MSC chief: 'We've got to match the quality of the flight with the cruise experience'
MSC Cruises’ Steve Williams tells TTG’s Harry Kemble how the line’s partnerships with ‘reputable’ carriers are propelling MSC’s post-Covid rebound.
You would think an ocean cruise line would point to its ship operations, or maybe even its load factors, to illustrate how successfully it has recovered from the pandemic.
But MSC Cruises’ UK and Ireland sales director Steve Williams is looking instead to the skies; the line has increased its scheduled flight commitment from the UK by more than 500% year-on-year as it continues to rebound strongly.
“We’ve got a lot more air for agents to sell all around the country than we’ve had previously,” Williams tells TTG. “That’s driving growth, particularly in the regions.
“Immediately post-pandemic, we just didn’t think having a flight programme was the right thing to do. We were all a bit wounded and bruised. We felt flying was quite problematic and, at that point, we were putting all of our efforts into selling ex-UK cruises.
“This year, we felt ready to commit to a bigger air programme because there was enough stability in the market.”
In partnership with Virgin Atlantic, MSC will offer a full charter programme from Heathrow to Barbados every second Tuesday from 26 November 2024 to 18 March 2025.
Williams says there’s “strong demand” for winter Caribbean sailings on MSC Virtuosa, a ship cemented in ex-UK cruising history after it became the first vessel to sail from Southampton following cruise’s 14-month Covid hiatus.
Almost three years on from that sailing, Williams says: “We’re really having a fantastic time – and that’s partly being driven by MSC Virtuosa,” he insists. “Brits will travel to ships they know and love, like Virtuosa.”
The 6,300-passenger vessel will start its fourth UK summer season later this month.
Asked why MSC Cruises chose Virgin Atlantic as its partner for the upcoming winter Caribbean programme, Williams tells TTG: “We’ve always partnered with reputable scheduled carriers when we’ve offered our charter programme to Barbados.”
He explains “a lot” of guests want to fly in Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class or Premium cabins and then stay in MSC Yacht Club, the line’s onboard suite area, during their Caribbean sailing. “We feel it’s important to match the quality of the cruise experience with the flight,” he continues.
MSC also has air allocations with Emirates from Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Dublin to Dubai, and on Jet2.com from Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Belfast to Tenerife.
Williams says MSC plans to expand this air programme further next year to include more UK airports, such as Bristol.
As the cruise sector emerged from the pandemic, with MSC Cruises among those leading the revival, sailings were heavily discounted as lines battled to boost consumer confidence and fill their ships.
Williams insists the entire sector has worked “very hard” to restore a “normal” booking curve. “When we came out of the pandemic, we would find out a week beforehand whether a ship could sail or not,” he explains. “We all had to fill ships really late – customers were getting exceptional-value cruises.”
Williams argues the UK market thrives from having an early booking curve, so it makes sense to launch programmes sooner rather than later.
Last month, MSC released its 2026 programme – two years before the first sailing departs. It means that, for the first time, the line will have three summer seasons available to book at the same time.
“When you have more on sale with a longer build-up, it helps us move away from a late booking pattern – and in an ideal world, that is where we all want to be,” Williams notes.
Pressed on how MSC has priced its new programme, compared with the others on sale, Williams says: “We would be very silly to go out with different rates for 2025 and 2026.
"Naturally, many guests will not have booked for 2025, so we have benchmarked 2026 with 2025. The feedback is that it’s competitive, and I believe it’s right where it needs to be.”
Now MSC has a UK-based vessel throughout the year, it is able to offer more ship visit places than ever before.
With a total of 2,000 places available for 2024, Williams tells TTG that by mid-March, around 450 agents have already boarded an MSC ship. The ship visits will take place onboard Euribia, Preziosa, Virtuosa and Poesia in Liverpool, Belfast, Invergordon and Southampton.
Williams reveals there has been a concerted effort to allocate places to agents who are new to the MSC brand, or new to a particular class of ship. “Previously, it was, ‘we’ve got a ship visit, let’s get people onboard’. But now we’re following up with them, monitoring their bookings.”
Williams stresses training is a “key part” of what MSC does. “I’ve been here eight years,” he says. “The perceptions of MSC are so far from where we were. Most agents have now experienced MSC.”
The line plans to “overhaul” the modules on its MSC Masters training platform to ensure cut-through with every agent. “We will work with everybody,” he continues. “We really want people to understand and recommend our product. Every day, we’re signing up more agents.”
With the UK summer cruise season just around the corner, it seems MSC Cruises is being rewarded for its post-pandemic toil.
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Harry Kemble
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