MSC Cruises announced that in 2020-2021 cruise season the company will homeport two liners in South Africa. This will mark the first time that a couple of different classes of MSC Cruises’ vessels will be deployed in South Africa at the same time, MSC Musica (Musica Class) and MSC Opera (Lirica Class).
From December 2020, Opera will be homeported in Cape Town, joining Musica, which as of November will be based in Durban.
Together, MSC Musica and MSC Opera will offer more than 60 sailings next season. The two vessels will alternate routes, providing international and South African cruisers with a wider homeporting and itinerary options.
Highlights of the itineraries include: Pomene Bay, Mozambique, a marine safari experience with its own beach club, MSC Pomene Safari Beach Club, offered exclusively for MSC Cruises passengers; and, Portuguese Island, a small, uninhabited isle set between the coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean, the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Ahead of the season, both vessel will offer Grand Voyage/World Cruise itineraries. Both MSC ships will leave from Venice Italy, departing on October 25, 2020 (MSC Musica) and November 8, 2020 (MSC Opera) on their way to Cape Town and Durban. Highlights of MSC Grand Voyage cruises include the Suez Canal transit, the city of Aqaba, Port Louis, and La Possession (Reunion Island) before arriving in South Africa on December 5 (Cape Town) and November 20 (Durban).
MSC's South Africa cruises 2019-2020 can be booked on MSC Orchestra. The ship will make her maiden voyage there in November 2019, offering 3-, 4-, 5- and 11-night sailings from Durban and around the South African coastline through April 2020.
The plan of MSC Cruises to bring two cruise ships to South Africa in 2020 is part of the line’s commitment to investing in African tourism. The investment has included infrastructure development in Mozambique and continued collaboration with the government of Namibia, as Walvis Bay is one of the cruise ports that MSC sails to.
The commitment of the cruise line to improving South Africa’s infrastructure has been particularly noteworthy in the development of the Durban cruise port terminal over the past years. The most significant is the investment in the building of the new world-class Durban Cruise Terminal as part of KwaZulu Cruise Terminal Consortium (KTC).