At last, yesterday afternoon, Celebrity Cruises' new ship Celebrity Equinox came into contact with a bottle of Champagne and officially got its name.
"We're not outdoors because this is England," quipped Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and chief executive officer Richard Fain as he got ready to hand the scissors over to Walk the Walk breast cancer charity founder Nina Borough.
But not before Nina had a chance to say a few words, including "they don't know I am going to do this, but...."
Fain admitted afterwards they are the 10 little words guaranteed to strike terror into his heart as these events are rehearsed to the nth degree. Thanksfully, in the event all she asked was that we hold hands with the people next to us and give the person to the left a hug.
"I've done lots of naming ceremonies but not one where I have held hands with the Captain," a very relieved Fain joked.
But back to the bottle. England's weather did not let us down. As we were warm and dry in the ship's theatre, outside it was raining and blowing.
It meant we had to watch the bottle smash on a big screen, which is a clever trick the cruiselines have learned to love as it means no one really knows what they are watching (was it recorded earlier?) and makes "the bottle didn't break" stories so much harder to write.
"It was all live and the bottle did smash," I was assured afterwards. I'm less convinced about the bit about the pink ribbon stretching all the way from the theatre to the Champagne on the top deck.
The ribbon was delivered to the stage by this aerial acrobatic-ist - that bit was true as I had to vacate my seat so she could take off and land again! - and it was supposed to be like a domino. Once cut, the ribbon would relax and the bottle break.
Well, it sounded good!
Jane Archer
