Following a milestone inaugural season sailing out of Cape Town, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has set its sights on 2024, bringing the Norwegian Dawn into South African waters.
- The Norwegian Jade concluded its inaugural 2022/2023 season home-porting from Cape Town.
- Built in 2022, the Norwegian Dawn was refurbished in 2016 and brings a new experience to South African cruising.
- The 2024 itinerary reinforces NCL’s commitment to the African region.
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In December 2022, Norwegian Jade became the first vessel in the NCL line’s 18 ship fleet to home-port from the newly developed Cape Town Cruise Terminal, offering international and local guests a 12-day journey along the South African coast with an overnight stay in Cape Town and visits to Mossel Bay, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Richard’s Bay and onwards to Luderitz and Walvis Bay in Namibia.
We are excited to offer our South African guests the opportunity to sail with NCL right from their doorstep and enjoy our unique ‘Freestyle Cruising’ philosophy without the need for long-haul travel and lengthy visa applications. We experience a growing demand for our cruises in South Africa. In fact, during her inaugural season in the region, Norwegian Jade welcomed the highest number of South African guests on any NCL cruise to date. After testing us locally, a growing number of guests opt for our long-haul cruises to bucket-list itineraries in Europe, Alaska or Asia.
// Norwegian Cruise Line Vice President and Managing Director Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa, Kevin Bubolz,
The international cruise line is building on its successful inaugural season in South Africa with the deployment of Norwegian Dawn to the region in 2024. Once again home-porting from Cape Town and also Port Louis in Mauritius, the 2’340-passenger ship will offer a series of voyages between January and March 2024.
Mauritius has long been a popular holiday destination for South African travellers and Norwegian Dawn’s new itineraries provide for the perfect opportunity to combine a land-based vacation in Mauritius with a cruise that visits some of the most sought-after destinations in the neighbourhood, including Reunion, Madagascar and Mozambique, all while unpacking only once. The new itineraries prove very popular and are amongst our fastest selling cruises for 2024.
// Norwegian Cruise Line Vice President and Managing Director Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa, Kevin Bubolz
In January 2024, Norwegian Dawn will sail a 12-day itinerary from Port Louis (Mauritius), calling to Pointe des Galets (Réunion) Fort Dauphin (Madagascar), Pomene and Maputo (Mozambique), Richard’s Bay, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Mossel Bay and Cape Town (South Africa).
Cruise tourism generates R300 million in economic impact for the Western Cape and supports thousands of jobs in the province. Positioning Cape Town as a homeport for international and local cruising is a key growth opportunity for our region and we welcome NCL’s commitment to sailing out of Cape Town.
// Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger
From February 2024, Norwegian Dawn will also complete a 12-day round-trip voyage through South Africa and Namibia with calls to Mossel Bay, Durban, Luderitz and Walvis Bay before embarking on her most extensive itinerary in March 2024, sailing from Cape Town to Barcelona (Spain). The 21-day voyage along Africa’s west coast will visit ports in Namibia, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Senegal, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and Morocco.
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