South Africa is heating up as a major cruise destination and MSC Cruises is piling on the pressure to build a new terminal in Durban, South Africa. Announcing plans to operate a bigger and more modern ship out of Durban for the next summer season, MSC Opera will sail to South African waters for her maiden season from November.
“The decision to send both MSC Opera and MSC Sinfonia to South Africa for the coming 2012/2013 season shows the level of commitment MSC Cruises has to the South African market,” said Allan Foggitt, head of marketing at MSC Starlight Cruises. “We will continue to invest in the destinations and the development of port infrastructure to continuously improve the product and the guests’ overall experience.”
The move represents a vote of confidence in African cruises by MSC which has been calling for Transnet, the company behind South Africa’s national transport businesses, including ports, Petronet, Metrorail, Transtel, and South African Airways to expedite plans for building a cruise terminal in Durban.
In the 2012/2013 season MSC will operate two large Sinfonia-class cruise ships, each with a more than 2 000 passenger capacity, out of South African waters for the first time. MSC Opera replaces the slightly smaller MSC Sinfonia, which will operate out of Cape Town for the next season. MSC Sinfonia will replace the 1 500-passenger MSC Melody, which operated out of Cape Town this season and began her return journey to Europe on Monday.
We will be keeping an eye on South Africa, a destination unlike any other with some very unique shore excursion possibilities.
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