to Ken Muskat, MSC executive vice president for sales, PR & guest services.
Speaking to USA TODAY, he cited significant price weakness for summer cruises affecting the bottom line of all cruise companies in the market.
"The summer continues to be a bloodbath for everybody," added.
MSC announced earlier this week the 3,500-passenger MSC Divina will homeport in Europe between May and October 2015 instead of year round in Miami as previously planned.
The ship will sail seven-night cruises out of Civitavecchia, Italy and Barcelona but will still market itself to the North American market.
"There are a lot of North Americans who want to go over to the Med on a product that is very European, but there are also people who really like our Americanized style," Muskat said.
This includes Americanized food and entertainment and English as the primary language aboard the ship.
Muskat also says the end of year round Miami sailings is a temporary measure and further announcements are imminent regarding North American deployment.
"We hope to convince everybody that by no means have we given up on North America," he said.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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