MSC Cruises - New Slogan and first email advertisement

I recently received my first email advertisement from MSC Italian Cruises. No doubt this is under the direction of the new executive management for N. America, and a first step in getting the cruise line more widely known in the US.

The email ad is certainly more slick then anything I've seen from MSC in the past. Also of note is a Ft. Lauderdale address, and a new slogan. It reads "MSC Cruises - Premium Class" and then something about "Italian" but I'll be damned if I can read it. I even enlarged the logo and type but I still can't make out the new slogan.

Attached is a link to the ad, and maybe someone on Cruise Talk will have better luck reading the slogan than I.

All in all I like what I see, and I would love to take the OPERA transatlantic cruise. Hmmm. You never know! I also imagine we will see future MSC brochures and the website more in this new style.

One other thing that was interesting was the subject line of the email. It was simply "test". I'm glad I opened it.

Ernie

Click here for MSC email ad.

With A True Italian Reputation?

Statendam

QE2 (x2)

Regal Princess

Golden Princess

Royal Princess

Big Red Boat

....Signature...?

16 - HAL

10 - Cunard

4 - Home Lines

2 - NCL

2 - Royal Viking Line

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines"

My vote goes to "with a true Italian signature".

My vote goes to "with a true Italian signature".

Yes Doug,

I believe this is correct. Hopefully they will get that more clear in future publications. No good having a tag line if you can't read it!

Also, MSC have officially relocated their N. American offices to Ft. Lauderdale.

I think this will be a cruise line to watch! Finally something to take a little market share away from Carnival Corp!

Ernie

Hopefully they will get that more clear in future publications. No good having a tag line if you can't read it!

Well, at least in print you can usually use a magnifying glass!

But I do think MSC will be a line to watch... Competition is always a good thing!

Ernie, isn't there a former Celebrity exec (Rick Sasso) at MSC now? I expect this will be an interesting development to watch.

FYI the MSC Cruises website has been updated with the new slogan, as well as information on MSC ARMONIA (ex EUROPEAN VISION).

Ernie

ps - I forgot to mention you can see a copy of MSC's latest Caribbean brochure here.

Note that it is a pdf file and may take a few minutes to download especially if you have a slow connection.

Deleted

Ernie, isn't there a former Celebrity exec (Rick Sasso) at MSC now? I expect this will be an interesting development to watch.

Yes, that is correct. I expect great things from MSC. Sasso is a wonderful executive and I'm sure he has a lot of plans for MSC.

Ernie

Cruisequick.com did a huge e-mail out yesterday for MSC. If you go to their website, they have all the pricess listed for the different itineraries. I think we're going to wait a year or two and then give them a try. An ex-celebrity president has been hired for the cruiseline - not sure how new this is, but I think it s hows the cruiseline will be headed in the right direction.

Just had a look at the Cruisequick website and they wanted about $250 more for the transatlantic than I was quoted for it by another agent - and over $400 more than I eventually booked it for - but that was at auction so is not really a true comparison.

Just had a thought - doesn't one of the other cruise lines (is it HAL?) use a slogan - signature of excellence?

Maybe it is not such a good idea to use the same unusual word (signature) in MSC's slogan?

They could have been a little more original.

.... is what they say on their website.

I'm sure it works in Italian, but translated to English it's a bit rough. If I were them I'd revert to the oft used "flair"... as in "A premium cruise line with a true Italian flair". And I'd make everything look very Milan.

I sure hope they don't practice their customer care with "true Roman signature". Every time I've been to Rome, I've been taken... usually by the menu bait-and-switch trick. I just never remember to keep the original menu with me until it's too late.

The brochure says it as:

"Premium Class...With a True Italian Signature"

If you go on their website, you can pull up past press releases listing the key officers -- you'll be amazed at how many were from Celebrity (with more to come?)

I envy all you people who receive e-mail and brocgures from MSC and are noting that the new CEO is making a "huge difference" to MSC.

On the msc website I have five YES 5 times requested a brochure but have been unsuccesful and nothing has arrived. I have sent a fax direct to the Marketing Office in Italy and nothing has arrived. I have registered for e-mail info/etc and have not received a single word.

Maybe it is because I am a previous customer. Maybe it is because Czec Republic is an undesirable address!! Maybe because I have already made a 2005 booking. Whatever the reason it is frustrating when one is a "fan" of the cruiseline.

Maybe it is because the hand - writing needs to be improved!! :-)

I too have not been able to get hold of a brochure [uK] despite having ordered through the website 2 or 3 times. It almost seems as if they are no longer interested in Europeans.

I have not emailed the UK office directly, perhaps I'll try that next if I can find the specific email address.

