MSC Cruises Taps Michael Ungerer to Lead New Luxury Brand

Michael Ungerer, the former president of AIDA Cruises and the former CEO of shared services for Carnival Corp., is joining MSC Cruises as the CEO of its new luxury brand that was announced earlier this year.

Ungerer will help lead MSC into the luxury cruise market, a move it will make with four luxury cruise ships that will debut starting in 2023. He will be based out of MSC’s headquarters in Geneva and will report to MSC Group’s Executive Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago.

According to Vago, the hire “marks a key step forward in the set-up of the organizational structure that will lead the development of our new luxury brand.”

“For us, this was a natural progression of the work done across our contemporary brand MSC Cruises since its inception, including with the development of our highly successful premium ship-within-the-ship concept MSC Yacht Club,” he said.

MSC’s new luxury ships will sail with just 500 staterooms at 64,000 gross tons, giving guests more room and coming “as close as it comes to a private yacht experience,” according to MSC USA Country Manager Roberto Fusaro.