The MSC Poesia is a New Cruising Experience for Me

I've been on a lot of cruise ships but this Saturday, I will be boarding the MSC Poesia, one of MSC Cruises' newest ships, in Fort Lauderdale. This is the first time I will be cruising with MSC Cruises and I'm looking forward to finding out first hand if all the company hype about Italian charm is really true. When it comes right down to it, is Italian charm really different from Scandinavian charm, British charm or Greek charm? Given that my maiden name is Colombi, you would think I should already know the answer to this question!

I know you'll laugh when I tell you that this cruise is truly a working cruise for me as I will be involved in a series of seminars about organizing group cruises. Although I've planned, organized, and promoted many group cruises, it seems that you can never know enough as it's becoming increasing difficult to stay abreast of the cruise lines' ever-changing group policies. A few years ago, it was easy to sell a group cruise because group prices were lower than the prevailing cruise rates. However, it is a totally different animal when group prices are higher than the prevailing rates and the prevailing rates get even lower as the sailing date approaches. In this economic environment, it seems that the cruise lines are encouraging passengers to wait until the last minute to book. I suppose it works as long as you don't care where you are on the ship and you're not looking for a stateroom that accommodates more than two people.

Oh well. As a diva in the cruise business, I'm looking to stay afloat (no pun intended) no matter what the economy happens to be doing. If you're feeling flush, why not cruise to celebrate your success? If you're staring into the economic abyss, why not cruise to forget about it for a few days and perhaps get inspired at sea?

Getting back to the MSC Poesia and Italian charm --I'll report back while at sea in between seminars.