Cruise Vacations Launches Close to Home Collection in South Africa

Cruise Vacations has introduced a Close to Home Collection for South African travelers, combining Silversea, Swan Hellenic and Emerald Cruises itineraries that begin or end in Cape Town or operate in the Indian Ocean. The Heritage Month program ranges from segments of a 149-night world cruise to eight-day Seychelles sailings.

Cape Town’s cruise terminal handled 83 ship calls and approximately 127,000 passengers between September and June in the 2024-25 season. The preceding season recorded 67 calls and 110,000 passengers.

“Cape Town is the natural anchor, sometimes the beginning, sometimes the finale, and often the point where one adventure seamlessly flows into the next,” said Gaynor Neill, owner of the Johannesburg-based agency.

Silversea, Swan Hellenic and Emerald itineraries

Silversea’s 149-night Three Oceans World Cruise appears as two legs in the region: Mahé to Cape Town and Cape Town to Dakar. Cruise Vacations is also featuring consecutive Silver Muse voyages comprising a 20-night sailing from Lisbon to Cape Town and a 22-night itinerary from Cape Town to Mumbai.

The Swan Hellenic component covers Antarctic expeditions connecting with South Africa. Cruise Vacations did not identify the ships included in that part of the collection.

Emerald Cruises provides the Indian Ocean island option with eight-day round-trip Seychelles itineraries aboard Emerald Kaia. The announcement did not include fares or departure dates for the featured cruises.

Cruise Vacations serves as an officially appointed cruise-line representative in Southern Africa, with a portfolio covering ocean and river cruising as well as expedition products.

Cape Town features in additional 2029 programs

Other announced programs for 2029 also include Cape Town as an embarkation point or overnight destination. Atlas Ocean Voyages has attached seven pre-cruise land experiences to four spring 2029 Atlas Adventurer sailings in Kenya and South Africa.

The ship’s inaugural season includes a 14-night Mombasa-to-Cape Town voyage departing March 24, followed by Cape Town-to-Mombasa and 45-night Cape Town-to-Athens departures on April 7. Its Cape Town land programs range from a three-night Winelands itinerary priced from $3,429 to a six-night Botswana program from $17,379.

Seabourn Quest will make an overnight Cape Town call during Seabourn’s 138-day world cruise from Miami to Lisbon, scheduled for January 7 to May 26, 2029. The 58-destination itinerary also calls at Praslin in the Seychelles, Antsiranana in Madagascar and Zanzibar. Bookings are open, while details of shorter voyage segments are due closer to launch.

For travel advisors, Cruise Vacations is offering Takealot vouchers tied to selected sailings and campaign activities. The agency did not disclose voucher values or detailed qualification requirements, and the incentive program will run throughout September.

Compare current Africa cruise fares on Cruise Lookup.