Page 21 - 2024 CIN Luxury Market Report

Luxury Market

t was then a natural progression from
IMSC’s ship-within-a-ship concept on its
megaships to enter the luxury market with Ex-
plora Journeys, which grows to two 922-guest
ships this year and will have six by 2028.
With smaller luxury ships, Vago said it pres-
ents an opportunity to go off the beaten track
and call at coastal communities, either along-
side or at anchor, that the big ships can’t get to.
Vago, from the company’s office in Geneva,
said: “I live in a landlocked country and I
madly miss the sea. I have a boat and with
my wife, one day, in the middle of August,
in the middle of the Mediterranean, at that
moment, we understood the Ocean State of
Mind, which is in the roots and the principle of
creating Explora. We said to ourselves: Why Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of the cruise division of MSC Group
can’t our customers live this moment? That
is how Explora was born.”
“First of all, you need economies of scale to deliver a very
Value good product in an efficient and cost-effective way.
“Luxury cruising has huge potential,” Vago said, in an “Second of all, you need a choice of itineraries. The mo-
interview with Cruise Industry News. “It has the same prin- ment you penetrate the market you need to be able to offer
ciple as contemporary cruising: value for money. However, the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Northern Europe,
in Europe and to some extent the United States, there is not the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. And you need more
an understanding of luxury cruising as we intend to do it. ships to give choices to the customers. 

Cruise Industry News: 2024 Luxury Market Report 93