MSC Cruises South Africa has reconfirmed two ships to South Africa for December, subject to government approval and lockdown restrictions, and until the trade are informed otherwise, there is no cancellation of cruises in December.
A post from a public Facebook group called ‘Friends of MSC’ sparked some panic among local travel agents about the possibility of local cruise cancellations. Ross Volk, md of MSC Cruises SA, told Travel News that there was some ‘miss-messaging’, causing confusion about changes made to international and domestic itineraries.
“MSC International has extended its halt of operations until August 15 and the halt on MSC’s United States operations has also been extended to October 1, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s no-sail ruling,” says Ross.
He says, domestically, MSC is still committed to the December itineraries should government approve and if the restrictions around the Disaster Management Act change to allow the cruise line to operate. “We haven’t cancelled the cruises because we first want to see if there is demand. It wouldn’t be good for the country or for the company to furlough everything to next year,” adds Ross.
The two ships reconfirmed on June 23 for December sailings, are MSC Orchestra and MSC Opera.
The MSC Orchestra is still docked in Durban and is scheduled to open up the season on November 20, subject to government approvals. The MSC Opera will leave Europe on November 8 and arrive in Durban in December before continuing on to Cape Town.
