I’m on a Boat: Day 1

My lovely sister has organised for us to go on cruise for a holiday so I’m sorry that I have been off the grid for a while.  Last Friday, literally a week after I arrived in Bloemfontein, Johann, Anneline and I boarded a plane to Cape Town with a group of friends. We spent the night at our aunt’s house, met up with Anine and the next day made our way to the Cape Town harbour.

We then spent the next two hours waiting to board the MSC Sinfonia, for our cruise holiday!! All around us good-looking crew members helped us onto the ship. I seriously was stopped at every metal scanner and had to be searched every time. We didn’t mind the wait, since it gave us chance to get pumped for the trip. Every now and again we would break out into The Lonely Island’s “I’m on a Boat.” Eventually we made it to the front of the queue. A tall handsome South African escorted us to the check-in desk and then a very, very cute geeky guy, who was dancing around to the music in the harbour lead us to outside. A short, vibey Italian greet at the gangway. “No card; no party!” We ended up seeing those guys a lot more, since they turned to be a part of the cruises’ entertainment team. More on that later.

Little bit of background: The MSC Sinfonia is a cruise ship owned and operated by the Italy-based MSC Cruises. The public spaces include two main dining rooms, a self-serve buffet, cafeteria, two-deck high showlounge, a discothèque, several bars, a casino and a library. The lido deck includes two outdoors swimming pool and two Jacuzzis. MSC Sinfonia is named in homage to the rousing symphonies of Europe's great classical composers: from Beethoven's romantic masterpieces to Mozart's lively works, paired with the contemporary tones of Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Brahms. We were placed on Deck 9, Deck Tchaikovsky, with most of our rooms right next to each other. Anine, my sister, and I shared a room, with our friends JB and Woody in the room right next door. This meant that we spent which a lot of time hanging out in each other’s rooms.

Once we had put our luggage in our rooms (with Anine practically lunging herself over my luggage at the door) we headed out to explore the ship. After about a hundred photos of the ship and photos with random passengers we settled down at the Capri Bar for a cocktail. One of the best things about the cruise was the cocktails- all with hilarious names, such as The Faithful Bitch or the Bewitched Mermaid. Eventually our whole group found each other again and we stopped at a Shelah’s Pub, the only indoor pub that you’re allowed to smoke in, for a last drink before the show. That night the Sinfonia performers put on a performance of song from musical for our entertainment. The amazing cruise cheesy-ness was overwhelming!

Due to the high winds in the Cape Town harbour we were only able to leave the second morning so we had one good night where the ship standing was completely still. Since it was our first day on the ship we had to take part in the compulsory emergency drill. 15 minutes before the drill we headed to our meeting spot which happened to be in the casino. So we all ended up with numerous photos of us wearing those giant orange life jackets:

That night the entertainment team, also known as the Dream Team, had organised a Rainbow party in the Sinfonia Lounge. I was ready and dressed in my colourful outfit before the others so I spent some time exploring the ship; only getting lost once. I found all the beautiful unknown and mysterious parts of the ship. The Rainbow party took place in the Sinfonia Lounge, which was this large room that could almost be called a ballroom. When we arrived The Dream Team was on the middle of the dance floor surround by lots of other passengers dancing so some old school tunes. Once the rainbow party ended we made our way to the Pashka Club, where we finished the night off dancing, to the tunes of DJ Black Sparrow, in the lights of the Cape Town harbour. It honestly felt like a party scene from out of a movie.

Anine, Nicole and I in our Rainbow outfits

More tales of our cruise to follow. J