Silversea and Rovos Rail team up on South African cruise itineraries
Silversea Cruises and Rovos Rail have paired up to offer cruise and rail combinations on Silversea’s upcoming South African itineraries for the 2022/23 cruise season. Silversea will be deploying the luxury cruise ship Silver Spirit in South Africa, sailing 15-night roundtrip cruises from Cape Town between December and February.
Silver Spirit will sail three of these roundtrip cruises during the season, before sailing from Cape Town on February 11th, 2023 on a 31-night grand voyage to Dubai.
The cruise and rail combo includes the 15-night itinerary, a 3-night safari adventure in Pilanesberg National Park, and a 3-night Rovos Rail journey from Cape Town to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.
The full package is a 24-night holiday that begins and ends in Cape Town, and is available on any one of Silver Spirit’s three roundtrip Cape Town cruises, with prices starting from $11,035 per person.
The journey starts in Cape Town, where guests will have the chance to explore the surrounding areas of South Africa’s ‘Mother City’.
Silver Spirit will depart Cape Town on December 28th, 2022, and January 12th and 27th, 2023.
The ship will spend a day at sea cruising for Lüderitz, on Namibia’s southwest coast, famed for its Germanic colonial architecture.
Here, passengers can visit the art nouveau Goerke Hause built into the rock face on Diamond Hill, or the Lüderitz Museum exhibiting the town’s diamond-mining past and rich natural history. Silver Spirit will then spend two days in Walvis Bay, a bustling port town home to flamingos, pelicans and Cape fur seals.
The ship will then spend two days at sea en-route to South Africa’s Mossel Bay, home to breathtaking views from the cliffs at Cape St Blaize Lighthouse, with cave tours on offer that showcase the Point of Human Origins archaeological site.
After another day at sea, Silver Spirit will arrive in South Africa’s second largest city, Durban, where she will stay overnight, providing passengers with two days to explore the city’s Zulu, European and Indian cultures, shop in the Victoria Street markets or enjoy a stroll along the Golden Mile – Durban’s beachside esplanade. Passengers can also visit a traditional Zulu homestead in the Valley of 1000 Hills.
Silver Spirit will then cruise overnight to Richards Bay, where she will again spend two days in port so that passengers can enjoy a safari at the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve, home to the world’s largest white rhino population or visit the Richards Bay Park.
The ship will then spend two days at sea cruising back to Cape Town along South Africa’s famed Wild Coast for Cape Town, where the final night of the cruise will be spent in port, providing two days to visit Table Mountain via cable car, head to Boulders Beach to spend time with African penguins, or shop for souvenirs at the Watershed.
This is where the 15-night Cape Town cruise itinerary ends, but passengers opting for the full 24-night sea, safari, rail combo will then board the luxurious Rovos Rail for a memorable three-night train passage traversing the South African hinterland to Pretoria.
Rovos Rail is one of the most luxurious trains in the world, offering train sets made up of vintage carriages fully restored to their original condition.
The lounge car has an open-air balcony, big picture windows, bar, sofas and booths, and off-train experiences include stopping in Matjiesfontein to discover its Victorian heritage, and Kimberley, a town with a troubling diamond mining history.
Guests will then spend three nights at the Bakubung Bush Lodge in Pilanesberg National Park with exciting daily morning and evening game drives tracking down Africa’s ‘Big Five.’
