Queen Mary 2 back in South African waters after Covid hiatus

Three years after its last voyage in South African waters was scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the iconic Queen Mary 2 ocean liner sailed into the Port of Durban on Monday.

Part of Cunard Lines, it is reputed to be one of the world’s biggest ocean liners (undertaking transatlantic and longer ‘line voyages’ as opposed to shorter cruise trips).

The ship docked in Durban, SA’s busiest port, for the day before heading to Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth/ Nelson Mandela Bay) in the Eastern Cape and on Friday will sail into Cape Town’s port.

Read/Listen: MSC finally launches SA cruise season

Queen Mary 2 being back in local waters and calling at the country’s major coastal cities is a noteworthy development, signifying the further recovery of cruise tourism.

MSC Cruises, the main player on the SA cruise tourism scene, restarted operations last year and by all indications had a bumper 2022/2023 local summer season.

The group however largely taps the domestic cruise tourism market in SA, while Queen Mary 2 has more affluent pound and euro-spending travellers.

According to Durban Tourism and eThekwini Municipality officials, over 2 000 guests were expected to disembark the Queen Mary 2 for the day on Monday and take tour shuttle buses to various tourist attractions including the likes of the Valley of 1000 Hills, as well as game and wilderness tours as far afield at Hluhluwe and to the Isimangaliso/ St Lucia Wetland Park UN World Heritage site in northern KZN.

Similar tours will take place when the ocean liner docks in Nelson Mandela Bay and in Cape Town this week.

The last time Queen Mary 2 was in SA waters was back in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had just struck.

Cunard Lines had to get special clearance from SA authorities at the time to have some of their SA crew disembark at the Port of Durban and go into quarantine as a precautionary measure.

Read: Covid-19: Cruise and cargo vessel held ‘off port limits’ in Cape Town

Cunard Lines restarted some cruises in 2021, however, there were cancellations due to further Covid outbreaks globally. Cruise tourism globally only really started to rebound in 2022, and Queen Mary 2 did not sail to South Africa during this time.

Queen Mary 2 has been a regular visitor to SA shores since its maiden voyage to the country back in 2010.

New Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal

Interestingly, Queen Mary 2 did not dock at Durban’s new Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal, while in city. Instead, it docked at the old N-Shed, which has handled cruise ships and ocean liners that have called at the Durban port prior to the new cruise terminal starting operations last year.

The cruise terminal, which was built at a cost over R200 million, is owned and operated by KwaZulu Cruise Terminal (KCT). MSC Cruises is the majority shareholder in KCT.

Read: New Durban cruise terminal to boost tourism, jobs in SA

While KCT has branded the facility Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal and it has been operating for several months now, the official launch of the terminal was reportedly postponed last year due to the KZN floods in April.

The terminal is located adjacent to the Durban Point Waterfront and Ushaka Marine World, with KCT securing a 25-year concession from Transnet National Ports Authority to finance, construct, operate, maintain the facility.

MSC Cruises operated two of its cruise ships in SA waters over the 2022/23 summer season – MSC Orchestra and MSC Sinfonia.

Durban is the group’s main homeport in SA, with 40 trips for MSC Orchestra this season largely to Mozambique, but also a longer New Year cruise to the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Seychelles, and Reunion.

From Cape Town, MSC Sinfonia had 22 trips planned along the west coast to Namibia.

Meanwhile, MSC Cruises says it will deploy the MSC Splendida – its most modern ship to ever serve South Africa for the 2023-24 summer season (from November).

The 14-deck MSC Splendida vessel can accommodate up to 4 363 passengers, compared to the MSC Orchestra (around 3223 passengers) and MSC Sinfonia (2646).

MSC Splendida will operate out of both the ports of Durban and Cape Town.