Building Travel Advisor Affinity: TravelPulse’s Interview With MSC Cruises’ Erin Douglas

In May, MSC Cruises USA named Erin Douglas senior vice president of U.S. trade sales. Douglas first joined MSC in 2022 and previously served as MSC’s vice president field sales before later being named the company’s vice president of strategic partnerships.

Douglas will be sailing in familiar waters in her new role, where she is responsible for strengthening partnerships with travel agencies and advisors. Prior to joining the supplier side, Douglas worked as a travel advisor.

“Erin will play a pivotal role in leading trade sales, supporting our commercial functions and plans for growth in the U.S. market,” said Suzanne Salas, MSC’s EVP of marketing, eCommerce and sales, to whom Douglas reports.

“We are confident she is the right person to continue supporting our travel advisors,” Salas added. “She is well respected within the industry and has an accomplished history, and we look forward to her contributions in this new capacity.”

TravelPulse spoke recently with Douglas to learn more about her new role and background as a travel seller. This interview has been edited for clarity and continuity.

TP: How does your professional background align with your new role?

ED: I worked on the retail side [and in] almost every retail model. So I feel like I have a very strong affinity with travel agents. I can see things through their lens. In 2008 I came over to the supplier side and joined Carnival and I was with them for just under 15 years and then I came [to MSC] in 2022.

TP: Are advisors eager to learn more about the MSC Cruises brand?

ED: [MSC] had recently gone into Port Canaveral as a year-round port. We were visiting some travel advisors in the area, and they were so excited to see us. They were saying, ‘You’ve got to tell us more now that you're here because our customers are coming you asking about you.

TP: How would you describe advisors’ first impressions of MSC?

ED: When I first joined the company, I did a lot of research by speaking to a lot of advisors. We had some that were ‘MSC loyal’ for many, many years and we had some [advisors] who didn’t know a lot about us. I call them ‘MSC curious.’ We were definitely up-and-coming and they wanted to know more. They were very curious and keen to learn more about [MSC].

TP: Has MSC World America’s debut impacted the brand’s identity with consumers?

ED: Now with World America, I think it just takes it to a whole other level. The awareness has been elevated on both the consumer and the travel advisor side, so everyone wants to know more. It’s exciting.

TP: How is MSC faring in its quest to become as recognized among U.S. consumers as other major cruise brands?

ED: It's tough competition because they've been in play for so long. Some of them are household names. We're not there yet, but we're definitely making a difference. The Super Bowl commercial was a great launch pad for that. and we’re increasing our brand awareness.

“MSC World America I think it just takes [MSC] to a whole other level.” – Erin Douglas, MSC Cruises. (Photo Credit: MSC Cruises Media)

TP: What has been the message to consumers and advisors regarding the brand’s identity?

ED: We have a little bit of a different spin [with] European style with American comfort. We’re not the same as the others. I think that’s a good position to be in. It’s fun sometimes to be the new kid on the block.

TP: Are advisors selling MSC voyages as “different” from other cruise experiences?

ED: Familiarity is a funny thing. We’re all creatures of habit, so we go to what we know. If I go back to my years of selling, selling what you know was the easiest thing, right? So I think advisors really appreciate us, but they don't think for all of them that they've been working with us long enough to be on that rinse-and-repeat.

TP: So experience counts when it comes to selling MSC, correct?

ED: If look at our top sellers, they know our products so well they can sell it better than I can. And they love it. I do think the advisors are appreciative of us and will be more so as the community grows and they get to know more about us.

TP: Are you concerned that economic and political “uncertainty” will impact consumers’ discretionary spending including vacation purchases?

ED: The challenges are real. There is a little bit of uncertainty and when there’s uncertainty people are hesitant to buy. I think the advantage that we have in cruises is that there's no better value. I mean, that’s why I started selling cruise. Where else can you go for a vacation that for one price you have accommodations, you have destinations, [and] you have entertainment? It’s hard to beat the value. So I think that alone will carry us through.

TP: Is MSC offering training for travel advisors?

ED: We have a great training program that's called the MSC Masters. We encourage all of our advisors when they sign up with us to do the MSC Master. We also spend a lot of time going [to advisors] to teach.

TP: What does some of the advisor training entail?

ED: We're doing a lot of education on some of our products like MSC Seascape which before World America was our flagship chip in in the U.S. She's now going to be moving to Galveston in November so there's a lot of advisors that haven't had the opportunity to see her directly. So we're putting a lot of training specifically into that product and the destination to make sure that [advisors] are familiar.

TP: What other ways can advisors learn about MSC?

ED: We've done a lot of things where they have opportunities to come on board the ships. In 2023 and 2024 we had hundreds of thousands of advisors that we were able to get on board with ship inspections and seminars at sea. I think we'll continue to do that.

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