I went on an African safari by cruise ship. Not everything went as planned, but I would do it again

Last month, I took a bucket-list cruise through Africa with Norwegian Cruise Line onboard Norwegian Dawn. While this cruise ship was one of the oldest in the cruise line’s fleet at 22-years-old, the unique itinerary was one that I couldn’t resist.

Even better, the cruise fare was extremely affordable compared to other African cruise options. The 12-night itinerary on Norwegian Dawn featured ports of call throughout Africa, including Mauritius, Madagascar, and South Africa.

While most cruises visit popular destinations throughout the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe, some cruise lines offer more exotic itineraries. These bucket-list itineraries visit unique places around the world with stops at off-the-beaten-path ports of call.

As someone who has been to Cozumel and Nassau more times than I can count, the idea of cruising to Africa was exciting. Instead of drinking fruity cocktails on the pool deck, I booked excursions that would take me on exciting safari adventures each day. With some quick convincing, my friend Rosina wanted to join on this wild adventure for a girl's trip!

This wasn’t your ordinary cruise, as this trip had a lot of planning and logistics involved. Just like most cruises, not everything goes exactly as planned. While there were some unexpected challenges during our vacation, I don’t have any regrets about booking an African safari cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line.

Here’s what went right and wrong, along with why I wouldn’t hesitate to book the same cruise again.

One reason I wanted to take a cruise instead of a land-based trip was the opportunity to comfortably visit multiple countries in Africa

There are many different ways to do an African safari, and most of these are not by cruise ship. Many will camp or stay in a reserve doing game drives from sun up to sun down. Taking a cruise has its limitations, such as time constraints, weather delays, and lack of flexibility.

Although I have been fortunate to see so much of the world, I had only visited Africa once before during my semester abroad in college on Semester at Sea. My only attempt at an African safari was a total bust in which we drove 13 hours into the depths of Senegal and only saw one animal: a caged leopard.

After this immensely disappointing experience, I wanted to have some redemption and experience a true African safari. However, traveling to Africa is different than traveling to other areas of the world for me. The culture shock is hard to grapple with and the poverty, for me, can be very difficult to see.

Because of this, I was drawn to the idea of cruising since it was familiar and comfortable. I’d define myself as a cautiously adventurous traveler. I will splurge to be comfortable while traveling, and you couldn’t pay me to camp! Being able to return to a safe place each day on Norwegian Dawn with clean water, air conditioning, and familiar food was priceless to me.

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For this African cruise, I booked as many safari excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line as possible.

After making our reservation onboard Norwegian Dawn, I started to research the best safari options for each port, which led me to conclude that it would be best to plan our safaris with Norwegian Cruise Line. Since I had never sailed to this area of the world before, I was not confident about booking excursions with a third-party.

When excursions were released on the cruise planner, I booked as many safaris as I could for the ports. This included three safaris by 4x4, which is a classic open-aired vehicle used for game drives. Each safari was around $200 and included two hours of driving around the reserve or national park.

The safaris would be at the end of the itinerary in South Africa. I booked excursions to Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park in Richard’s Bay, Addo Elephant National Reserve in Port Elizabeth, and Botlierskop Private Game Reserve in Mossel Bay.

After booking excursions and finalizing my cruise plans, I could hardly wait for my African adventure! As luck would have it, there was a cyclone that slammed the islands of Reunion and Mauritius in the days leading up to our cruise. Luckily, we did not have any flight issues during the 30-hour journey to Mauritius, unlike other cruisers.

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The beginning of the cruise had some unexpected incidents, from the embarkation in Mauritius to a missed port in Madagascar

Boarding the Norwegian Dawn in Mauritius was one of the worst embarkation experiences I’ve ever had. Taking an African safari cruise is very different than other cruises. In this way, it’s important to have realistic expectations, and I was prepared for some non-customary cruise experiences because of this.

