When it comes to image, cruise companies have had to work hard to shake off the stereotype of only catering for the ‘senior customer’.

For many years the ‘grey’ demographic has long been the customer of cruise booking trends while youngsters have taken advantage of low-cost airlines and round the world trips.

In order to attract new custom and guests of all ages, many companies have added theme cruises to their itineraries. Music, food and special destinations have featured heavily and have attracted numbers who are keen on the niche sectors. And one company to really go for the sporting theme has been MSC Cruises.

The American arm of the Italian cruise company has hosted its Baseball Greats theme cruises since 2005 and has seen great success. For 2009 there will be five sailings with former New York Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen acting as host.

Rick Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises USA (pictured), spoke about the concept and the history behind it.

He said: “We had some very good contacts in the baseball arena and Stan Bahnsen - former pitcher for the New York Yankees - was instrumental in getting us very excited about the potential of having baseball greats cruise with us.

“We liked the idea, discussed it and put on a few cruises in 2005. On those first baseball cruises it was extraordinary to see how the passengers reacted to this extra activity. This was an extra treat that was received really well and we decided we would adopt it is a theme for our winter cruises.”

Sport is obviously playing a huge part in MSC’s business model because liners such as the Fantasia, the new ship Splendida and Musica have some great sporting options such as running tracks, tennis courts and sports bars.

Sasso explained why sport is featuring very heavily on MSC business model, he added: “Sport touches everyone, whether its soccer which has a worldwide appeal or car racing - we are a sponsor of Formula One in many countries in Europe.

“We believe that everyone has an affinity to a sport or activity and we are a company that appreciates that. We have the big screens out on deck where we display events like the Superbowl. We do a good job to deliver to customers who are into sports and as a cruise line I believe we take it to a more personal level with the interaction.”

The baseball theme cruises will see former stars such as Frank Howard, Bill Russell, Bob Feller Cito Gaston, Hector Lopez, Ken Griffey Sr., Jeff Torborg and Cookie Rojas travelling onboard. The former players will take host question-and-answer sessions and also pitching, hitting, and defence strategy clinics.