MSC Cruises, the fastest growing cruise line, is delivering on its promise to provide its travel agent partners with the best shoreside service by expanding its sales force. 

As a direct result of rapid growth that will see the line’s fleet increase to 12 ships by the end of 2009, the line is adding three experienced regional sales managers (RSM): Dominick LaVarco will service the New Jersey territory, Lon Mitchel will cover New York State and Connecticut, and Mary Anne LaChance (nee McKeown) will service Canada.

“The three newest members of our sales force have years of experience and success in the travel industry. We are proud to have them on the MSC Cruises team to help us better serve our travel agent partners,” says Richard E. Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises (USA).

LaVarco, a resident of Caldwell, NJ, has more than 25 years experience in the travel industry, having served in several positions for Amadeus and, most recently, as travel agency sales manager for Eos Airlines.

Mitchel, a CTC based in East Meadow, NY, has more than 20 years in travel marketing, sales and promotions. He comes to MSC Cruises from his position as a district sales manager (DSM) for Celebrity Cruises/Royal Caribbean International. Prior to that, he was a DSM for The Walt Disney Company and RSM for Kingdom Vacations in Plains, PA, and held positions with several international tour operators.

LaChance spent the last few years as a sales expert with Encore Cruises/Encore CruiseEscapes in Canada. Prior to that, she had worked for more than five years with Royal Caribbean International/Celebrity Cruises.

In addition to LaChance, the line is expanding its internal sales service team with a designated representative to assist with French-speaking Canadian agents.

“As we continue to add more elegant state-of-the-art ships offering more MSC Cruises’ experiences for our guests to enjoy, we also recognize the need to expand our staff in order to respond to our travel agent partners and our guests,” says Sasso.