Attracting new-to-cruise customers with status match and the Yacht club: MSC Cruises

Widgety recently caught up with Claire Smith, Head of Trade Support, Training and New Sales Development at MSC Cruises. Claire shared more about MSC Cruises’ expanding target demographic, their Status Match program, which is unlike any other, and the luxury experience guests can enjoy in their Yacht Club.
MSC Fantasia (Image belongs to MSC Cruises))
MSC Cruises are launching MSC World Asia, and new Alaska itineraries in 2026 – we were keen to know whether the operator’s target demographic was shifting as a result of these exciting new launches. 
Claire shared that MSC Cruises’ target demographic varies based on the area that they’re sailing in – the average age of MSC Cruises guests is now just 42. She explained that ‘sometimes we’ll see an older clientele, who are more experienced cruisers and have been to other destinations, and sailed with other cruise lines.’ 
However, on some ships, including the new MSC World Asia, a new ship in the World Class, the target demographic age is much lower. Claire explained that this is due to the fantastic kids’ facilities onboard these ships including the ‘Venom Drop’, a 81.3 metre dry-slide transporting guests down 12 decks in a matter of seconds, ‘amazing entertainment areas, bumper cars and Formula 1 simulator, and the kids absolutely love that.’ 
 
Venom Drop Slide, MSC World Europa (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
 
‘Overall it depends on the area, the ship class, but we do have something for everyone. Our overall demographic and target audience is mostly couples, which a lot of people are really shocked by. We’re also seeing new growth in the 35-50 age group, especially in Yacht Club because we have so much more for couples and families. I also think more and more people now understand what MSC Cruises are about. Previously it was harder to orientate towards Brits or American customers who saw MSC Cruises as very Mediterranean, but now people are starting to understand that we’re more than that.’ 
‘We’re the number one cruise line in the Med for the number of ships, the number of destinations, and the amount of ports that we visit as well.’ 
MSC Cruises’ Status Match programme is unlike any other, allowing customers to match status year-round with both non-cruise and cruise brands bringing big benefits for customers. 
Claire shared that this programme is part of MSC Cruises’ own loyalty program, the MSC Voyagers Club, which allows customers to collect points as they cruise and gain more benefits over time. 
‘The Status Match programme allows consumers to match their status with any hotelier or any other cruise line on the market, allowing them to come into MSC Cruises at the equivalent tier level of what they are currently on with that hotelier or cruise line. From a consumer perspective, and I’ve been a travel agent before I worked for MSC Cruises, consumers will often pay more to travel with a different equivalent cruise line, because of their existing status. The Status Match allows customers who may not have sailed with MSC Cruises before, and may be loyal to another cruise line, to try MSC Cruises for the first time without sacrificing their status. It also gives them 5% off on their first booking, and other discounts moving forward.’ 
‘We see a lot of hotelier status matches, people who are currently land-based customers. We want to bring new-to-cruise customers, and the Status Match programme is just one avenue in which we do that. So the ones that we match the most include Hilton, Marriott and Riu.’
Malta (Image rights belong to MSC Cruises)
Many of these land-based customers will regularly visit countries in the Mediterranean, and the opportunity to status match with MSC Cruises gives these customers the opportunity to see more of the Mediterranean in a new way. Claire also shared that MSC Cruises have been ‘seeing a lot of customers status matching and booking our new Alaska itineraries, because they’ve been waiting for that destination to launch, which is really exciting’
The MSC Yacht Club gives guests a luxury experience onboard MSC Cruises, with private venues, exclusive privileges and a world of choice. We were keen to learn more about the advantages of the Yacht Club, and Claire, who sails in the Yacht Club every year, was eager to tell us!
MSC Yacht Club, MSC Splendida (Image rights belong to MSC Cruises)
Claire explained that ‘The Yacht Club is a private members’ club within the ship. In terms of booking, the customer journey for a Yacht Club booking looks very different. Customers who book the Yacht Club are usually regular cruisers, they are more affluent, and are looking to be pampered and to relax. They aren’t necessarily looking for the all-singing, all-dancing atmosphere that a lot of ships have got. They’re looking for that little section that they can come back to and feel like they’re at home. The Yacht Club customer will book much further in advance than any other customers, usually between 9 and 18 months in advance. Usually our highest suites, such as the Owner’s suite, will be sold out within the first week that they are on sale. 

