Ask MSC’s Executive Chairman: Call for Questions for Pierfrancesco Vago

[CCAubs]

One of the biggest cruise industry events, Seatrade Cruise Global, is quickly approaching. At the event, cruise line CEOs sit side by side to discuss all things cruising. This year’s panel of esteemed CEOs includes MSC’s Executive Chairman, Cruise Division, Pierfrancesco Vago.

 

And he wants to hear from Cruise Critic members. 

 

Do you have a question that you’d love to ask Mr. Vago? Are you wondering what’s ahead for onboard dining and entertainment? Have thoughts on how MSC can leverage technology to improve the cruise experience? Do you have questions about the cruise line’s sustainability efforts? We want to hear from you.

 

Share your questions below, and your question might be one asked of Mr. Vago at this year’s event.

[jansarts]

Great cruise line, great staff on board, always enjoyed my 15 MSC cruises, Why do you have such a terrible website.. and the absolutely worst customer service agents. In all these years I've only talked to 2 that knew anything. Most don't even know which side is port or starboard., They NEVER have correct answers, can't help except to take credit card payment for something. Really, fix these 2 serious issues and you would "sail" to number one in the industry.

[JT1962]

42 minutes ago, jansarts said:

Great cruise line, great staff on board, always enjoyed my 15 MSC cruises, Why do you have such a terrible website.. and the absolutely worst customer service agents. In all these years I've only talked to 2 that knew anything. Most don't even know which side is port or starboard., They NEVER have correct answers, can't help except to take credit card payment for something. Really, fix these 2 serious issues and you would "sail" to number one in the industry.

 

Fully agree with this. Good onboard experience, great solo pricing, HORRIBLE website and customer service reps, at least in the US.  Most of the customer service reps can’t assist with anything other than booking or taking payment. They all seem new and untrained.
 

Why does pricing change on a fully paid cruise just for asking a simple question? It seems if they open your reservation in the system for any reason, even just to verify what time your dining time is, that it reprices the cruise it to the current rate and shows you owe more, even if paid in full. It then takes several days, emails, phone calls and providing proof of previous pricing correspondence to get the price back to what it was.

Edited February 15, 2023 by JT1962

[shipgeeks]

Will you consider the Port of Baltimore as a departure port for year-round cruises?  RC and Carnival currently sail from there, almost always fully booked.  A third ship, around the size of Armonia, would be an excellent addition to the northeast corridor passenger base.  Baltimore is well-known as a business-friendly port, and is close to BWI, a major international airport.

Edited February 15, 2023 by shipgeeks
add

[sidari]

When are MSC going to recognise those who have remained loyal and earned their Diamond status level from the start by sailing with MSC? How about OBC or free Laundry for those of us who have done that ?

[lovemycruisetoo]

Please take all the money spent on those TV ads that no way represent the actual cruising guests and put it into a completely new IT department. 

[B_A_H]

Prioritize the following in order of importance to MSC:

 

• Providing a localized experience based on market sailed vs. a consistently European experience everywhere.  Meaning, to be competitive out of the U.S., present food, beverage, and entertainment experiences more equivalent to those you compete against in those markets. For example, Disney offers a common core product but with regional adjustments between parks in the U.S. and Europe.  
   
• Making Investments in both customer service and IT.  For MSC, the two are inextricably intwined.  Poor systems make the processing of cruise changes, add/change/cancel of add-on products, and refunds manually intensive multi-step processes with embarrassingly long response times. And cumbersome systems make checking the status of something in process completely black box. 
   
• Offering a website as sophisticated as competitors that allows a high degree of cruise customization, the ability to book and manage add ons, make dining, specialty dining, and spa reservation pre-sailing, and provide the cruiser with a great deal of control over their cruise experience without manual intervention.  One would think the revenue upside for MSC would more than cover the expense of a B2C website with competitive features.   
   
• Synchronizing individual details collected pre-cruise with onboard crew and systems.  Things as simple as dining reservations show one set of information pre-cruise that are either not received or not abided by staff onboard.  In YC, long and detailed preference questionnaires are provided pre-sailing that aren't received and/or acknowledged onboard. It's pretty much a theme with MSC - one hand doesn't seem to be aware of what the other hand is doing. 
   
