A Responsible Travel Agent and MSC

As a responsible travel agent, I need to make sure that my clients see all sides of a decision.  The positive sunny side, and the negative downside.  I won't just book someone on a cruise, without discussing both sides with them.  Some of my clients come to me with an idea, and when we discuss it, a few will change to a different option.

Why do they change?  They find out information about the experience, the company, etc, and they decide it isn't for them.  Take MSC cruises for an example.  You won't find much on my site about MSC and I don't openly encourage most people to take them.  They are cheap... often time really, really cheap. Plus they often toss in free beverages, and sometimes more.

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MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company, you may see MSC on the side of shipping containers... same company) is new to the US market, they have been sailing Europe for a long time.  They are safe, and reliable.  They are however, a European style cruise line that is trying to "Americanize" and have struggled to do it well.  The food can be a different that what you may be used to, the customer service is much more blunt and difficult, and the entertainment, is very different that what N. American cruisers are used to.

You pay a lot for even a cheap cruise, and you deserve to feel comfortable and at home on your cruise... and with MSC the chances of that are lower than with other cruise lines.  Can you have a great time on MSC? You sure can! Some people have a great time no matter where they are.  Will I sell them... yep, but we need to talk first so that you know exactly what you are getting into.

All of that said... they have GREAT SHIPS!!!!  Wow are they nice! MSC ships are new, and state of the art, and spectacular.  The expensive, semi private area on the ships called the "Yacht Club" is also very good.  The other good news is that they are learning from the feedback.  They seem to be heading slowly in the right direction, I hope in the near future I can delete this blog post as out of date.

Start planning today!