Pam

I have also emailed them - but in the US - having given up trying to deal with the Italian office.

No reply yet - but this seems to be the way it goes with the massmarket cruise lines.

Whether you have an enquiry or a complaint it will fall on deaf ears.

I have had the same problem with absolutely no reply from Orient (over cabin availability) Cunard (over my stockholder credit) and Princess (they ruined my photos) , and I am informed that even the really expensive cruiselines that hold themselves up as "premium" have the same problem.

All you can do is book the cheapest way on the 'net and not have high expectations - then if it all goes t*ts up you won't even bother trying to pursue a futile complaint.

It took me a while to get mine, too. I filled out the brochure request on their web site twice and after one month, I sent them an email. Finally, a couple of weeks later I got a brochure but in the meantime I asked the agent I booked with if he could help and he said it was his understanding that they were in the process of putting out a new one and that that was probably the hold-up. Anyway, as I say I got one and then a couple of weeks later another one which was no doubt the new one. This new one came about a week and a half ago, so hopefully you will all get one in due course. I imagine they had a lot of requests backing up.

Good luck!

I don't even want a brochure - I have booked on Lirica already but only because it was so dirt cheap that it was hardly more than the airfare from London to Fort Lauderdale.

I am prepared for the service/food to be deficient in many respects after reading the posts on here and elsewhere so if it isn't then it will be a nice surprise.

If we really hate it then we will get off - simple as that!

Anorak you are a BAD BAD person :-) You have NOT been reading the posts on here (and especially bdintertech) or other sites.

Service is brilliant 5* plus ***** MSC and food is great too and that is a fact.

I do want a brochure and am rather annoyed that one does not come. Seems like the new CEO takes his money and does nothing about the customer. Thats a shame. He took over a GREAT product and does nothing to make it better.

Its obviously a very subjective experience because on this forum someone else posted that the service and the food were bad and some else that the ship was overun by screaming Italian kids and chainsmoking Austrians. I guess if you are Czech you are used to Austrians, we are not.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=19591

and then by member thatarcher:

"The first 15 days was the best cruise vacation we have ever been on. Then the 16th day arrived & things started to go wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They closed the bank the 16th day of the 17 day cruise, that was the day most passengers needed to tip the staff & a lot of the passengers could not tip, because they could not get change or cash travelers checks or get cash on their ATM cards. We planned ahead so we were able to tip our cabin stewards & waiters. The 17th day when all the Americans got off MSC then embarked 1,500 Austrians. They smoke everywhere & never let you get off the elevators before they get on. If you don't go fast enough they will push & cut in line in front of you. They talk through the shows & stand in the middle of the passage ways drinking & smoking so you can not get through the public areas. We even saw a bar waitress get knocked down trying to get through a crowd to deliver drinks. Also every elevator has in front an ashtray, so you have about 10 to 20 Austrians standing around smoking & blocking the entrance. If you do not smoke you almost choke to death waiting for the elevators. They also tried to save deck chairs by going out at 7 AM & placing towels on the chairs before they went to breakfast. When we went out about 8:30 AM there were no chairs. The pool staff explained that they could not save deck chairs, so then they would leave one family member to guard the chairs while the rest of the family went to breakfast. The wait staff in the dining rooms & lounges would wait on us & almost ignored the Austrians. We asked them why the change in attitude from the first 17 days & they said the Austrians do not tip & that they are very rude. We also found out that the bar waiters in the lounges & dining rooms that were scheduled to leave on the 17th day were told they had to stay for another 5 days because the Austrians drink a lot & they needed the extra bar waiters to handle the volume. If the bar waiters did not stay the extra 5 days & got off the ship they had to pay for their own transportation back home.

We thought that it could not get any worse, boy were we wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 18th day we embarked 400 Italians which included 200 screaming kids. The Italians would let their kids run wild, we saw waiters trying get around kids that were in the areas that were for the wait staff only. They ignored the dining times & when they were told there was no place to seat them because they were 1 to 2 hours late they would scream & fling their arms & hands all around until they were seated. This all went on while the other passengers were trying to dine & enjoy their meals. Then there was breakfast & lunch which was even more of a problem because it was open seating & they could not understand why certain areas were closed, so they would start screaming again. We went on shore excursions which included some Italians & they would change buses in the middle of the tour because they found friends on another bus. We would then sit & wait for them to return to the bus, because they never bothered to tell the guide or bus driver they were going on another bus. Our waiter informed us that he does not work July & Aug. because of his fellow Italians. He says they will have between 1,800 to 2,200 per cruise, mostly Italian passengers with up to 800 kids during those months. He said that children under 12 cruise for free. I know on our cruise there were 5 or 6 people in some staterooms."

and then on another board - you see I DO read other boards:

http://www.cruisereviews.com/MediterraneanShippingCruises/Lirica1.htm

which includes the comment:

"Day Twelve: Fort Lauderdale – Thank GOD this experience was finally over. All of us on board have already come to the conclusion that the MSC Lirica is the “Motel Six” of cruise ships. Nothing could have been worse"

As you so "politely" comment I may well be a bad bad person but as you have never met me how can you know this? Please attack the post not the poster.

