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