• Providing more localized decision making.  Almost consistently, problems and onboard issues are met with "you need to call the 800 number when you get back" or "I've forwarded the issue to management."  The latter is frustrating when shipboard management is the one saying they don't have any authority to make customer service decisions.  MSC seems much more top down than other cruise lines.  

[Acrobatu2]

First at all congratulations on reaching so many goals and growth.

 

I love MSC, the ship side experience is great, has the taste of "vacation".

 

But I have to agree with the gentlemen writing before me:

1) IT needs a total revamp.

2) US costumer care is a nightmare, it needs to buried under a concrete casting 😁: they  can't answer basic questions, they are often in conflict with each other, if you try to change diner sitting now your cruise costs 5.000 dollars more, often they can't pronounce Italian words, as ship names etc. it give me the sensation that I called the wrong number.  

3)Voyager club need a boost, having the same status of somebody that did the status match leaves a bitter taste in any loyal costumer.

4) World America needs to be different from World Europa, the latter is a  beautiful ship but is kind of anonymous, it misses a observation lounge  (like meraviglia class) and a sport bar like the seashore. Please hire the Italian designer Piero Lissoni, he did an amazing job on the NCL prima.

5) Please, please, we need Galveston and Alaska cruises.

 

Aside from those points, everything else is great: I love the food, I love the international vibe, I love the ships design and luxury, I love the continues challenge that make the company grow.

 

From a 2 times MSC cruiser year round.

Best regards. 

 

 

[mscdivina2016]

Why don't you have stateside representatives that we can actually talk to that can actually do something on an issue?

 

Why do you ignore issues that are important to us, your paying customers.

Why send an email to existingreservations@msc if they don't respond?

 

 

[styles27]

1)Will MSC ever consider “anytime dining” for everyone?

 

 

[Stockjock]

Has MSC considered expanding to the west coast of the USA?  Would they consider operating out of my hometown of San Diego, a beautiful city with a Mediterranean-style climate, which would seem to have capacity due to the departure of competitors such as Carnival and Princess.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Stockjock

[Cruiseforever11]

9 hours ago, sidari said:

When are MSC going to recognise those who have remained loyal and earned their Diamond status level from the start by sailing with MSC? How about OBC or free Laundry for those of us who have done that ?

To add to this maybe add an extra tier now for those of us who are loyal who have reached diamond from the start. There does seem a lot of people now who status match get gold/diamond complain like anything then never sail with msc again and while on the cruise enjoy what perks are left. 

[Cruiseforever11]

Love msc because it's different. Your ships are stunning and very stylish and really clean. Yatch Club is amazing although have notice lately its got really expensive so may not be doing Yc all the time now as planned.

All of this is why I have done 12 cruises with you and another 2 booked this year Please don't loose that identity that is different from other cruise lines.

 

As many people have mentioned you need your sort the I.T side of things out and customer services. I've had it in the pass where my cruise has been changed online or i find out on forum's like this so you phone customer service and they have no idea and TAs have not been told. So your customers find out before your staff know. 

 

Cruises around Australia/New Zealand and that area would be good. (Not just on world cruises)

 

One more thing please can we have a different class of ship out of Southampton now. Seaside class in the summer season would great! 

[sidari]

On the status match issue, this is the reply I received today 16/2/23 from your UK office. It appears to contradict many posters on cruise critic.

Hi Dave, thank you for your message. We can see that there is a misunderstanding in the information above. We can guarantee that the process of Status Match does not grant new clients straight access to the Diamond Membership. Thank you

[shipgeeks]

Please do not ever take away the option of traditional dining.

Edited February 16, 2023 by shipgeeks
wording

[styles27]

44 minutes ago, sidari said:

On the status match issue, this is the reply I received today 16/2/23 from your UK office. It appears to contradict many posters on cruise critic.

Hi Dave, thank you for your message. We can see that there is a misunderstanding in the information above. We can guarantee that the process of Status Match does not grant new clients straight access to the Diamond Membership. Thank you

Just another example of a rep not knowing what they’re talking about. That is no surprise. 
 

