The arrival in South African waters of the MSC Sinfonia produced adverts that hailed "the first floating resort South Africa has seen". It also produced an unusually large volume of complaints to the travel editor. So many, in fact, that I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of having spent valuable savings to book early for a special 40th wedding anniversary cruise.
Well, after Althea and I had sailed on Sinfonia for a fortnight (we were on the long Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion and Mozambique cruise), we found little to complain about. In fact, it was one of our best holidays - after we had survived the nightmare of disembarking from Durban's "N" Shed.
The "N" must surely stand for "neanderthal". The luggage check-in involves a formidable queue. Passengers (many not so young) are expected to move and lift their luggage while crunched together on a narrow metre-high concrete access platform which can barely contain the long rows of disgruntled people, let alone their suitcases.
Arriving early makes no difference: you still have to endure the indignity of embarking on a luxury modern liner from an old warehouse. Disembarking, we found later, is only slightly more bearable: at least then most of the queueing is done on the ship, but on land the task of sorting colour-coded luggage can prove challenging for N Shed staff. It took an hour to find our suitcases. Durban, as Africa's premier port, should hang its head in shame.
The fact that we virtually forgot about the hell in the harbour soon after boarding says much for the service and comfort on Sinfonia.
The waiting staff and cabin stewards were predominantly Indonesian. Mulyawan, from Jakarta, tended our cabin with the utmost dedication. Always smiling and proficient in English, his speciality was to fold towels into amazing sculptures that were waiting at the foot of the bed every night before we retired: an innovative elephant, pig, dog and a stately swan - mostly wearing reading glasses, borrowed from my bedside cabinet.
Iputu, our dining room waiter from Bali, also understood English perfectly, never stopped smiling and provided splendid service; and Juri, the charming waitress in the Buddha Bar, who hails from north India, was so warm and friendly that she just about became our "personal waitress", anticipating our choice of drinks before we had even ordered them.
Il Galeone and Il Covo, the ship's two "smart" restaurants, provided feasts from various countries. Typically, a dinner menu would offer a choice of three appetisers followed by salad and a choice of two soups. Then there would be pasta or risotto before you have to decide on the main course which, on the last evening, featured seared monkfish, grilled lamb chops or roast fillet of beef. Finally, there was a selection of cheeses and desserts.
The multi-language menus were impressive and the standard generally very good. Still, not everyone was happy. There were moans like "there were not enough lamb chops" (some diners apparently ate all seven courses, every night); "can't wait to get back to some spare ribs and chips at Spur"; "this risotto looks disgusting", "why must we pay for bottled water?" and "Oh, for my T-bone!"
Many of the passengers, it appeared, were graduates of the "eat-as-much-as-you-like" school. No wonder some of the banqueting staff apparently came close to nervous breakdowns this summer. The complaint tsunami, we were told, had raged fiercest during Sinfonia's shorter cruises.
In the La Terrazza buffet restaurant - with its sweeping views of the ocean - you could help yourself to a bewildering array of top class food for breakfast and lunch, and although the ship was quite full we seldom had to share a table with other parties.
Cruise director Stephen Cloete and his "dream team" provided entertainment of the highest calibre. Cloete can double up as stand-up comic and kept his audiences in stitches even in ordinary briefings. He also provided a riveting, yet amusing, lecture on Greek mythology; and twice took passengers on deck late at night for star-gazing.
The nightly shows in the San Carlo Theatre were excellent. With the curvaceous All Star Dancers opening the show for acts like the fiery Spanish dancers, Los Flamencos; comedians Danny Fisher and Gino Fabbri; local Phantom of the Opera star Lana English (who teamed up with her equally talented brother, Victor Siljeur); hilarious hypnotist Max Kaan; and top UK magician Craig Christian, the theatre was packed every night.
Live music featured prominently in Sinfonia's daily programme with a four-piece band as well as solo performers on duty in the various lounges. We were drawn to the Buddha Bar every night, entranced by jazz guitarist Alberto Eleuteri.
The excursions in Mauritius, Reunion, Maputo and Madagascar were well conducted by the selected tour operators. There was such a variety of excursions on offer that one could repeat the cruise three or four times without duplicating an outing. It's a pity there were not a few more in-depth lectures by authorities on the islands we visited to augment the information imparted by well-known ornithologist Ian Sinclair.
Sinfonia is an incredibly clean ship: sweeping of the floors - even washing of the wood-panelled walls - was evident around the clock. And the cabins are spacious. How ocean travel has changed - gone are the days of cramped quarters with a small, round porthole as top-of-the-range "outside cabins".
Complaints? Just a few.
First of all, the tips issue, which really seemed to get everyone's goat. Sinfonia adopted the system whereby passengers are charged $4 (about R30) a day for gratuities. Despite this, there was still a 15 percent service charge on drinks throughout the ship. Why not just charge, say, $5 a day for pooled staff gratuities and scrap the drink tips?
Second, the layout of the San Carlo Theatre is poor. Most of the seating consists of low benches with higher, fixed swivel chairs smack-bang in front of them, just about totally blocking the view of those on the bench.
It was annoying not to be able to buy a snack or tea and coffee outside breakfast and lunch hours, and as for the "library", some guest houses have a bigger variety of books.
But enough negatives. MSC Sinfonia is generally a wonderful cruise liner and South Africa should be proud to have her based here in summer.
- For more information about MSC Sinfonia's 2010/11 programme, contact Starlight Cruises, on 011 807 5111, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.starlightcruises.co.za.
- Jan de Beer and his wife were full-paying passengers.