East London Cruise Season Starts
South Africa’s six cruise ports have begun welcoming thousands of passengers to the country’s shores for the 2019/20 cruise season. The Port of East London’s season opened on Saturday, 26 October with the arrival of the MS Albatros cruise vessel, the first to arrive in South African waters this season.
Her earlier calls were Cape Town on 21 October and Port Elizabeth on 25 October. From East London she sailed to Durban on 27 October and Richards Bay on 28 October.
MS Albatros is operated by the German based travel agency Phoenix Reisen. She was built in 1973 by Wärtsilä Helsinki New Shipyard, Finland for Royal Viking Line as Royal Viking Sea, and has also sailed under the names Royal Odyssey, Norwegian Star, and Crown.
The Port of East London is scheduled to receive at least nine cruise liners this season between October 2019 and April 2020, while provisional schedules indicate that at least 23 luxury cruise ships, operated by 17 international cruise lines, are scheduled to call across the country’s six cruise ports this season.
Operators that have included South Africa on their routes this year include: AIDA Cruises, Azamara Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cruise & Maritime Voyages, Crystal Cruises, Cunard Lines, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Phoenix Reisen, Ponant, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line. A newcomer to the country is TUI Cruises which will bring its vessel MEIN SCHIFF HERZ to sail her first ever cruise season in South Africa.
Operators with multiple vessels on the local route are AIDA Cruises, with two vessels, AIDAmira and AIDAura, Cunard Lines with its impressive QUEEN ELIZABETH AND QUEEN MARY 2 liners, Phoenix Reisen with MS ALBATROS and MV ARTANIA, Azamara Cruises with AZAMARA QUEST and AZAMARA JOURNEY and Princess Cruises with SUN PRINCESS and PACIFIC PRINCESS.
A highlight of the new season is the arrival of the MSC ORCHESTRA on her maiden season in South Africa. On 16 November she will be welcomed into the Port of Durban, ‘Africa’s Leading Cruise Port’ (as announced at the recent World Travel Awards Africa and Indian Ocean segment), which she will use as her home port locally.
South African port landlord Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has positioned Durban and Cape Town as stimulus cruise home ports while Richards Bay, Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London continue to receive their share of cruise ships.
Construction will commence in November on the new Durban passenger terminal to be developed by Kwa Zulu Cruise Terminal Pty Ltd (KCT). In Cape Town the V&A Waterfront (Pty) Ltd holds a concession from TNPA for operation, maintenance and transfer of the Cape Town passenger terminal.