MSC you need better training for your CS employees 🤦🏻‍♀️

[Markanddonna]

On my last two MSC cruises (March- Meraviglia and B2B Divina in January), the crew were overwhelmed by the surge in passengers. It significantly affected our satisfaction and even generated actual fights amongst the unruly passengers you seem to be attracting lately. MSC lost a lot of loyal passengers this year because of the overbooking with an insufficient number of crew members. Are you considering not overselling to avoid this?

[d9704011]

7 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

MSC lost a lot of loyal passengers this year because of the overbooking with an insufficient number of crew members. Are you considering not overselling to avoid this?

Sort of like.... Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

[perakcruiser]

Dear Mr. Vago, we read so much about cuts in the cruise industry. Will MSC continue to provide the Italian experience for its customers. In a culinary way, for example pasta from Gragnano in the MDR, and in the entertainment area with the classical opera night? 

[Markanddonna]

1 minute ago, d9704011 said:

Sort of like.... Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

Sort of...I doubt they will stop the overbooking. A lot of loyal MSC folks don't believe that the Jan 20 sailing on the Divina was fraught with so many problems. I just checked the latest 20 Divina reviews, and they were 2.2 out 5.0 with ten rating it a one.  The last day (3rd sea day in a row) was the absolute worst with so many people at a fever pitch in anger. A fight broke out between passengers over no available loungers, and a crew member was injured. We were approached by a really nasty woman who demanded we give up our two seats (both occupied!) because she thought our activity of playing cards should be done in the lounges. It was unreal. 

[Markanddonna]

2 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Dear Mr. Vago, we read so much about cuts in the cruise industry. Will MSC continue to provide the Italian experience for its customers. In a culinary way, for example pasta from Gragnano in the MDR, and in the entertainment area with the classical opera night? 

Yes, I miss the opera, but in the USA, most of their passengers are now Hispanic from central and south America on many cruises.  Their Italian food was a huge step down as compared to the Italian restaurant Eataly, which used to be on some of their ships. 

[quattrohead]

IT and customer service

IT and customer service

IT and customer service

IT and customer service

IT and customer service

IT and customer service

ETC

[8420PR]

13 hours ago, styles27 said:

1)Will MSC ever consider “anytime dining” for everyone?

 

 

Meraviglia was designed and launched with the option of anytime dining for everyone.  From memory it didn't last long.....

 

found this to explain the offer:  https://porthole.com/msc-cruises-introduces-enhanced-flexible-dining-options/

[flahagan]

17 hours ago, JT1962 said:

 

Fully agree with this. Good onboard experience, great solo pricing, HORRIBLE website and customer service reps, at least in the US.  Most of the customer service reps can’t assist with anything other than booking or taking payment. They all seem new and untrained.
 

Why does pricing change on a fully paid cruise just for asking a simple question? It seems if they open your reservation in the system for any reason, even just to verify what time your dining time is, that it reprices the cruise it to the current rate and shows you owe more, even if paid in full. It then takes several days, emails, phone calls and providing proof of previous pricing correspondence to get the price back to what it was.

Totally agree - PLEASE give your IT department a complete overhaul and bring it into this century.  I love sailing with MSC but the problems BEFORE sailing are making me afraid to book again - it's truly insane!

[styles27]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

Sort of...I doubt they will stop the overbooking. A lot of loyal MSC folks don't believe that the Jan 20 sailing on the Divina was fraught with so many problems. I just checked the latest 20 Divina reviews, and they were 2.2 out 5.0 with ten rating it a one.  The last day (3rd sea day in a row) was the absolute worst with so many people at a fever pitch in anger. A fight broke out between passengers over no available loungers, and a crew member was injured. We were approached by a really nasty woman who demanded we give up our two seats (both occupied!) because she thought our activity of playing cards should be done in the lounges. It was unreal. 

You can add the 12/30/2022 10 day sailing to that list as well. 
 

I wonder does anyone high up at MSC read these boards?

 

Do any of the CEO’s care that the crew on Divina is stretched to the limit on these sailings because the ship cannot handle 3800 pax?
 

We have just booked 3 more cruises and not one is with MSC…after cruising with them 3 out of our last 4 times that should tell you something. 
 

Not liking the MSC USA product.