Africa - Luxury Cruises

Is anyone aware of luxury cruise lines that specialize in African destinations? I have looked at the major ones and am unable to find any during our open time (November 2012) with short itineraries.

Thank you for any assistance.

You're not going to find Africa specific cruises on the major lines. And, you're certainly not going to find short cruises in Africa just due to the vastness of that continent. What you will find are itineraries that include stops in Africa among other stops. I did one on Crystal that started in Kenya and continued to NYC, which was a cruise of nearly two months.

Have you looked into freighter cruises or lines that are based in Africa, if there are any?

I have not but will look into it. Thank you.

I am not aware of any luxury cruise lines that specialize in Africa. Many of them sail Africa once a year or every other year. I've sailed Africa twice on Crystal Cruises. If you want a luxury line you can check the itineraries for lines such as Crystal, Regent, Silversea and Seabourn to see who is offering itineraries of Africa.

Keith

Silversea has a couple of cruises in the South African summer (Jan in the north) to and from Cape Town, and stopping on the east coast and with a trip to Hluhluwe game park (White Rhino etc).

You would find that Travel Dynamics and Noble Caledonia may have some nice African voyages- they use the very original Renaissance Cruises ships, pre-R class.

Nonetheless they are not ''luxury'' per se and the only luxury line I am aware of that does African voyages is Silversea during January, 10 nighters round trip from Cape Town.

Thank you tor the information.

I don't see anything in November -- the closest are the January cruises -- 10 nights offered by Silversea. Here is a link http://www.silversea.com/destinations/africaarabia-indianocean/?region=003

Oceania's Nautica is doing a 30-day cruise from Cape Town up the east coast of Africa, then across the Indian Ocean to Singapore; departs 1/5/13. But it's fully booked. We're on a wait list, but doubt we'll get anything., I hope they offer it in Jan. 2014! Click on link below.

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/searchresults.aspx?available=0&date=2013.1&regionid=africa&days=0.999

In all honesty Africa is much better done as a land trip. Perhaps you can find a cruise which starts or ends in Cape Town but add on a couple of weeks pre or post to experience what South Africa and/or Botswana has to offer.

Princess is doing a cruise up the west coast of Africa from Capetown to Dover England in May 2013.

Princess is not a luxury line.

You're not going to find Africa specific cruises on the major lines. And, you're certainly not going to find short cruises in Africa just due to the vastness of that continent. What you will find are itineraries that include stops in Africa among other stops. I did one on Crystal that started in Kenya and continued to NYC, which was a cruise of nearly two months.

 

Have you looked into freighter cruises or lines that are based in Africa, if there are any?

I don't know anything about freighter cruises, but when I imagine or think of them, luxury doesn't come to mind. What are freighter cruises considered?

As I told the OP, luxury lines, or even the mass markets, don't do Africa specific cruises, so I attempted to give the OP an alternative if the destination is more important than the actual ship. Of course freighters aren't luxury. I think we all know that.

I agree with Wripro. An ocean cruise line will get you to port cities in Africa, but that's about it. You might get one overnight excursion to a park. It would take several days of land touring to see the wildlife in just one country.

Some tour operators offer combined land/river tours in Africa that include the Zambezi River: http://zambeziqueen.com/ See the River Cruising board here on CC for additional discussions of African tours/river cruises.

In all honesty Africa is much better done as a land trip. Perhaps you can find a cruise which starts or ends in Cape Town but add on a couple of weeks pre or post to experience what South Africa and/or Botswana has to offer.

I agree 100%. If we go on the Oceania cruise, we'd add on time beforehand - safari near Kruger, touring in Capetown, etc.