A Luxury Africa Cruise Aboard Crystal Symphony

Read on to learn about my six-star Africa cruise. While most travellers prefer the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, booking a luxury cruise around Africa may be just what you need, if you like less obvious destinations.

There are many new cruise ships being launched every year, complete with waterparks, ziplines and other facilities that try to confirm that the more the better, the bigger the better.

But sometimes, in the world of cruise lines, we are just happy to confirm that old is gold. And “old” can be reinvented, reimagined, refreshed and be just as good and, many times, far better than the flashy wannabes sailing around the world.

That’s what I confirmed when I booked a 35-night cruise on the six-star cruise line Crystal – formerly Crystal Cruises. This cruise was an opportunity that I couldn’t let go.

A Luxury Africa Cruise Aboard Crystal Symphony

Originally scheduled to go from the Mediterranean to Dubai via the Suez Canal, the itinerary was changed due to potential challenges crossing the canal at the moment.

So instead of a Suez Canal crossing, the new itinerary was circumnavigating the African continent.

The trip was on the beautiful Crystal Symphony, one of Crystal’s two vessels. The ship was built in 1995 but has been renovated several times over the years, with the most recent renovations in 2017 and 2023.

Considered a six-star cruise ship, Crystal Symphony (along with its sister vessel Crystal Serenity) boasts the only Nobu Matsuhisa restaurant at sea – the acclaimed Umi Uma. The ship has three other restaurants, Osteria d’Ovidio serving Italian cuisine, Beefbar and Waterside, the ship’s main restaurant that offers a different menu every day.

In addition, Crystal Symphony also has more casual eateries, such as The Bistro, a French-style cafe that offers a light buffet throughout the day, Marketplace with its enormous breakfast and lunch buffet, and the pool restaurant Trident Grill.

The ship also offers entertainment throughout the day, perfect for those sea days – and my trip had many! From salsa lessons to Broadway-style shows, including trivia afternoons, movies and karaoke for those guests who, like me, love to sing.

Exploring Crystal Symphony’s Facilities

At 781 ft long, 99 ft wide, and 51,044 gross tons, Crystal Symphony is considered a medium-sized luxury liner. While sizeable, it still feels intimate.

With 12 decks (8 accessible to guests) and 310 refurbished suites, including 4 Crystal Penthouse Suites, 8 Junior Penthouse Suites, and dozens of veranda and ocean-view suites, the ship accommodates up to 606 guests after the 2023 renovation.

Leisure facilities sparkle across the ship. The centrepiece deck offers a resort-style Seahorse pool and hot tub surrounded by teak and loungers.

Fitness enthusiasts have a 3,000 sq. ft gym, complete with weights, Technogym machines, Pilates/yoga areas, and even a full-time fitness director.

Spa lovers can indulge at the Aurora Spa, home to sauna, steam room, and a menu of treatments from aromatherapy to Swedish massage.

Outdoors, find a putting green, golf driving nets, and even a paddle tennis court on the sun-filled top deck.

For social and cultural moments, the Galaxy Lounge theatre hosts nightly production shows with live band accompaniment, while the Hollywood Theatre screens movies.

A constellation of elegant lounges – the Palm Court, Starlite Lounge, Crystal Cove to name a few – provide relaxed spots for cocktails, conversation, or dancing.

For those who enjoy quieter times, there’s a library, card room, and a university-at-sea classroom.

Read Also: Cruising Around the Greek Islands

Getting To Know the Main Restaurants on Crystal Symphony

Umi Uma

Created by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Umi Uma fuses Japanese and Peruvian flavours in an elegant space, featuring signature dishes like miso black cod, spicy tuna crispy rice, sushi, sashimi, and a sake-forward menu. Reservations are required and limited.

Osteria d’Ovidio

Named after owner Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, this Northern Italian restaurant offers refined, traditional cuisine in a sleek setting. With handcrafted risottos, hearty mains, and an intimate atmosphere, it’s a specialty venue requiring advance bookings.

Waterside

The ship’s main dining room, Waterside features open seating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Expect global, seasonal dishes—like Dover sole and crab bisque—prepared from scratch daily by classically trained chefs, served in an elegant dining room with ocean views.

Beefbar

A stylish specialty venue by Riccardo Giraudi, Beefbar brings global “street food” flair with premium meats, seafood, and shareable dishes. Think Kobe-bacon mini burgers, ceviche, mac & cheese, steak frites—the kind of elevated comfort-casual dining you want to linger over.

Marketplace

This buffet-style eatery offers casual, international fare for breakfast and lunch. With live carving stations and à la minute cooking, its menu ranges from cold meats and salads to smoked salmon and small desserts in a bright, open setting.

The Bistro

A Parisian-style café open all day, The Bistro serves specialty Julius Meinl coffees and teas, fresh pastries and bagels in the morning, plus cheeses, pâtés, prosciutto and desserts in the afternoon—all in a relaxed, airy space.