Arriving at the cruise port in Mauritius, we found a giant tent in place of a traditional cruise terminal. A long line weaved outside in the hot African sun. There was nowhere to drop our luggage, so we had to lug it around with us around the tent. Many of the older guests struggled to stand in the hot tent for hours, understandably. It took upwards of three hours to check in and board Norwegian Dawn!

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Another disappointment came on Day 4 of our cruise when we could not dock in Antsiranana, Madagascar due to weather. The low tides prevented Norwegian Dawn from safely docking, so we spent the day at sea instead.

Luckily, we did receive onboard credit of $150 due to our embarkation experience and the missed port. This was provided for all guests onboard with each stateroom receiving the non-refundable onboard credit of $150. I did not expect this compensation, but it did soften the blow. 

At this point in the itinerary, I wondered whether I would regret taking a cruise instead of a land-based safari trip. Being on a cruise, you have less flexibility and control of your vacation because you’re at the mercy of the weather and decisions made by the cruise line and ship captain.

I struggled with anxiety as we made our way to South Africa. I feared that we would have further changes to our itinerary that would lead to further disappointment. If I had traveled so far to Africa for another failed safari attempt, this would have been devastating.

Fortunately, we arrived in South Africa without issue and excitedly embarked on our first safari excursion!

Our first stop in South Africa was Richard’s Bay, where we had scheduled a 4x4 game drive in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park. The drive was around two hours from the cruise port to the national park, where we would get in a 4x4 vehicle for our safari. I was giddy like a kid on Christmas morning getting into the 4x4!

With our safari guide, we started to drive around Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park, which is one of the oldest nature reserves in Africa. Since this was not a zoo but instead the wilderness, you never know what you might see. We immediately saw zebras in the distance and water buffalos right off the side of the dirt road.

Later in the drive, we also saw an elephant, which was considered a rare sighting! Other animals included impalas and warthogs, although we could have seen lions, leopards, and rhinoceroses. 

The two hours in the 4x4 flew by! I felt like I could have stayed out there for two more hours while driving around looking for animals. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire day; it felt surreal!

My second safari excursion was to Addo Elephant Park; however, Norwegian messed up my original reservation

When booking our second excursion to Addo Elephant Park, I originally booked the excursion in a 4x4 for the game drive. After achieving Gold Latitude status in October, I qualified for a 15% shore excursion discount.

When rebooking my excursions, Norwegian said the 4x4 excursion was available but when they went to apply the discount and rebook the tour, they said it was no longer available. Because of this, we could only do the elephant park by coach bus through the cruise line. This was initially very disappointing, as an African safari is undoubtedly best done in a 4x4.

When we arrived, I heard from fellow cruisers that their 4x4 excursion had been canceled on the first day of the cruise, and all of the other excursions were sold out. I was grateful we were on the coach tour. 

Arriving at the Addo Elephant Park, my disdain faded even further when I saw the temperature was going to be 108 degrees! Being on the coach bus meant we had air conditioning, so I was not complaining.

During our drive, we saw herds of elephants wandering around the park. At one point, the elephants walked right in front of our bus on their way to a watering hole. It was unbelievable, like something you see in the movies! I was speechless.

We probably saw upwards of 50 elephants during our drive, along with so many zebras. The herds were wandering around the park and bathing in the water. Although I was disappointed that Norwegian had messed up our original excursion, I had no complaints about our tour because we saw so many elephants in the wild.

I was nervous that our final safari would be canceled in Mossel Bay due to weather and tendering conditions, but this luckily wasn’t the case

The final safari we booked was a 4x4 game drive at Botlierskop, which is a private game reserve near Mossel Bay, South Africa. After already missing one port in our itinerary due to the weather, I was nervous about missing our final safari because of the weather again.

The seas were rough sailing to Mossel Bay, so I was anxious most of the evening about whether or not we would make it. I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a beautiful morning in Mossel Bay! The water was very calm, and we could see seals jumping in and out of the water during sunrise.

