South Africa from Durban Cruise

Day 1 - Durban

Arrive: Mon 22 December 2025 / Depart: Mon 22 December 2025 at 18:00

When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s beachfront, a high-energy holiday strip just east of the centre, is South Africa’s most developed seaside. MSC South Africa cruises also offer excursions to the 6km-stretch of the beach from the Umgeni River in the north to the Point in the south, traditionally called the Golden Mile. The big draw of Addington Beach – and the only really worthwhile attraction along the beachfront – is instead uShaka Marine World. This impressive water adventure wonderland is a tropical African theme park, complete with palm trees, fake rock formations and thatched bomas. The most appealing section is uShaka Sea World, designed in and around a superb mock-up of a wrecked 1920s cargo ship. The complex also includes a dolphin stadium and a seal pool, where daily shows (three a day) feature these creatures, as well as uShaka Wet ’n Wild, a series of pools and water slides, including The Drop Zone, the highest water slide in Africa.

Day 2 - At Sea

Day 3 - Pomene, Mozambique

Arrive: Wed 24 December 2025 at 07:00 / Depart: Wed 24 December 2025 at 18:00

Smiling and hospitable people, magical beaches, colonial cities and hut villages, baobab and mangrove forests, unspoiled islands and some of the most stunning beaches on the African continent. Your MSC South Africa cruise welcomes you to Mozambique, a natural portent just waiting to be discovered. Between the capital Maputo, in the South, and Pemba, in the North of the State, there are 2000 kilometres of coastline, characterised by stretches of white sand that blend into the horizon, blue lagoons and unexplored coral reefs. During your holiday with MSC Cruises you can disembark in Pomene Bay, one of the most picturesque sites in Mozambique. The lagoon that protects this extraordinary bay, set between the blue Indian Ocean and the waters where the mangroves grow – these extraordinary plants appear to float on the surface of the water, like a forest in a fairy tale – is part of the Pomene Nature Reserve, a protected marine area that has managed to preserve its authentic and wild beauty thanks to its remote location. A MSC Cruises excursion to this sun-kissed place offers you the opportunity to relax with long walks or horseback riding on the beach, to explore the surrounding nature with the help of a guide, immersing yourself in lush leafy vegetation, with an abundance of different species, or watch the sunset while lying on the fine sand of Pomene Bay. Your MSC cruise ship will take you to an African paradise that is also famous for diving and snorkelling, perfect for lovers of the underwater world. Mozambique is a land full of natural beauty spots that never cease to surprise and amaze.

Day 4 - Portuguese Island (Inhaca Archipelago), Mozambique

Arrive: Thu 25 December 2025 at 09:00 / Depart: Thu 25 December 2025 at 18:00

Set between the African coast and the Indian Ocean, Portuguese Island is a small, uninhabited island: one of the enchanting destinations of an MSC cruise to Southern Africa. It is located at the external limit of Maputo Bay, host to the capital of Mozambique, under the cover of Inhaca Island, the chosen location for some of the most luxurious resorts of the entire continent. During your holiday, take some time between dips in the warm, crystalline ocean waters to stroll around this island. It is six kilometres long, about an hour walk on sand that caresses the soles of your feet (during the central hours of the day, it is best to wear open sandals because the sand becomes very hot), with only the blue of the water and the green of the low vegetation for company. The mild effort involved will be repaid in kiosks serving refreshing beverages and local food. If you like rum, try the Tipo Tinto, which is distilled from local sugar cane. There is also no lack of beach activities: in addition to all the services available for those who just want to lay in the sun undisturbed, such as beach umbrellas, deckchairs and sunbeds, there is equipment for playing beach volleyball and beach tennis. However, a piece of advice for all: don’t stop as soon as you get off the tender t that brings you to the island, look for a more secluded bay; they are just a short, pleasant stroll away. For those who wish it, it is also possible to circumnavigate the island and admire the coast and the bay of Maputo in a traditional dhow: boats with a triangular sail of Middle-Eastern origins that have sailed the waters of the Indian Ocean for centuries. From Portuguese Island, it is possible to reach the nearby main island of Inhaca, where, in addition to fantastic beaches,there are restaurants, bars, a market and even a Marine Museum and old lighthouse.

Day 5 - At Sea

Day 6 - Durban

Arrive: Sat 27 December 2025 at 06:00 / Depart: Sat 27 December 2025

When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s beachfront, a high-energy holiday strip just east of the centre, is South Africa’s most developed seaside. MSC South Africa cruises also offer excursions to the 6km-stretch of the beach from the Umgeni River in the north to the Point in the south, traditionally called the Golden Mile. The big draw of Addington Beach – and the only really worthwhile attraction along the beachfront – is instead uShaka Marine World. This impressive water adventure wonderland is a tropical African theme park, complete with palm trees, fake rock formations and thatched bomas. The most appealing section is uShaka Sea World, designed in and around a superb mock-up of a wrecked 1920s cargo ship. The complex also includes a dolphin stadium and a seal pool, where daily shows (three a day) feature these creatures, as well as uShaka Wet ’n Wild, a series of pools and water slides, including The Drop Zone, the highest water slide in Africa.