MSC Cruises replaces MSC Musica with MSC Opera for 2025/26 South African season

MSC Cruises has confirmed MSC Opera will homeport in Durban and Cape Town for the 2025/26 winter cruise season in South Africa, replacing MSC Musica which has been deployed to the country for the current 2024/25 season.

The 2004-built, 2,150-passenger MSC Opera is scheduled to sail a 26-night repositioning cruise from Venice to Durban through the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, visiting destinations in Croatia, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Reunion.

The route is this cruise is highly dependant on the ongoing security crisis in the Red Sea. Since 2022, MSC Cruises has been forced to cancel or amend all its repositioning cruises between the Middle East and Europe, and South Africa the Mediterranean.

Upon arriving in South Africa, MSC Opera will kick off its local season on November 28th, 2025, sailing a range of 2- to 5-night roundtrip cruises out of Durban and Cape Town to Maputo, Pomene, and Portuguese Island, as well as Walvis Bay.

The deployment also includes a special 14-night Christmas and New Year cruise to four ports of call in Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and Mayotte: Nosy Be, Port Louis, La Possession, and Mamoudzou, with New Year’s Eve spent at sea.

MSC Opera will remain in South Africa through April 17th, 2026.

The 2025/26 cruise season will mark MSC Opera’s first return to South Africa in nearly five years. The ship originally debuted in South Africa during the 2012/13 winter season, sailing roundtrip from Durban while MSC Sinfonia homeported in Cape Town.

Although MSC Opera is one of the cruise line’s smaller Lirica-class ships, she is almost comparable in size to MSC Musica as the vessel, along with the other ships of her class, was stretched in 2015 during a major refit.

The refurbishment involved cutting the vessel in half and inserting a pre-built 24-metre mid-section. She was then welded back together with an increased tonnage, length and passenger capacity, boasting new public areas and 200 additional cabins.

Up on the pool deck, MSC Opera also got a completely new water park, with a pathway of water features and water cannons, and a new kids splash play area.