MSC Cruises last week began sailing from Galveston, Texas, a new homeport for the line. Cruise editor Teri West spoke with Erin Douglas, the cruise line's senior vice president of trade sales, about demand, MSC's positioning in the U.S. and its relationship with advisors whose clients sail from Galveston.
/Erin-Douglas.jpg?n=9590&tr=w-500%2Cfo-auto "Erin Douglas")
Erin Douglas
Q: What can you share about the booking landscape and demand for sailings from Galveston?
A: I don't think there's a more perfect time to sail and sell Galveston than right now, and we're seeing that in our booking trends. Even last week, we've had some really, really robust booking trends coming in for Galveston. So I think our customers are really excited about us expanding into the market and that we'll be offering something new that they can enjoy.
Q: What has been the evolution of that demand? Was it a slow build? Was it an immediate hot ticket?
A: This has been a slow build. This has been on people's radar for quite some time .... We've been teasing it out. I think people have been really excited. They know that the flagship going over there is MSC Seascape, so they've had a chance to see her, get used to all of her fabulous features and get to know her. So that's also built up the excitement, and she's gotten a lot of attention in the last little while. She's been winning awards, MSC's been recognized as a top cruise line for families, and she's bringing in some really unique features to the area. So this has definitely been a build.
Q: When you say folks have gotten to learn about and experience the Seascape's features, are you speaking specifically about advisors?
A: Externally, we're getting some attention, but with advisors, absolutely. The momentum with MSC Cruises right now is incredibly strong, and it's been building, and it really, really accelerated after our Super Bowl commercial in Q1. And then, of course, we've been talking about Texas for quite some time, and we've had initiatives in the works. We have weekly webinars, "Texas Talks," where we have agents join and learn about MSC Seascape, selling MSC and all of the features that we're bringing to Galveston.
Q: New York proved to be a less successful homeport for MSC, and the line decided to move inventory from there to Florida. What did you all learn from that about where the brand fits regionally in the U.S.?
A: There's positives and negatives out of everything. There were a lot of positives with New York. We got a huge, huge media response behind the launch in the city, and we had a lot of guests that were really behind it. But I think when you look at where's the demand, you really have to go with the majority of the demand, and there was just more demand in South Florida. But Galveston is a very key cruise port, so I don't think that we're going to see a similar situation there, because there's high demand for cruising from Galveston.
Q: What are your expectations and things you're excited for in the next year for Galveston?
A: One, I'm super excited about going back to Galveston, because it's been a while since I've been there, and I absolutely love it. Two, I'm really excited about getting the chance to see and sail on Seascape a little bit more often, because I'll be there a few times visiting her. But most of all, I'm really excited about the number of advisors who we're engaging that maybe didn't work with us before that really focus on that area.