MSC Cruises cancels South Africa’s Musica sailings next year

MSC Cruises nips Musica‘s grand voyage

Those looking forward to the MSC Musica‘s grand voyage from South Africa will surely be disappointed to hear that MSC Cruises have cancelled the cruise.

According to Travel News, the cruise company cancelled its upcoming cruise from Durban, South Africa to Genoa, Italy for the 2024/2025 season.

The reason for this, MSC Cruises told Travel News, was because of the current dangers of travel through the Red Sea.

 “We cancelled the Grand Voyage sailing in April from South Africa to Italy because of the risk to shipping in the Red Sea. The ship will transfer directly to Europe without any passengers on board and avoid transiting through the Red Sea. Instead, she will sail around the west coast of Africa with no ports of call on the journey.” the cruise line said.

MSC Cruises also added that they were not able to find a commercially viable alternative cruise route along the West Coast, where the limited cruise infrastructure was not equipped to handle a cruise ship the size of MSC Musica.

This has also led them to cancel another sailing, this one from Cape Town to Durban.

“As a result of this change, we have also had to cancel one sailing from Cape Town to Durban. We have contacted guests affected by these unfortunate yet understandable cancellations with offers of alternative cruises or a refund,” MSC said.

Bookings open

Cruise season remains unaffected, apart from these two cancelled sailings, with the MSC Musica scheduled to begin sailing in November this year from the Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal in Durban.

What’s onboard?

Guests can look forward to elegant luxury onboard the MSC Musica, including:

• 16 decks with 1 275 guest cabins,
• eight indoor and two outdoor lounges and bars,
• three swimming pools,
• four restaurants,
• a nightclub,
• boutique shops,
• a library,
• a game room, and lots more.