My Suite

I stayed in the Sapphire Veranda Suite, which had a separate living area with a sofa, a coffee table, a work desk, a coffee station and a minibar.

There was also a decent-sized walk-in closet, a fully equipped bathroom all in white, which had a separate shower, a bathtub and a bidet. The ship uses Ortigia toiletries presented in generous containers.

The bedroom had a king-size bed and was separated from the living room by a curtain. The great feature that makes this suite even more special was the large balcony which had two loungers and a small table.

The Itinerary on My Luxury African Cruise

Many of those who’ve never been on a cruise ship before may dread cruising for 35 days. But while on the ship, I met other travellers who were cruising for over six months.

That’s quite common among cruise enthusiasts, especially those who are retired and prefer to experience six-star service.

I boarded the ship in Barcelona and disembarked in the Seychelles 35 days later. The itinerary included many sea days, perfect if you want to enjoy the ship, sunbathe by the pool or just finish a book.

The cruise included days in the following destinations:

1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Gibraltar
3. Tangier, Morocco
4. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
5. Praia, Cape Verde
6. Tema, Ghana
7. Walvis Bay, Namibia
8. Cape Town, South Africa
9. Durban, South Africa
10. Taolagnaro, Madagascar
11. Port Louis, Mauritius
12. St-Denis, Reunion
13. Mahe, Seychelles

Luxury Cruise Around Africa: Day by Day

Day 1: We left the port of Barcelona on a cold, grey day. With the strong winds and cold weather, I stayed indoors and got ready for my first dinner onboard.

Day 3: After one full sea day, which was a great opportunity to explore the ship’s facilities. we reached Gibraltar, our first stop.

Here the winter sun brought temperatures warm enough for us to go around only in a t-shirt.

This UK territory on the Mediterranean has a mix of Spanish and British architecture. With an area of just 6.8km2 (2.6 sq. miles) the main attractions here are the Rock, a monolithic mountain that dominates the entrance to the island, as well as the Gibraltar Airport runway, which crosses one of the main roads.

Every time a plane needs to take off or land, the road is closed, so that the planes can come and go. It’s probably the only airport in the world where people can come and go across the runway.

Day 4: Next, we arrived in Tangier, in northern Morocco. I took the shuttle bus to the main square in the old town. Given the early hours, most shops were closed, but I wandered around the medina and visited the old fish market. It was a lively place to visit. Not a tourist destination as such, but a great place to see daily life at its best. Salesmen selling their fresh catch, fish of all species,

I decided to visit every port on my own accord, but many guests prefer to book one of the shore excursions offered by the cruise line.

These sometimes can be overpriced, if compared with local or online tour providers. But I recommend checking the prices for each tour individually, rather than taking it as a rule of thumb.

Day 6: One sea day after Tangier, we arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands. It was my first time on the island and I took the ship’s shuttle bus to the historic district.

It was a Sunday, so all shops and most restaurants were closed. So I wandered around the old town, exploring the side streets and photographing the historic buildings, plazas and churches.

After a one-hour walk, I arrived in the city centre. First I had a cafe on a pedestrian street while people watching. Then, I went shopping for some formal shoes. Yes, I had forgotten to bring my dressy shoes for the formal nights!

Day 9: After another two full sea days, we arrived in Cape Verde, the Portuguese-speaking archipelago on the West African coast.

We arrived in the port of Praia, the largest city and capital of the archipelago. Like in other ports, I took the ship’s shuttle bus to the city centre.

There, I went to the city’s largest vegetable market, where I had the chance to experience a bit of real local life. Since I also speak Portuguese, I talked to a few people, who were all very nice.

With a population of just over 130,000 people, it’s far from being a large city, so life is still quiet.

Later in the afternoon, I took the shuttle bus back to the ship. This time, we were going to have the largest number of sea days, before the next port.

Day 14: Exactly two weeks after departure from Barcelona, we arrived at the port of Tema, in Ghana. Tema is the largest port in this West African country.

This was the only port where I didn’t go ashore. After speaking to some locals on the ship, I was discouraged from going into town. That’s because they all said there was nothing to see in the city.

The capital Accra was only 35km away, but considering traffic and not-so-good roads, they advised me to leave it, which was a pity.

After Ghana, there were four full sea days ahead of us.

Day 19: The next port on my Africa luxury cruise was Walvis Bay, in Namibia. The country is famous for its miles-long sand dunes in the Namib Desert.

Walvis Bay is the second largest city in Namibia, with a population of just over 100,000. It’s also the largest port in the country and the gateway to the famous sand dunes.

The ship’s shuttle bus only took the guests to a shopping mall, which I visited for an hour or so right after docking. In the afternoon, I went on a private tour to Swakopmund, an old German town.

