Why are MSCs itineraries in the US so boring?

[perakcruiser]

9 hours ago, mvh said:

In my honest opinion, there is no itinerary in the Caribbean that is not boring.

What you think people in Europa say about the Western Med ports? It is "Oh no, always, Barcelona, Marseille, Palma, Civita, so, so, so boring" 😄

 

 

[MonsterJoe]

I am almost completely indifferent about the ports. I cruise to be boring - so I don't have to go to work, cook, clean (too much), or go in a thousand different directions as in daily life. I take different vacations when I want adventure or exploration.

That said - I will get off the ship in Old San Juan next month - primarily because of its proximity to the ship and the good things I have heard about it.

[alserrod]

8 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

What you think people in Europa say about the Western Med ports? It is "Oh no, always, Barcelona, Marseille, Palma, Civita, so, so, so boring" 😄

 

 

 

 

Lol.... so boring indeed.

😉

 

There are SIX MSC ships during summer season in Western Med.

 

They change one port to another just not to repeat. You can visit Rome OR Naples, Valencia OR Barcelona, Cannes OR Marseille and so on... Palma, Tunisia, Malta, etc... are on the list too.

 

Eastern Med is not so bad too: Cyprus, Athens, Greeeeeeek islands, Croatia, Venice, Istambul, etc...

[ZandZ]

12 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

^THIS. If you're tired of the same old ports, do this southern Caribbean sailing from Guadalupe, Martinique, or Barbados. (It's the same sailing but you can originate and end in any of those ports.) It goes to places like Grenada and St. Vincent that you can't get to on cruises that originate in Florida. When we did it a few years ago on MSC Preziosa from Fort-de-France, it also stopped in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. The ship sails mostly with Europeans and all the ship announcements are in 6 languages. I highly recommend it but airfares from the U.S. are a bit scary.

The cost of flying to Barbados and then taking a cruise...ugh! you are right, those are some beautiful places.

[kad56]

12 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

they have to take whatever dock space is left. The established mainstream lines probably have first dibs. Just a guess

 

Thank you. This is basically what I was asking. It's a good as theory as any.

 

I did some math on this. Vacations to Go found 518 7-night MSC Cruises departing from US ports (Miami, NYC, Port Canaveral, Galveston).  323 (62%) go to the western caribbean (I just filtered for Cozumel cruise port on Vacations to Go). Only 109 (21%) go to the eastern caribbean (Puerto Plata port). Then there's a smattering of Bermuda cruises, and the NYC Port Canaveral, Nassau, Ocean Key itineraries.

 

That's a pretty big difference, and I'm genuinely curious. Is this a specific business strategy?Are they the going back to same ports so they can figure them out? Are those ports easier to get into? Are they trying master one itinerary before diversifying? Or are they a newcomer locked into those ports like @Illbcruzn4life thinks?

 

I know a lot of people sail just for the ship, but I think for a lot of people, the destinations do factor into their decisions. I just did the western caribbean on MSC. I liked it enough that I'd like to go on MSC again, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding something that interests me enough to go for it.

 

Edited July 23 by kad56

[ZandZ]

3 minutes ago, kad56 said:

I know a lot of people sail just for the ship, but I think for a lot of people, the destinations do factor into their decisions. I just did the western caribbean on MSC. I liked it enough that I'd like to go on MSC again, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding something that interests me enough to go for it.

this! i sail for the ship since I've been to all the ports that are available to me, when I factor in my lifestyle, costs and long term goals. I would absolutely pick better itineraries if availability was there, and cost slightly higher. I would even pick ships that arent as nice for a better itinerary. This is just my opinion of course, but everyone has one of those 🙂 

[no1talks]

4 minutes ago, kad56 said:

It's a good as theory as any.

 

MSC has rather low fares compared to the other mass-market lines. Even Yacht Club is usually priced lower than similar accommodations in other suites-level settings.

 

To gain that missed revenue, MSC is pretty blatant about pushing the onboard spending.

 

Get the guests on the ship and clear them out for the next bunch with fresh wallets. Even better if they are new(ish) cruisers with kids in tow, because they will spend more money on the things experienced cruisers no longer purchase.

 

 

[kad56]

38 minutes ago, no1talks said:

Even better if they are new(ish) cruisers with kids in tow, because they will spend more money on the things experienced cruisers no longer purchase.

 

I wonder if MSC gets more first time cruiser in the US than other lines. There seemed to be a ton of first time cruisers on my Magnifica sailing and they were all loving it. Maybe they're working on attracting first time American cruisers based on their low price point. First time cruisers will be less discriminating, people get more picky about their experience (itinerary, ship, amenities), once they cruise and figure out what they like.

[MonsterJoe]

12 minutes ago, kad56 said:

 

I wonder if MSC gets more first time cruiser in the US than other lines. There seemed to be a ton of first time cruisers on my Magnifica sailing and they were all loving it. Maybe they're working on attracting first time American cruisers based on their low price point. First time cruisers will be less discriminating, people get more picky about their experience (itinerary, ship, amenities), once they cruise and figure out what they like.

We were first time cruisers on MSC.  We even have a couple sets of friends who are Carnival or Royal fans, respectively, and they pushed us really hard toward those.

Ultimately we booked MSC though - not so much the cost (didn't hurt) but for the beauty of the ships...The Swarovski staircases, the LED ceiling in the Promenade (Mera) ...just the overall vibe on the ship was a lot more to our tastes.

So yes - I think for sure they might be counting on their price-point getting peoples attention to grow their business here, but I also think their style helps to sell it, too.

