Here's some good news for South Africans who fancy taking a cruise - and you should, because cruising is one of the best holidays ever.
The well-known local company, Starlight Cruises, has just announced the successful conclusion of discussions with MSC Cruises, aimed at placing a cruise vessel in South Africa to operate all year round.
This means that from October next year MSC Cruises - the world's largest Italian-owned cruise line - will position the popular liner Monterey here, where it will operate traditional short- and medium-length cruises from ports in South Africa - principally Durban - to destinations in the Indian Ocean and in the Mozambique Channel.
In addition, the popular MSC liner Rhapsody will return each December for her traditional summer season. This means that we have two great liners from this company to choose between.
Starlight has calculated that the placing of a full-time vessel here - with the addition of a second vessel in peak season - will increase annual capacity from the 26 500 passengers to be carried in summer 2005-06 to 60 000 in the first full year of operation in 2006-7. This development means that more than 107 Starlight cruises will depart from South African waters each year.
Allan Foggitt, director of Starlight, is delighted with South Africans' increasing interest in cruising.
"The market appears to be calling out for the more permanent presence of a passenger cruise liner in the region, and the South African economy suggests to us that our timing is exactly right.
We believe this is the biggest single development in the local cruise industry in South Africa since our family first pioneered leisure cruising off this coast 26 years ago.
"MSC and Starlight previously operated highly successful 12-month seasons in 1997 and 1998, before the dramatic decline in the value of the SA rand negated the viability of that operation, and between then and now the South African season has been confined to the summer period between early December and April.
"The exceptional success of our 2004-5 season, and the fact that our 2005-6 season appears set to eclipse the records set at that time, have convinced us that we are making the right decision at the right moment."
For further information about Starlight's new cruise programmes, call Starlight Cruises on 011- 807-5111, e-mail info@starlight.co.za or check out the cruise operator's website, www. starlight.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 29 of The Star on November 26, 2005