However I am not going to embark with a negative attitude but I also won't have very high expectations.

You posted:

"and food is great too and that is a fact."

Well I am pleased you think its great - but some people might think potatos and cabbage is "great" - but I don't ! So its NOT A FACT - just your opinion.

It'll be nice if the service food and passengers have improved! Or if they weren't really so bad to begin with!

But I HAVE been reading reviews and the bad have certainly outweighed the good as far as I can see. There is plenty of time for things to change - another 4 months before we embark.

But please remember, none of the above was MSC's doing. Hopefully - for your trip - the Austrians will be in Austria and those Italian children in school!

Don't worry..be happy. Put all those negativities from your mind and you will have a great time!!

Hmmmmm........ Cod - have you read the review :

http://www.cruisereviews.com/MediterraneanShippingCruises/Lirica1.htm

because that at least sounds like it was all MSC's doing!

I probably added that during editing after you posted .

Anyway - fingers crossed for a nice cruise, I guess I just don't like being called a bad bad person who doesn't read other boards when I DO.

Gets me going.

Anorak - I am speechless!! WOW!! Please accept my sincere apologies!!

Now I have recovered the power of speech can I explain

After my (joking) comment I put a "smiley" :-) in the hopes that you would realise it was not a serious comment - rather a fun remark shared between contributors to the CruiseCritic Board. Clearly you did not see it that way and consider it offensive a personal atttack - and I regret that. To me it seems that many of the more recent postings are favourable and I think what I was really wanting to say was had you read the wonderful and very funny reviews that "bdintertech" was currently posting. His posts carry a great message.

I too read all the reviews and realise they are ALL subjective (some downright vindictive and vicious filled with falsehoods) and very varied - Good and Bad - and honestly to base your decisions on someone elses opinion is not wise unless known to you personally and that your opinions are identical . There are some contributors and opinions I trust totally and implicitly. Try and read the review by Tom Ogg it is illuminating and constructive. You can get a good lead to it through Buil and Dianes pages "cruiseclues". I would also respectfully suggest that you do not place more credence on the "bad" over the "good".

Based on my experience - note MY experience - cruising in "the med" there will usually be a majority of European passengers and a large contingent of Italians. Cruising in the Caribbean and transatlantic there will usually be a majority of American passengers. On MSC in the Caribbean my personal experiences were that there were 50% USA citizens and 50% the rest of the world. Try and feel a little easier on that one issue.

Now about me. It is true I am living in the Czech Republic but I am British.

During my life I have lived and travelled through many countries and continents and as such I am used to and comfortable in the company of all nationalities, colours and religions. I have no prejudices. I have eaten a wealth of different foods in 5 star restaurants and tiny country inns and believe I am able to judge if food is good or bad. I am a pretty nifty chef myself and love creating new dishes and have a huge interest in cuisine. I never came across cabbage and potato on MSC but even that can be good when properly prepared - bubble and squeak mmmmmmmm!! well it was in the pre watch what you eat days! I am a non smoker - but also believe tolerance is necessary especially when travelling away from home. The reality is I HATE the smell of smoke!! Thats because I am a BAD BAD person :-)

Throughout my life I have kept an open mind and welcomed new people, cultures food and experiences - surely this is one of the reasons you travel. If I expected everything to be as at home that is where I would remain.

At the end of the day your cruise will only be as good or bad as YOU make it. It is impossible for ANY company to cater for every passenger and all they can attempt is to please the majority. I personally - just me I stress - would never travel with a company or on a ship if I had serious reservations about whether they could provide my needs and suit my purposes and if I did and was unhappy I would only have myself to blame.

I do hope that you will enjoy your time on Lirica because she is a beautiful ship, the staff WERE the most helpful and polite one could hope for and the food is GREAT.

If I can be so bold may I suggest - try and forget everything you have read unless it is constructive advice, relax, form your own opinions based on YOUR experience, and the opportunity is there to have a brilliant unforgetable experience. The ingredients are there and it is down to the chef!! I would like to say - and it is a joke O.K. - Make sure the baggage you take on board is limited and useful!!

To wind this up now - Once again I apologise that my attempted humour went so wrong and you considered it a personal attack. That was never the intention.

Barry