 

Yacht club customers will wait to book until what they want is on sale – they know where they want to go, they know what they want to book. They want luxury. On each ship you’ve got 50-80 Yacht Club standard suites (YC1) and they’ll sell throughout the year. These customers also often won’t book just a 7 or 9 night cruise, Yacht Club guests will look at packaging their cruise, so they’ll do maybe 2 or 3 nights in Rome before getting on the ship, or they may fly business class with British Airways.
MSC Yacht Club, MSC Seashore (Image rights belong to MSC Cruises)
 
From the beginning it’s a premium experience. When you get to the cruise port, you’ve got a separate marquee for Yacht Club, you’ve got a blue carpet instead of a red carpet, the team are waiting for you, they take your luggage, take you through priority security. In some ports like Barcelona and Miami we have our own terminal. We’ve also got a Yacht Club section in the terminal where the Head Butler and any other butlers will do your check in for you, building a relationship with you. They’ll know if it’s your first Yacht Club experience or if you’ve been before, to make the experience as personal as possible. 
Then small groups of approximately 6 Yacht Club guests will be taken through the front of the ship, in the private lift. Yacht Club guests also have priority lift access, so even if a button has been pressed on every floor, when a Yacht Club guest scans their cruise card the lift will go straight to them. The concierge is there 24 hours a day, and the lounges have a piano, musicians and light bites throughout the day, including midnight snacks and a full butler service within the restaurants. 
The restaurant which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner does not give guests a time slot, they can walk in at any time provided it is open, and choose any seat, next to the window, next to the kitchen etc. or if they have met friends and want to sit on a larger table they are also welcome to do this.
 
Lastly, you’ve got the pool area which is on the top deck, which has MSC Cruises luxury towels, jacuzzis and cabanas. There’s also a full bar area and a mini grill which offers breakfast, lunch and snacks, so guests don’t need to leave the pool area. The best bit about the Yacht Club is the personal feel and the additional choice, allowing guests to leave the Yacht Club area and visit the ship’s other restaurant bars, boutiques.
MSC World Europa (Image rights belong to MSC Cruises)
We also had a recent change: Yacht Club guests were feeding back that they had this exclusive feeling on the ship, but when it came to excursions they were on the large coaches like everyone else. So we now offer smaller exclusive private tours for Yacht Club guests – which could be out of hours access to the Colosseum or something else which is a bit more niche. When I stayed in the Yacht Club I went on an excursion to the Gucci museum in Florence, which I didn’t even know was there and then we had a lovely lunch.
 
For me, the Yacht Club is a feeling, it’s not about the features, it’s the feeling that you have of a higher level of service, so coming back after an excursion and my bed has been turned down and there’s a little glass box on the bed with lemon meringue pies, or strawberry tarts or nougat; with the staff aiming to surprise you every night. I always get macarons, which the staff just seems to know I like. How do they do that? They just know that I like them.’ 
 
MSC Yacht Club, MSC Seashore (Image rights belong to MSC Cruises)
 
On most MSC ships, the Yacht Club is at the front, however, as it is added to more and more older ships, in some cases the Yacht Club remains at the front, yet the Yacht Club restaurants will be in the middle of the ship. 
Claire explained that she believes this is a positive change, as Yacht Club guests can sometimes miss out on things in the rest of the ship because they’re so focussed on the luxury section. When Claire takes her Mum on an MSC Cruises ship, and stays in the Yacht Club, she often sees things that she didn’t realise were on the ships and therefore tries new restaurants and other experiences. Claire emphasised that because of this, the Yacht Club is described as giving guests ‘the world of choice’. The Yacht Club gives the choice of luxury and the option to explore the other exciting offerings on the ship – which other ultra-luxury ships often don’t have. 
In addition to the Status Match and Yacht Club, we were keen to know what other USPs Claire believed agents should focus on when selling MSC Cruises. 
She said, ‘To be honest, there’s some really interesting things that a lot of people don’t know about. So we do something called targeted discounts which allow travel agents to target specific customers. So one could be a city break customer, they maybe just want to go to Budapest or Dubrovnik for 3 or 4 nights at a time, when you add in the accommodation, the spending money, the flights, the transfers and then look at the cost versus an MSC Cruise there’s actually a lot more value for money as food is already included. 
MSC Cruises Ocean Cay (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
 
People don’t realise that when you are aged 18-29 we’ll give you up to a 10% discount depending on what cabin you book. That’s a really niche way of actually targeting that demographic. 

 

We also sail all year round in the Med, which other cruise lines don’t do. So we usually have 10 ships sailing in the Med during the summer, and 5 sailing during the winter as well. MSC World Europa has been sailing in the Med this year, MSC World Asia will be sailing in the Med this winter, when it launches towards the end of the year. There’s a lot for everyone. We also target people who are over 65, who are the more traditional cruisers, and we give them up to a 10% discount depending on which cabin they book. 
 