[kad56]

1 hour ago, MonsterJoe said:

We were first time cruisers on MSC.  We even have a couple sets of friends who are Carnival or Royal fans, respectively, and they pushed us really hard toward those.

Ultimately we booked MSC though - not so much the cost
So yes - I think for sure they might be counting on their price-point getting peoples attention to grow their business here, but I also think their style helps to sell it, too.

💯 

 

I think MSCs physical product is outstanding. The ships are beautiful, and Ocean Cay is an amazing private island. I got on my first MSC ship because the price was right and wanted to go to Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay was absolutely worth the trip.

[ready2cruzagain]

22 hours ago, kad56 said:

Interesting. Have you sailed any other MSC ships? How does the Divine compare? I remember the ship was a big deal years ago when she first sailed in the US.

Yes, besides the Divina, I have sailed on the Seaside, Seashore and the Meraviglia. Love them all. The Seaside and Seashore have the most awesome thermal spas. That is what is lacking on the Divina. I wish it had a better spa.  The crew on the Divina was the best of them all.  They went out of their way to make you happy. We are going on the Grandiosa next year and that will be a new adventure. We currently have 5 cruises booked, 2 on the Grandiosa, 2 on NCL Jewel and 1 on NCL Joy. MSC's food is awesome compared to NCL's anymore. Our next cruise will be our 60th cruise and now we basically just sail for the ship.

[Illbcruzn4life]

5 hours ago, no1talks said:

 

MSC has rather low fares compared to the other mass-market lines. Even Yacht Club is usually priced lower than similar accommodations in other suites-level settings.

 

To gain that missed revenue, MSC is pretty blatant about pushing the onboard spending.

 

Get the guests on the ship and clear them out for the next bunch with fresh wallets. Even better if they are new(ish) cruisers with kids in tow, because they will spend more money on the things experienced cruisers no longer purchase.

 

 

And with the low fares MSC is getting a lot of first timers. They are creating a whole new vernacular for cruising.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

9 hours ago, kad56 said:

First time cruisers will be less discriminating, people get more picky about their experience (itinerary, ship, amenities), once they cruise and figure out what they like.

While my wife and I still take some occasional cheap cruises to the Bahamas, we are now mostly about visiting new ports. Earlier this year a NCL cruise from Cape Town to Mauritius. Last year another NCL cruise around South America including the Falklands. Two years ago, a MSC cruise from Saudi Arabia to Egypt and Jordan. Three years ago, a MSC cruise from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Ships loaded with amenities are great but that is less important than visiting new ports and new countries.

[noshoobie]

If the MSC "higher ups" read these boards (cough, cough) I would like to make a special request: Why don't you consider doing Southern Carribbean routes from Florida ports or even San Juan? As others have said, flying to Guadaloupe or Martinque is way too pricey!

[tscoffey]

On 7/23/2024 at 11:46 AM, kad56 said:

I wonder if MSC gets more first time cruiser in the US than other lines.

My single MSC cruise out of the US (Miami, on Divina) was 50-60% non US citizen (mostly European, some SA). Can't be sure if someone flying in from Europe would be a first timer (but maybe).

This makes a lot of sense, since MSC is far more popular in Europe. Combine that with Europeans wanting to make an occasional US visit (cruise+Disney, for instance).

Edited July 25 by tscoffey

[peder]

Both the Caribbean and Western Med itineraries are very boring. 1 and done for us.

 

We've done MSC Bellissima out of Taipei, and that was fun, plus we got an overnight in Okinawa. I'm now looking at the Oct 13th 2025 sailing out of Tokyo on the Bellissima because it has an overnight in Osaka.

 

The ship for us is not the destination, we really use it as a floating hotel. But we also like newer ships with lots of amenities because it's what we'd expect from a land-based resort as well. There are only a handful of newer, bigger ships in the entire cruise industry that go to interesting destinations. And MSC isn't going to "waste" its newer ships on niche routes (they have other reasons, too... I think they really like the operations / logistics of hitting the same handful of ports, it drives down costs by standardizing things).

Edited July 25 by peder

[sealynx]

On 7/23/2024 at 2:59 PM, alserrod said:

There are SIX MSC ships during summer season in Western Med.

 

They change one port to another just not to repeat. You can visit Rome OR Naples, Valencia OR Barcelona, Cannes OR Marseille and so on... Palma, Tunisia, Malta, etc... are on the list too.

 

Eastern Med is not so bad too: Cyprus, Athens, Greeeeeeek islands, Croatia, Venice, Istambul, etc...

 

This. And if you want to have a more special itinerary, you are stuck with the older / smaller ships. If you want a bigger / newer ship, you are stuck with a boring itinerary. Of course it kinda makes sense, with special ports not always capable of handling humongous vessels, but it does make it harder for me to convince my family to go on a cruise again.

[sverigecruiser]

On 7/26/2024 at 9:41 AM, sealynx said:

 

This. And if you want to have a more special itinerary, you are stuck with the older / smaller ships. If you want a bigger / newer ship, you are stuck with a boring itinerary. Of course it kinda makes sense, with special ports not always capable of handling humongous vessels, but it does make it harder for me to convince my family to go on a cruise again.

 

It makes sence for the cruiselines to use their newest and biggest ships for their "7 day standard itinerary" but for me as a passenger it's boring!

 

We prefer the bigger ships but if we shall fly to the US for a cruise we want the cruise to be longer than a week. We will love a longer, at least 10 days, cruise from Florida on one of their newer ships (Meraviglia or newer) but I guess we have to wait a few years for that.

 

While we wait we cruise on the Mediterranean where we feel that 7 days is okay. Last summer we cruised on MSC World Europa and next year we will cruise on MSC Seaside.