Our final safari was the best of the three, although every safari was incredible in its own way. During this safari, we immediately saw two giraffes and so many zebras. Additionally, our 4x4 drove right up to a rhino. I couldn’t believe how close we were to such a massive, wild animal. Truly a pinch-me moment!

We were also able to see the reserve’s cheetahs at the end of the safari, although we couldn’t find any of the lions. I learned that cheetahs are rather friendly to humans and shy, which explains why they seemed very unbothered by our 4x4.

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I loved all three of our safaris, although Norwegian Dawn’s shore excursion team was a little disorganized

Despite these excellent excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line, I was surprised by the apparent disorganization of the ship’s shore excursion team. Upon arriving at the theatre each morning for our excursions, the team never seemed to be on the same page.

One morning, we would receive our excursion numbers and stickers right away, while other mornings we would be instructed to do the opposite. It didn’t help that many other cruisers refused to follow instructions from the excursion staff, causing more confusion. This was especially true during immigration into South Africa, which was face-to-face with an immigration officer.

I concluded that many guests were older and chose to take this itinerary as a bucket-list trip. This seemingly contributed to an emotionally heightened environment onboard. Everyone wanted to be the first ones off the ship to experience Africa to its fullest. Because of this, many guests on the excursions did not follow instructions or complained about the excursion operations.

Regardless, I had great experiences with my safari excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line. I have no regrets about booking these tours through the cruise line, and I would do this again on a similar itinerary.

Taking a cruise around Africa brings you to lesser-known destinations for safaris, along with simplifying your planning while allowing you to see more of the area

Going to Africa for a safari was always on my bucket list, but I had no idea where to begin the planning. Most people will visit Africa on a land trip for a safari, but the planning can be quite tedious. The continent is huge, and there are seemingly endless choices for where to take a safari.

Taking a cruise provides an entirely different experience. For example, you’ll be able to visit more destinations along the coast of Africa that might not receive the same fanfare as the big-name reserves, like Krueger National Park.

In addition, you can cover more ground on a cruise ship because you’ll be visiting many different ports of call during your itinerary. When taking a land-based trip to Africa, you will likely only have time to visit a few reserves. Visiting multiple destinations in Africa allows you to see a variety of reserves. Each one is very unique and offers its own distinct wildlife and experience.

Finally, those who are looking to visit multiple reserves across Africa on a land trip will need to do a lot of planning. While this isn’t impossible, taking a cruise provides a lot of simplification for logistics. Once you’ve booked your cruise, you can simply book excursions through the cruise line. These have already been researched and vetted by the cruise line, so you can rest assured that it will likely be a good experience.

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If you’re looking to be totally immersed in the African safari culture and wildlife, a cruise is not the right fit for you. For me, it was the perfect balance

Taking an African safari cruise is not for everyone, and this type of cruise definitely has its limitations, such as limited time in port, lack of flexibility, and weather problems. In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line’s African itineraries are offered during the summer, which is storm and rain season. Most recommend doing African safaris during the dry season - June to August in South Africa - because of this.

Additionally, during port stays, you will be visiting reserves during the heat of the day. This is when animals tend to rest, while they are more active in the mornings sometimes. Those who choose to do land-based trips for safaris have more flexibility for game drives from sunrise to sunset. I was only able to visit the reserves in the late morning and early afternoon, although I still saw many animals at each reserve.

Moreover, your safaris will be limited to the proximity of reserves from your cruise’s port stops. While I did not deem this a major limitation, some people might be looking to visit the bigger reserves that can be found inland.

While our cruise on Norwegian Dawn had its hiccups, I would not hesitate to do it again. Personally, taking an African safari cruise was the perfect balance between adventurous days and comfortability at night. I loved returning to my cozy cruise cabin each night with the excitement of a new destination each day. Being able to visit so many diverse reserves with the convenience of a cruise was priceless.