Tag Archives: MSC Divina

MSC Cruises USA appoints marketing chief

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By Jerry Limone
MSC Cruises USA has named Bonnie Levengood senior vice president of marketing, a new position.

Levengood will lead MSC’s consumer and trade marketing throughout North America.

Rick Sasso, president of MSC Cruises USA, said Levengood “joins the company at an auspicious time to help grow and strengthen awareness of our brand to both consumers and our travel agent partners.”

MSC said Levengood’s appointment is a key part of MSC Cruises’ recently announced “Serving You” initiative to reach more travel agents.

Most recently, Levengood ran her own marketing company. Before that, she led marketing and sales at 1-800-PetMeds for nearly eight years.

MSC Cruises lays out plans for increased agent outreach

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By Tom Stieghorst

FORT LAUDERDALE — MSC Cruises unveiled several marketing initiatives under a new “Serving You” theme.

Rick Sasso, CEO of MSC Cruises USA, said at the Cruise3sixty conference that the line intends to emphasize the human connection in its dealings with travel agents. It is in the process of filling 22 new sales positions to extend outreach to agents.

RickSasso“There will be more people on the ground face to face to be the partners with the travel seller, so together we can create new business,” Sasso said.

He announced that marketing and sales vice president Ken Muscat had been promoted to executive vice president of sales, marketing, public relations and guest services, and that several other executives had been promoted to strengthen oversight.

MSC will hold a joint promotion with Fiat to give away a $21,000 Fiat convertible to a consumer and a travel agent. An entry for the drawing will be made for each booking on MSC Divina from April 4 to May 18, good on departures from Aug. 2 to Dec. 27. Winners will be announced around the year-end holidays.

Muscat said a new bus wrap advertisement has been installed for April on 14 buses running a freeway route between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The wrap includes a travel agent call to action.

Under the “Serving You” banner, MSC will launch a 20-city road show in May to talk to travel agents on their home ground. There is a tentative list of cities to be visited, but it could change, Muscat said.

He also said MSC will offer a new wedding program on MSC Divina that for the first time will enable legal weddings to be performed onboard or in a number of ports, including Miami, Cozumel, St. Maarten and Falmouth, Jamaica.

Muscat said details of the program, which launches Aug. 2, will be available in the next several weeks.

MSC denies accusations of ‘slave-like’ staff conditions

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MSC denies accusations of 'slave-like' staff conditionsMSC Cruises has rejected allegations by Brazilian police that staff were kept in “slave-like” conditions on its ship MSC Magnifica.

Brazilian officials said they “rescued” 11 crew members in the northeastern city of Salvador, where the ship was docked for the day on April 1.

They claimed staff were forced to work for up to 16 hours a day. Some were alleged to have been victims of sexual harassment, reported the BBC.

MSC said in a statement:  “After reviewing thousands of pages of documentation and conducting hundreds of interviews with crew members, Labour Ministry inspectors went on board MSC Magnifica on April 1 and alleged irregularities in the working conditions of 13 crew members, and invited them to disembark.

“MSC Crociere is in full compliance with national and international labour regulations and is ready to cooperate with the authorities.”

The company said it had not received “any evidence or legal notification” from the Brazilian Labour Ministry.

The operation came at the end of a month-long investigation, following a tip-off from crew members on Magnifica.

The labour ministry identified 13 staff who had allegedly been submitted to slave-like conditions.

Two of them refused to leave the vessel and decided to carry on working, while the other 11 were taken to a hotel in Salvador.

MSC Cruises ships operating in Brazilian waters employ a total of 4,181 crew members, of whom 1,243 are Brazilians.

The line said its four ships operating in Brazil during the 2013-14 season had passed “intensive and repeated” inspections by the Brazilian Labour Ministry.