MSC Cruises South Africa recently spent more than R500,000 reuniting cruise passengers with their luggage following baggage sorting chaos at OR Tambo International in Johannesburg.

Last Friday, the beginning of the busiest domestic travel weekend of the year, Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA) baggage sorting system at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport failed.

Thousands of bags had to be sorted manually, including the luggage of hundreds of cruise passengers flying from Joburg to Durban to board MSC Splendida for a 5-night roundtrip cruise to Pomene Bay and Portuguese Island in Mozambique.

Chaos ensued, with thousands of passengers forced to fly without their bags, despite attempts by airlines to give baggage handlers time to manually sort bags by delaying flights. MSC Cruises South Africa attempted to do the same when passengers arrived at Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal in Durban without their luggage.

The cruise line delayed the departure of the ship until 9pm in the evening, accruing hefty post charges in the process, but was ultimately forced to set sail with more than 40 passengers still missing their bags.

By Saturday morning, ACSA admitted it was “still experiencing technical challenges” with the system, resulting in ongoing flight delays, and travellers across the country still having not been reunited with their luggage.

MSC Cruises MD Ross Volk says the MSC Splendida crew did all it could for affected passengers, including providing a laundry service at no cost. 

He said the cruise line had limited options for getting passengers’ bags to them as Pomene Bay and Portuguese Island have no airport.

On Monday, Christmas morning, with MSC Splendida at anchor off Portuguese Island, MSC Cruises was able to finally bring the affected passengers bags onboard. 

The cruise line had arranged for the 43 bags to be driven 540 kilometres from Durban to Maputo, where it was then loaded onto boats and delivered to the ship.

MSC Splendida is currently sailing her first ever homeport season in South Africa. She is the largest cruise ship ever to homeport in the country, and while she is predominantly cruising roundtrip from Durban, she will also be spending part of the season in Cape Town, sailing to Namibia.