No lose on this splendid cruise
South Africans no longer have to fly to Europe to enjoy MSC’S Splendida, which will be sailing out of the new terminal in Durban
My father, grandfather and greatgrandfather were shipwrights, men who spent their lives building cruise ships and cargo vessels and, in my old man’s case, the odd strike craft and at least one oil rig.
Migration meant I never had to serve my time at Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard where they all learned their trade, but despite this (or perhaps because of it) I’ve inherited their love for the sea and ships.
My last outing on a ship was a mad, 48-hour bender of drunken, chemically fuelled mayhem aboard the cruise ship the Marco Polo during its maiden South African voyage in the latter part of the 1990s.
It ended with threats of being held in the vessel’s brig — the nautical version of holding cells — until we reached harbour as wel as a lifetime ban from any ship operated by Orient Lines.
By the time we disembarked, Orient, who made the mistake of hosting our prow-to-stern, Durban to Cape Town display of debauchery and greed for the demon drink, had — rightly — had enough of us.
Thankfully, a recent night aboard the MSC Splendida, which is sailing out of Durban to Mozambique’s Portuguese Islands, Mauritius and Reunion for the December-to-easter season, ended in a far more auspicious manner.
This is the Splendida’s first season in South African waters, where it will be sailing out of the new Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) cruise terminal in Durban’s Mahatma Gandhi Road.
The facility cost the company, which has been operating cargo and cruise vessels in South African waters for nearly 30 years, more than R320 million and was opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the end of last month.
The company plans to invest heavily in its African east coast infrastructure, which will allow it to eventually bring its Seaside class vessels — the next class up from Splendida, which carries 5400 passengers — onto the circuit as time goes on.
MSC hopes to employ 5000 South Africans by the late 2020s, recruiting through the Durban-based Shosholoza Maritime Academy, which is jointly sponsored by the municipality and the company.
The Splendida is a 333.3m Fantasia-class cruise ship built for MSC by the STX shipyards in France and commissioned in 2009 after two years of work at a cost of $500 million.
It carries 4 363 guests in 1 637 cabins — including 71 in the exclusive Yacht Club — and arrived in Durban from Venice, Italy, where it spent several seasons on the Mediterranean to Red Sea cruise circuit.
It is 37.92m across, 66.8m high and has a top speed of 22.87 knots, a behemoth of a vessel that towers above the quayside — we didn’t get to go out on the ocean — a majestic tribute to human ingenuity and engineering skill.
It really is a floating city — or at least a holiday resort on the ocean — a 137.936 tonne beauty on which almost every need is attended to in meticulous detail while one travels from destination to destination.
More than 1 300 staff from nations around the world take care of running the Splendida and its impressive array of restaurants — steak house, buffet, Asian, fine dining to mention only a few — bars and other entertainment facilities.
There is a library; a theatre; a casino for the punters among us; gym and spa facilities; a business centre for those who can’t take a break while they’re taking a break and all manner of above-deck entertainment, ranging from live music to games, a water slide and whirlpools.
The Splendida has 16 decks, with the Yacht Club located foreships, an exclusive facility aimed at hyper-luxury travel which is on offer in South
African waters for the first time.
It comes complete with a 24-hour butler service, pool deck, bar, a private restaurant and Balinese massages to mention a few of the exclusive benefits that come with the higher price tag.
MSC managing director Ross Volk said they had decided to bring the “ship within a ship” to South Africa and to base it in Durban to allow local travellers to enjoy its luxury product without having to go to Europe.
It also allows better access for travellers from Johannesburg than Cape Town harbour — and is closer to the coastal and offshore destinations being offered by the Splendida during this cruise season.
“This is not for rich Europeans to enjoy at the exclusion of South Africans,” Volk said at a crest exchange ceremony last month.
“This is about allowing South Africans to enjoy this luxury product for the first time without having to fly to Europe to do so.”
The captain of the Splendida Nicola Gravante, and Durban harbour master Captain Sabelo Mdlalose, performed the longstanding nautical tradition of exchanging crests the first time a ship docks in a harbour.
Close attention to detail and meticulous service aren’t limited to the Yacht Club.
Restaurant staff at the Bora Bora buffet on deck 14, where an industry lunch was held, were extremely attentive and welcoming and made up for the delay in getting on board due to drama with the company’s booking system internationally.
The food was great. No bog-standard desiccated chicken, geriatric broccoli and dehydrated breyani here. Instead, it’s a bit of a culinary voyage across the planet — it is a cruise ship after all — a nod to the international nature of both clientele and staff.
A carvery offered crisp, juicy roast lamb with all the trimmings; the Mediterranean station classic antipasti,
mains and salads; a grill station; a burger counter; an Asian station; a vegan healthy section, as well as several dessert stations to get lost in, added to a range of hot and cold dishes.
The large number of serving areas means no queue for food at the buffet — or at the coffee stations, where I caught up with ethekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, one of the dignitaries who had joined us for the night.
We had dinner in the La Reggia restaurant on deck six, an equally enjoyable dining experience accompanied by excellent, cheerful service ahead of the evening’s entertainment.
The seafood salad starter was top notch: the crab mayonnaise perfectly complementing the seared scallop, king prawn and ginger and lime dressing; a few marvellous mouthfuls of the ocean to get the appetite going.
The steak and prawn main course was equally creative and exceptionally well prepared, the beef rare and perfectly paired with a single king prawn, sauteed bok choy and a béarnaise sauce.
The king cake for dessert was inhaled more than eaten, five forkfuls of crunchy but melt-in-yourmouth chocolate heaven, the berry coulis drizzled the perfect fruity foil for the cocoa-laden rectangle of bliss on the middle of the plate.
We passed on the late-night entertainment that followed — party starters Mafikizolo and Dr Victor and the Rasta Rebels followed by a discotheque — but from the look of our colleagues at breakfast, a good time was had by all.
The Splendida will sail to Portuguese Island, in Mozambique, until 27 December, after which longer voyages to Reunion and Mauritius take place until February.
Thereafter, it will sail between Cape Town and Walvis Bay, Namibia, before leaving South African waters at the end of the season.