THE luxurious nine-storey, 2100 passenger cruise ship, the MSC Sinfonia, will make her first ever port of call in Port Elizabeth on March 28 next year.

The finest floating hotel ever to operate out of local ports, the magnificent ship is returning to Southern Africa for a third successive summer season in November this year. She will enjoy a full 10-hour maiden visit to the Friendly City next year.

The stop-over in PE forms part of MSC Sinfonia’s four- night end-of-season cruise from Durban to Cape Town, which in turn links into the 18-night north-bound repositioning cruise that calls at ports on the West Coast of Africa and the Mediterranean before docking in Genoa, Italy.

“We are very excited about including Port Elizabeth in our itinerary. It gives us a rare opportunity to showcase the uniquely different characteristics of our three leading port cities to our foreign guests. Best of all it allows our loyal local passengers to join the cruise from their home port,” said Allan Foggitt, marketing director of MSC Starlight Cruises.

Foggitt said passenger statistics from MSC Sinfonia’s previous two record-breaking seasons, where numbers topped 120000 for both MSC Sinfonia and MSC Melody, showed cruising is becoming an increasingly popular vacation of choice for South Africans.

“Port Elizabeth and the surrounding areas in the Eastern and Southern Cape areas fit into this pattern as well and we are talking about people of all ages. Increasing numbers of couples are also celebrating their weddings or other romantic functions on board the ship and cruising is always popular for corporate incentives and conferencing.”

Cape Town will be MSC Sinfonia’s first port of call in South Africa on 8 November this year after a 17-night southbound repositioning cruise from Genoa, Italy.

MSC Sinfonia’s final cruise of the summer season in South Africa departs Durban on March 26 to arrive in PE on March 28 and Cape Town on March 30.

Bookings for the 2011/2012 summer season in South Africa aboard MSC Sinfonia and MSC Melody are already open.