By
Susan Parker |
This article first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. To read other articles, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats
Gianni Onorato has now settled into his role at MSC Cruises and it is clear that he is enjoying the move, both professionally and privately. He says: “It was time for me to have a change, to rejuvenate the enthusiasm which is always at risk of fading away a little. I think this time is a good opportunity with MSC. It is like football players sometimes need a change.”
He feels that his 26 years with Carnival Corporation & plc have stood him in good stead. “I bring my professionality and long-standing experience in a well-structured company like Costa, where we were working at a certain level of organisation and standards. I bring a lot of expertise which may contribute to the growth of the company, which has big plans.”
That growth is demonstrated by the company’s newbuilding schedule and its Renaissance programme to enlarge four of its vessels. He comments: “I am very optimistic about the future of the cruise market in Europe. I think there is room for everyone. If we assume that Europe may get closer and closer to the US level of market penetration, we will need double the number of ships so there is room for everyone. Obviously we are in competition but I think there is room for development of all the cruise lines.”
But he has more far-reaching aspirations. “MSC will be more and more a global company. We will be everywhere including Asia. We will continue to focus on the European market but also emerging markets where MSC can take benefits from its offices in other countries. These are markets that we will look at more and more in the future, but also mature markets where MSC has been low in the past, like the US and the UK.” To help make this happen, he says that every MSC cargo office has set up a cruise division.
The company’s massive newbuilding plan is all part of the strategy. “We are building ships because we still have a lot of room in the Mediterranean and Europe – but also to be everywhere,” says Onorato. The company has embarked on building not one but two prototypes: one for all seasons (the Vista class, two plus two options, at STX France), the other for the summer season (Seaside class, two plus one option at Fincantieri). “They have different layouts with the possibility of offering different experiences to our customers,” he explains.
Vista will start operations in the Mediterranean. Being a little smaller than Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas, it is shorter than the Fantasia class at 315m and hence able to call at many ports, including St Petersburg. Meanwhile Quantum-size Seaside “will be like a moving beach” and is “our key to boosting our North American presence.”
Appealing to all these different audiences is important for MSC. “We want to be the company that makes, for example, the Spanish, Italians and Germans feel at home, so for each we give specific service styles according to their culture. We will not give a set product and stick with it.
“It is a challenging target and one of the things we are setting up is a department called Brand Performance Leaders with professionals from the hospitality industry, each from a different nationality. They will identify the key points of the customer experience with us and will define the standards in order to meet expectations from the different nationalities in order that every detail for the perception of a holiday will be translated into service style onboard the ships.”
The team will only include one executive from within the industry and that is Hans Hesselberg, who joined as SVP Hotel Operations from Costa Cruises last August.
Going forward, Onorato is keen to “take advantage of the value of the brand and the positioning of that brand in the market place” but also wants to extend its reach. One of the ways to do this has been through partnerships with companies such as Chicco and Lego. “We do need ambassadors, especially as a young company, in order to give quick communications on the quality of services we are giving. I am very pleased that these big companies have agreed to spend the next five to ten years with us because this will give us a different level of service than other cruise lines.”
The different style includes, for example, teaching young mothers how to manage babies and children. “It is really something different. We are looking at a more sophisticated experience than, for example, cartoon characters, so parents feel their kids are safe and also it is a learning experience when they come onboard.”
Another way to get the MSC name out there is social media, which is where the company excels. In November 2014 it announced that it was the first cruise line to reach over three million fans on Facebook. “Three million is important because it means we have a high level of followers,” he says. “We are using this to target different types of customers, for example the young ones, because we do think this will contribute greatly to the product of the future.” The company is also committed to using the likes of Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Onorato is proud of the company’s use of social media. “This is also an indispensable way of making our brand more and more known. As a young brand we need this more than the others. Our investment is increasing year on year. At the beginning of 2015 we increased the budget and it is now 30% of the marketing spend. The primary purpose is not translation into bookings. It is the easiest way for people to get in touch even though travel agents go into the details for the final choice through the internet.”
With seven ships coming up until 2020, the company has its work cut out to fill all those berths. “We are talking about practically doubling passengers from 1.7 million to 3.5 million,” he explains. And that is not all – he says it is necessary to anticipate what cruise culture will be like 15 years in the future. “We have to think what will be going on in 2030 as ships built now will also have to be for 2030’s customers, so we are engaging with a younger crowd and social media is a perfect channel for that.”
With the company’s sights set on “putting a ship in Asia in the next five years”, it is clear that MSC is going global and at the same time, as Onorato describes it, looking more and more like “the rising star of the cruise market.”