MSC Orchestra on its way to Seychelles |08 November 2022

The MSC Orchestra (Photo courtesy MSC Cruises)

The Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA) will be welcoming the second cruise ship for this season with the arrival of MSC Orchestra tomorrow, Wednesday November 9, 2022.

With the lifting and relaxing of some restriction measures by the Public Health Authority (PHA), the vessel, which is expected to dock at 12 noon, will be carrying 1642 passengers and 800 crew. This is half of its total capacity of passengers which is 3100 passengers.

The MSC Orchestra has an overall length of 294 metres and is one of the longest cruise ships to have ever berthed at Port Victoria.

Another vessel, MS Norwegian Jade, which is of the same length, will be visiting Port Victoria during this season.

Classified as a musica-class cruise ship, it is not the first time that MSC Orchestra calls to Seychelles.

Since she will occupy almost the entire length of the Mahé Quay, a berth management plan has been put in place, as usual, to ensure normal port operations.

The MSC Orchestra will depart Port Victoria on Thursday at 7pm, destination Port Louis, Mauritius.

To recall, the cruise ship season 2022-2023 was officially launched on October 12, 2022 with the arrival of MS Europa 2 which will be the next cruise liner to call to Port Victoria after MSC Orchestra. MS Europa 2 will arrive in Seychelles on November 14, 2022. She will be visiting Praslin and La Digue before departing on November 16, 2022.

Some 18 cruise vessels with a combined 42 port calls are expected in Seychelles during this cruise ship season ending in April 2023.

Press release from the Seychelles Ports Authority