Cape Town Cruise Terminal set to enhance passengers’ experience

By Sue Segar

AS Cape Town prepares for a bumper cruise season, the V & A Waterfront is determined to ensure that passengers arriving in the City on cruise ships have a world class experience from the moment they leave their ship. 

Cape Business News recently visited the Cape Town Cruise Terminal for a tour of what visitors arriving in the City can expect when they disembark from the ships at the Terminal.

The cruise industry, which is seasonal, runs from October to May. Recently, an economic impact study conducted by Wesgro found that cruise tourism injected R1,2 billion into the Western Cape economy between November 2022 and May 2023 which was the 2022/2023 cruise season. The study found that the Port of Cape Town welcomed 70 ship calls, carrying 145 000 two-way passengers and 42 000 crew members, marking the biggest cruise season the terminal has experienced. The study also found that for every 30 cruise passengers that arrive, the cruise industry creates one full-time job – resulting in about 1 800 local jobs created in that season.

Donald Kau, head of Communications for the V & A Waterfront said that, since December 2015, when Transnet handed over the operation of the cruise terminal to the V&A Waterfront in a Terminal Operator agreement, the V & A Waterfront authorities had gone all out to upgrade the building, and, in turn, the passengers’ experience. Since signing a 20-year agreement to operate the cruise terminal, the area – which was originally a small industrial building which served as a precooling facility for fruit exports – has become a state-of-the-art facility. 

Kau said the cruise ship industry is a crucial part of Cape Town’s ocean economy, adding that if a passenger’s experience on arrival is unsatisfactory, it can affect their perception of the whole city, recent research from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) showing that 63% of cruise passengers are likely to revisit a destination they first encounter through a cruise ship The cruise processing facilities have been set up to make the disembarking process as user friendly and enjoyable as possible. 

An “ecosystem of businesses”, set up at Makers Landing in the Cruise Terminal area has expanded its offerings to welcome passengers with a shared incubator kitchen, and a food market offering a variety of food businesses, beverage experiences and shops focusing on South African flavours and culture – thus offering tourist experiences as well as creating jobs for local people, he added. 

The passenger experiences include; Afrikoa, the first bean-to-bar company in South Africa to produce chocolate made from cocoa sourced directly from African farmers and hosting a chocolate studio making truffles and other confectionary; Charms Kitchen, which boast Indian inspired meals; Conscious Meat Merchants, specialising in sustainable meat, Emazulwinie a restaurant run by Mmabatho Molefe inspired by Zulu heritage; Fuzzy’s Koesiesters, offering one of the Cape’s famous delicacies, the koeksister, Pienaar and Son, a small craft distillery showcases local gin, while Pitso’s Kitchen serves South African cuisine and Ukhamba Beerworx, the first black-owned beer brewery in Cape Town, that gives a taste of local beer.

The Cape Town cruise terminal was recently awarded Africa’s Leading Cruise Port at the World Travel Awards. “The cruise terminal is up and running to welcome passengers to Cape Town for this season and for future cruise seasons as the terminal continuously improves its services.”