MSC cruise ship has signature fragrance

MSC Cruises has made MSC Splendida into the world's first ‘fully-fragranced, sensory-branded’ cruise liner. The scent, called MED, will be ambient. This means that not only will the specially designed odour be released into the air conditioning in the stairwells, corridor and lounges, it will be featured in the spa treatments, the complimentary toiletries in the cabins (but not in the cabin air-conditioning system) and in the cleaning products used by staff around the ship.

So what does it smell of? Apparently it’s ‘an effervescent fruity green fig accord with delicate floral notes blended with gentle musk’. And the idea is to subliminally influence us to associate that smell with a happy holiday, and to associate a happy holiday with MSC cruises, so that the brand builds loyalty. If you’re worried about the environment, the press release that announced the use of the ship-wide fragrance also said that the line has ensured the fragrance meets strict ecological and ‘eco label’ guidelines. It doesn’t say what happens if you book a cruise and don’t like the fragrance though!

What’s interesting about this approach is that it aims to extend the brand of MSC into other areas of life – it would be silly to think that they weren’t going to launch the fragrance as a souvenir range that you’ll be able to buy in the ship’s own perfumery. If you don’t fancy a cruise ship with a special fragrance, don’t worry, at present the line doesn’t seem to have plans to fragrance the whole fleet, so for the foreseeable future there will be a choice, a ship that is perfumed with MED or one that isn’t.