Cruising to Africa

Cruising to Africa is becoming an increasingly popular way to travel to Africa and enjoy the sights in comfort. This article recommends the best cruise liners offering African itineraries; freighter-cruises offering African destinations and information about renting yachts as well as finding a job as crew.

Cruising to Africa

Popular African cruise itineraries include the Mediterranean in North Africa; the East African coast with stop-offs in Mombassa and Zanzibar; Indian Ocean itineraries which sail to Madagascar and The Seychelles; and Southern Africa with stops in Namibia and South Africa.

Excursions include visits to North African bazaars, imperial cities like Marrakech, and the great Egyptian sights and Roman ruins in Libya. If you stop in Mombassa, you'll be offered various safari tours and Crystal Cruises is even offering a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro as an onshore excursion.

Cruise Liners that Offer African Itineraries:

• Hebridean International Cruises: Offer cruises around the coast of Southern Africa.

• Crystal Cruises: Offer voyages to the African Mediterranean, South Africa and Kenya.

• Silversea Cruises: Offers cruises to Northern Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa.

• Travel Dynamics International: Offers small-ship cruising to West Africa including trips up the River Gambia and a land tour to Djenne and Timbuktu. They also offer South African and North African itineraries as well as a grand voyage from the Cape of Good Hope to Gibraltar.

• Oceania Cruises: Offer some North African destinations as part of their Mediterranean cruise itineraries.

• Cunard: Sails from the UK to the Mediterranean and often includes stops in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco.

Freighter Cruises to Africa
Freighters also carry passengers to Africa, often in luxurious cabins and you don't have to share the ship with hundreds of others. Prices usually run about $125 per day per passenger (plus dues and taxes).

• Grimaldi Freighter-cruises: Offer some very nice West African itineraries.

• Hamburg Sud: Offers roundtrip freight cruises from Europe to South Africa and a roundtrip from Europe to Mauritius and Madagascar.

• St Helena: The last official Royal Mail ship sails a regular route to St Helena and stops in Namibia and South Africa.

Chartering a Yacht in Africa
You can charter a yacht and sail to some incredible destinations along the Indian Ocean coast of Africa. South Africa is a perfect point of departure and there are several companies that offer yacht rentals.

Sail to Africa for Free
If you can't afford to rent a yacht, then you can always opt to work on one as a crew member. There are plenty of private yachts looking for crews to help with the cleaning, cooking and sailing tasks on board. Crew File has some good job listings that are updated daily.

For more information about African cruises, cruise jobs and freighter travel see About.com's Cruises site.