On the way, we stopped in the sand dunes for a while, continuing our journey to Swakopmund. The city lies on the coast and has some pleasant beaches. But what I enjoyed the most was walking around the city centre, where you can see lots of German-style historic buildings.

Day 21: Cape Town was the first destination where we stayed overnight. In fact, we stayed two nights and it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a bit of city life, go to the beach and on a safari. Being one of the most cosmopolitan destinations in Africa, you are spoilt for choice once you get there.

Cape Town is one of those cities I’ve been visiting fairly regularly since my early days of travel. And since the weather was quite erratic, going from scorching sun to grey with heavy winds, I decided to stay mostly around the V&A Waterfront, with just one beach escape in Camps Bay.

After Cape Town, we could enjoy two sea days before arriving at our next port.

Day 26: The next stop in South Africa was Durban, the third largest city in the country. Despite being an important city, Durban itself doesn’t have many tourist attractions. That said, it’s a great departure point to visit the South African highlands.

It’s even possible to go on a day trip to Lesotho, adding one more country to your list. Since I had been to Durban a few times years ago, I took it easy and stayed on the ship to enjoy the pool, the gym and to catch up on some work.

Day 30: Two sea days after departing from our second South African port, Crystal Symphony arrived in Taolagnaro (aka Fort-Dauphin) on the southeast coast of Madagascar. The place was the first French settlement on the island.

Madagascar was a new country for me and, surely, for most of the other guests. While we only had a day to explore, I can easily say it was one of the best ports we stopped at. Here I went on a shore excursion to Nahampoana Nature Reserve to see one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet: the lemur.

We drove for almost one hour through rural areas, past some humble villages. Once we arrived at the park, our guide explained how the area is preserved and we saw a few tortoises and chameleons before finally getting to see the lemurs.

These primates are endemic to Madagascar and are their most prominent features are the pointed nose and the big eyes. They are kept free in the park, roaming as they please, and are quite shy around humans. Even so, you can get very close to them.

From the nature reserve, we went to Libanona beach, located in a small bay not far from the port. Here we had the opportunity to mingle with locals who were swimming, playing football and selling handcraft souvenirs.

It was a good opportunity to remind myself that, no matter how beautiful your suite can be or how elaborate your dinner can be, it’s the human element that makes such a journey more special.

Day 32: Following one sea day after Madagascar, we arrived at another new country for me: Mauritius. Known as one of the best destinations in the Indian Ocean, we only had one day on the island.

Sadly, it was a public holiday and, for that reason, everything was closed and you could hardly see anyone on the streets.

Even so, I took the ship’s shuttle bus and went to Port Louis city centre. As I expected, it was quiet. But the little I could see was very pleasant.

I stayed mostly around the Caudan Waterfront, enjoying views of the historic hotels by the water and the mountains in the background.

Day 33: On the following day, we arrived in the Reunion Island, a French ultramarine region. Despite the location, it’s considered fully part of France. Locals have a French passport, they use the euro and are part of the European Union.

By the way, here’s a fun trivia question: what’s the longest domestic flight in the world? It’s the flight from St-Denis in Reunion Island to Paris, which is 11h 10m long.

The main attraction on the island is the Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the most active volcanos in the world. It averages one eruption every 9 months for the last 10 years.

You can explore the volcano either by hiking – which of course we didn’t have time to do – or you can go on a helicopter flight, having a bird’s eye view of the volcano and the island.

I chose to take a local bus and go from the port to St-Denis, the capital of the region. With a population of 156,000, the city is very spread out. The city centre has a few Parisian-style cafes, restaurants and several hotels.

But the striking feature is the small black sand beaches dotted along the coast and separated by large rocks, creating a dramatic landscape.

After half a day walking around St-Denis, it was time to return to the ship and get ready for one last sea day, before reaching the last destination on this voyage,

Day 35: On the last day of this cruise around Africa, Crystal Symphony arrived in Mahe, the main island on the Seychelles. The cruise terminal is located close to the capital Victoria and a 20-minute drive from the airport.

I’ll confess that, after 35 day aboard the ship, having great food, experiencing the best service and waking up in a different country every few days, I was sad to leave the ship.

But I had four full days in the Seychelles, one of the most beautiful beach destinations in the world. So I wasn’t in a position to complain, right?

A Six-Star Cruise Around Africa: Conclusion

Cruising around Africa aboard the Crystal Symphony was an unforgettable journey of comfort, culture, and discovery.

From world-class dining and refined suites to unique ports of call across multiple countries, this 35-day voyage redefined what luxury cruising can be.

The balance of sea days and immersive shore visits created a perfect rhythm, allowing us to enjoy the ship’s exceptional amenities while experiencing the vibrant soul of different African countries.

For those seeking elegance with adventure, I can confirm that cruises like this prove that sometimes, the golden age of travel is still very much alive.