Almost 80% of MSC Cruises cabins are balcony plus. We have a very small number of interior cabins, which means the supplement to upgrade from inside to balcony is often only about £100. For an extra few pounds a day you can wake up and open the curtains to a different destination each morning. 

 

Kids are up to age 17, so for a land-based customer, especially in an all-inclusive hotel, you’re paying adult prices once a child turns 12. But on MSC Cruises, you’re going to save a lot of money because we still charge the child price up to age 17. So you could be paying say £180 for your 15-year-old to go on a cruise versus £900 for an all-inclusive land holiday. And there’s so much to do for kids.’
Family on MSC Cruises (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
 
MSC Cruises has worked with Widgety for several years, and Claire won our 2025 Sales Team Collaboration Award – we were keen to know what working with Widgety means for MSC Cruises. 

 

Claire shared, ‘I think it’s one of the platforms that works really really well and a lot if not most of our cruise partner agents actually use Widgety. There’s a lot we do with Widgety. We use Widgety as a collaboration tool, all of the things we’ve seen today have been great. I’m the sort of person that if I think something is good, I will buy in, and if I don’t, I won’t. Widgety is one to watch. The relationship for us is really important, we’ve known Damian a long time, and it’s a really important relationship for MSC Cruises as a brand. Everything we do is relationship based, we want our relationships to be transparent, we’re not robots, we want to work in partnership to make sure things work. The content and everything that Damian has shown us today has been incredible, it’s huge and I think the opportunity is really nice.’
 
MSC Cruises Ocean Cay CSOR (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
 
We wanted to know what Claire’s favourite part of working for MSC Cruises was. She said: 
‘I’ve worked for MSC Cruises for 9 years, I’ve been here for a while. I started as a regional sales manager for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the northern parts of England. My passion is training, I’m someone that loves information and how things work. I lead a team of amazing women, our trade support team, who look after trade assets and tool kits. We work together as a huge team. 
The thing I love most about working for MSC is that we actually are a family, we all look after each other. Internally, we all do look after each other, we’ve got each other’s back and we work with different skill sets which makes us really strong. We don’t have a high turnover of staff – I’m not the only one who can say I’ve been here for 9, 10, 15, or 17 years, from directors to sales managers to people in contact centres.

 

MSC Seaside Exterior (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
That is something that I was really proud of during the pandemic that we didn’t shout about. When other cruise lines, other businesses were letting a lot of their sales team and internal staff go, to cut down and save costs, we decided that no matter what, we would not make anyone redundant. We would all get through it together, and we didn’t lose any members of staff, unless they decided to leave of course. 

 

It makes a huge difference to our partners too, they’re speaking to the same person again and again and really building that relationship. It’s an amazing company and I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t think so. 

 

We’re growing quickly, we will have another 6, 7, 8 ships by 2031 and who knows after that. We joke it’s not MSC ‘Mediterranean Shipping Company’, it’s MSC, ‘more ships coming’, because there’s always a new ship. Which is really exciting.’
Funchal, Madeira (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
Finally, we asked Claire to tell us one thing people get wrong about MSC Cruises, or one thing they don’t realise until they step on board, and she was quick to answer… 

 

‘I know exactly what they get wrong, there’s a big misconception with MSC Cruises that Italian is the first language on board the ship. It’s because we started as a very Italian brand, targeting the Italian market. And then we started to grow really fast, with a new ship every year. We became more Mediterranean at that point, we had guests from Spain, France, Portugal, more German guests, a very small number of American and British guests. But you still would have had that association of Italian as the first language on board.
MSC Mergalivia (Image belongs to MSC Cruises)
The Meraviglia class, which launched in 2017 was researched by the owners, the Aponte-Vago family, to see what we were missing, and we added all these amazing things. For example, the LED digital sky on the promenade surrounded by specialty restaurants and bars, the amazing new aquapark, digital screens around the ship as part of the MSC FOR ME technology – the new tech was really important. To do that we had to make English the first spoken language on board.

 

As it was only 9 years ago that we really made that change, any customer or travel agent who has been on the ship before will still believe that Italian is the first language on board. Especially when you go into travel agencies and the people who work there have worked there for many, many years, 20-30 years, working in that branch, who remember MSC Cruises being very Italian. And that’s something that we are still trying to overcome.’
We’d like to thank Claire for taking the time to speak to us about MSC Cruises. If you would like to add MSC Cruises to your API or Widget, please get in touch with sales@widgety.co.uk. 
All MSC Cruises ships, brochures, trade resources, videos and itineraries can be found on your Widgety dashboard – log in to the dashboard here