MSC WILL MAKE
A BEELINE FOR THE BIG APPLE by entering the citys
year-round market with the Lirica in April 2007. Rick Sasso, MSCs
U.S. CEO, said historically, North America has been a seasonal
market for us, but we decided to bring more ships here in the last
12 to 15 months. He added: We think MSC is the perfect brand for
the Northeast market, and our heritage style of cruising has not
been available in this market on a year-round basis for decades, --
a reference to Home Lines, a company that touted an Italian-style
ambience onboard and previously homeported year-round in New York.
MEANWHILE,
MSCs GROWTH CONTINUES, both on the ship-side (it will
debut one new ship every year through 2009) and on the marketing
side: The line will unveil a multimedia ad campaign in February and
will capitalize on its relationship with Sophia Loren, the
godmother of the Opera and the Lirica. In addition, MSC is testing
a sales lead-referral component of its B-to-B relationship program
called True Partnership, with benefits such as higher commissions,
cooperative promotional support, commissionable add-ons and the
like. The line plans to launch the lead-referral program to
participating agents within the next 60 days, Sasso
said.
SILVERSEA
CRUISES said it will operate 11 Alaska itineraries on its
382-passenger Silver Shadow next summer. Cruises will range from
nine to 14 days, offering an alternative to the mainstream
mega-ships, said David Morris, Silverseas senior vice president of
sales for North America.
AMADEUS ADDED
CUNARD TO ITS Amadeus Cruise roster enabling agents to
book the Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 via one of the more
than 40,000 Amadeus Cruise terminals in 80 countries worldwide. Bob
Lowry, senior vice president, products and support, Amadeus North
America, said, our continued investment in our Amadeus Cruise
application has resulted in significant efficiencies in time and
productivity for our users.
CRUISE
NOTES:
Holland America Line
beefed up its agent training by updating its HAL Academy training
workbook and said it will launch a Post-Graduate
Program.
Norwegian Cruise
Line will attempt to educate its kiddie cruisers about the affects
of marine pollution via the new Officer Snook Water Pollution
Program, which will be incorporated into NCLs Kids Crew
programming.
Carnival Corp. said
its donations to various hurricane disaster relief funds will total
more than $7 million.