Antonio Paradiso, managing director UK and Ireland, said that although the industry had experience of handling various crises in recent years, it should “understand what other measures should be put in place” as a result of coronavirus.

“As a cruise industry, we are working on new protocols because – let’s face reality – we will be entering into a new world and a new world for cruising,” he told TTG during a Facebook Live interview on Thursday (16 April).

“I think at least in the first phase [of operations resuming], we should be respecting social distancing. How that is going to look, we don’t know yet, but we will be working hand-in-hand with governments and our colleagues in the industry to understand want needs to be done.”

Paradiso said he believed MSC’s 2020 season could recover despite having to suspend sailings until 29 May.

“I don’t think [2020] it’s a write-off yet. June, July and even August sailings potentially could be affected – it’s a very fluid situation, so in three weeks from now things could get better. I still believe that all those sailings in autumn and winter are relatively safe at the moment,” he said.

“It goes hand-in-hand with the regulations in each of the countries we operate in, and our business is heavily tied to the aviation industry, to fly people to different destinations to board ships, so there are so many factors affecting our decision-making.

“I’m still rather optimistic. Those sailings in autumn, including September, are still relatively safe. We shall see but I’m seeing more and more customers booking cruises for 2021 and that’s really encouraging.”

Assessing how coronavirus would impact MSC’s future plans for fleet expansion, Paradiso said he could foresee “inevitable delays” in the launch of new ships due to the temporary closure of shipyards, but maintained the line was “not planning on changing our plans any time soon” surrounding its order book and growth aspirations.

Asked what approach MSC would take with its fleet when operations were resumed, he suggested the line would gradually redeploy ships.

“If I had to guess today I would say we would phase it. I don’t think we will resume operations for all of our 18 ships at the same time. We need to make sure you base your ships in the right region. 

“So I assume for a period of time there is going to be a soft reopening and then gradually you will get fully back on track. That’s the way I feel things are going to happen in the next few months.”

Paradiso said despite it being “early days” since MSC began offering its 125% future cruise credit, he had seen around “80-85%” of consumers willing to utilise it and go on holiday at a later stage. 

“We are encouraging customers to give us a second chance to showcase our beautiful product and experience. Whether that be winter 2021 or summer 2021, we shall find out. So far I have seen that demand is mainly focused on summer 2021 with some bookings for December and January sailings.”

When discussing the pricing of future sailings, Paradiso said we wanted to “reassure agents and their customers that we won’t be taking advantage of the situation”.

“We’re not planning on increasing prices for summer 2021 just because we expect a demand there and, crucially, we will further review those prices to make sure people have the possibility first to rebook through the future cruise credit that we have given to them, and secondly because we genuinely want to restart our business in a healthy way. If you check the prices on the UK website, especially in the next few weeks, you will see that there will be more and more initiatives to stimulate that demand.”

He said MSC would soon be offering “supporting tools” for trade partners to help their cruise sales recover.

“Putting 2022 sailings on sale will definitely be included in our plan because you will have people who are willing to book two years ahead. The idea is basically to remove any constraint that is blocking any customers from rebooking their cruises. 

“Of course, our offices around the world are currently closed, so this process may take a little bit of time. One of our biggest offices is in Italy. So we need to be pragmatic and go step-by-step but the goal is to have the whole of 2021 and summer 2022 on sale as soon as possible.

“Agents are crucial people for us at MSC Cruises. Yes I understand sometimes they might be a bit frustrated because processes can take a bit longer than expected, but yes, we rely on them, and they rely on us, so we have their back, and they have ours. We are in this together.”

Paradiso urged agents to “share their knowledge and share their experience” of the cruise sector to fight against “unhelpful” headlines aimed at the industry during the Covid-19 crisis especially around onboard health and safety. 

“Some of the people who are writing those articles have little or no knowledge of the cruise industry. Before [they share negativity], it would be worth digging a bit and asking for more information because as an industry we are really working our socks off to keep ships as a safe environment. 

“Not many people out there know what’s going on behind the scenes. We’ve been working on 24/7 shifts to get people home and keep them safe.

“I think the cruise industry was already pulling out all the stops by putting the health and safety of its passengers first. At MSC we clean the ship five times a day, and we screen our passengers.”

He called on the promotion of “positive stories that nobody seems to be talking about” such as passengers – including British guests – onboard a MSC Magnifica world cruise who decided to stay onboard the ship instead of flying back to their countries “because they believe the ship is much safer than their own homes”.

Paradiso said MSC was joining with cruise trade association Clia to “get a different message out there” and was also working “hand-in-hand” with international governments to “share our version of the story”.

“I have to say, pretty much all the governments in countries we operate in have been really, really supportive so far,” he added.