Durban cruise port guide
When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s beachfront, a high-energy holiday strip just east of the centre, is South Africa’s most developed seaside. MSC South Africa cruises also offer excursions to the 6km-stretch of the beach from the Umgeni River in the north to the Point in the south, traditionally called the Golden Mile. The big draw of Addington Beach – and the only really worthwhile attraction along the beachfront – is instead uShaka Marine World. This impressive water adventure wonderland is a tropical African theme park, complete with palm trees, fake rock formations and thatched bomas. The most appealing section is uShaka Sea World, designed in and around a superb mock-up of a wrecked 1920s cargo ship. The complex also includes a dolphin stadium and a seal pool, where daily shows (three a day) feature these creatures, as well as uShaka Wet ’n Wild, a series of pools and water slides, including The Drop Zone, the highest water slide in Africa.
About Durban
The Port of Durban is the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, handling up to 31.4 million tons of cargo annually. It features a dedicated cruise terminal operated 70% by MSC Cruises SA and 30% by Africa Armada Consortium. MSC Cruises bases vessels including the MSC Orchestra in Durban from November to April each year.
Quick facts
Cruises visiting Durban
Prices per person · incl. taxes & fees.
Sailing soonest
Lisbon to Mumbai
Silver Muse · Europe · 42 nights
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26 nights South Africa from Venice - Marghera
MSC Armonia · Adriatic · 26 nights
from $1,768
$68 / night
29 nights South Africa from Venice - Marghera
MSC Armonia · Eastern Mediterranean · 29 nights
from $2,340
$80 / night
Expedition South Africa and Madagascar: two wonderful wildernesses - Cape Town to Mauritius
HANSEATIC Spirit · Africa · 18 nights
from $9,671
$537 / night
In the kingdom of wild animals - Cape Town to Mauritius
MS EUROPA 2 · Africa · 16 nights
from $11,979
$748 / night
Round the World Cruise
Costa Deliziosa · Worldwide · 140 nights
from $20,626
$147 / night
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