MSC Melody

One would say you'd have to be crazy to sail the East coast of Africa - passing Somalia and up into the Gulf of Aden. Maybe. But looking back, the adventure was fantastic. Even the unforeseen set of circumstances that unfolded when pirates actually did attempt to board our ship!

The itinerary was superb, and was more the reason we chose MSC cruises (no other liner offered anything like it)

We departed Sydney set for Johannesburg in South Africa. After an overnight, we connected to Victoria Falls where our adventure began.

We did seven nights in the game parks in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Mozambique River, the river borders of Tanzania & Namibia and then back to Durban where we joined MSC Melody.

The queue when we arrived resembled a badly organised embarkation. Us, looking like we really had just come off safari, made good of the time chatting with other passengers (joking about sea piracy) and within about 2 hours we were walking the gangway, about to board.

Our cabin was portside; outside (window) on the top deck. Handy, because we were 6 doors from the theatre from where (many a night) we'd return to our cabin. We were directly below the bridge as well which meant little or no footsteps heard throughout the cruise.

We set sail for Genoa (Italy) pretty much on time.

THE SHIP

MSC Melody - MSC Cruises

Tonnage: 35,143 tons; Max passengers: 1492; Cruise speed: 18 knots. Small ship; the largest in MSC's Classical Fleet.

Melody has a lot of grace about her. More than big enough for the thousand or so passengers aboard and small enough that it was intimate and everyone got know everyone else.

Decor was very Mediterranean but a little aged.

Cabins were roomy and well appointed, bathrooms were spacious and adequate.

Food aboard ship was average. I would have expected better from an Italian liner but I understand MSC's newer and larger ships offer far more in the way of food (quality and selection) than Melody does.

Entertainment was excellent. The shows were great and although translated into some 4 different languages at the time, we didn't miss a line.

Crew is international and a good number of Aussies worked aboard in various areas, especially within the entertainment staff.

ITINERARY

Departure port - Durban, South Africa then 3 nights at sea. Reunion Island; Mauritius; 2 nights at sea; Seychelles; 5 nights at sea (passing the coast of Somalia) to Egypt's, Jordan and transiting through the Suez Canal to Naples (where we disembarked) then on to Genoa.

`Though some port stops were cancelled in the Middle East because of time consumed preventing pirates boarding our ship; and while a military escort was arranged to see us clear the rest of the way to Gulf of Aden, the ports (above) that we did see were outstanding. Better than I'd ever imagined.

This trip (including the week of game parks) was probably the best 4 weeks I've spent doing "something completely different". Would I do again? Absolutely.

(MSC Melody - spoil factor 5/10)

Click here to view photos (coming soon)

Click here to view our pirate attack experience (coming soon)

________________________________________________

Editor - Cruisescene