Am I glad I’m not clearing up after yesterday evening’s ceremony in which MSC Cruises took official delivery of new ship MSC Poesia from the ship yard in St Nazaire, France.
As the bottle of bubbly smashed, pink and white balloons were loosed from their netting and cannons shot pink and white paper circles into the air. Not just a few, but hundreds, coating the ground and all who sat there.
Environmentalists would no doubt moan about it, but hey. This was a great ceremony – it actually started and ended on time, which must be a first for MSC – with a marching band to keep our spirits up in the cold wind, the customary switching of flags and lots of speeches in French and Italian (I gathered that the shipyard is honoured to have MSC’s business, which is good because it has another three MSC ships on its order book, and MSC’s boss rather likes his new toy).
Most of yesterday’s 2,000 guests disembarked this morning, leaving a select few of us, including just three Brits, on board. We’ve cast off and MSC Poesia (that’s “poetry” to you and me) is now making its way to Dover for what promises to be a glitzy naming ceremony late Saturday night.Let’s just hope this new-found punctuality lasts until Sunday morning.
Jane Archer
