MSC/Explora merger?

[Ljames23]

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/msc-cruises-and-explora-journeys-brought-under-same-uk-ireland-umbrella
 

Well this is interesting. Weren’t they seperate? I hope they do not mess around with the guest experience on the phone 

[happy cruzin]

14 minutes ago, Ljames23 said:

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/msc-cruises-and-explora-journeys-brought-under-same-uk-ireland-umbrella
 

Well this is interesting. Weren’t they seperate? I hope they do not mess around with the guest experience on the phone 

Not sure much changed. The article states that they are still operating separately - "MSC Cruises UK & Ireland managing director Paradiso will assume in-market responsibility for Explora Journeys, which will continue to have dedicated teams for sales, marketing, contact centres and public relations."   But they are still under the same corporate umbrella - so to speak, like Royal and Silversea.

[peder]

It's been said repeatedly that the two lines will operate independently from each other because MSC wants Explora to consistently deliver better service, and I think that makes sense. But from a corporate strategy perspective, I assume a big reason for operating as two companies is that it makes an eventual sale (full or partial) of Explora or MSC easier.

 

MSC is doing a ton of the heavy lifting to get Explora off the ground, and they probably want to eventually see the benefit of that work. As an example, they may be able to later sell something like 10-20% of the business, then take those proceeds to fund the next round of ship expansion under the MSC label.

 

Of course, they may not ever do that, but typically from a strategy perspective, you'd want to leave as many of those types of options open.

[peder]

Also on that note, surely MSC is planning on selling the Lirica-class ships at some point? Maybe even the Musica-class ships? Perhaps once Explora builds out a few more ships? It seems like they'd have overlapping itineraries, and I'm not sure that Lirica/Musica ships operate at the scale that MSC seems to be moving toward.

[Dr. Cocktail]

1 hour ago, peder said:

Also on that note, surely MSC is planning on selling the Lirica-class ships at some point? Maybe even the Musica-class ships? Perhaps once Explora builds out a few more ships? It seems like they'd have overlapping itineraries, and I'm not sure that Lirica/Musica ships operate at the scale that MSC seems to be moving toward.

Pierfrancesco Vago is on the record for saying that cruise lines that sell their ships are basically idiots as it allows low cost competition to enter the market.

 

That's why you saw so many RCI and Carnival ships scrapped during the pandemic.

 

I think they'll operate those older ships until they're truly financially prohibitive.

[mnocket]

On 6/6/2023 at 10:55 AM, happy cruzin said:

Paradiso will assume in-market responsibility for Explora Journeys

Does anyone know what that means, or is it just meaningless corporate-speak? Is there such a thing as "out of market responsibility"?

Edited June 13, 2023 by mnocket