Costa Cruises and Dubai deserve a collective slap on the back for making yesterday's first-ever cruise ship naming in the Middle East a day to remember, with dancers, singers and horses. Yes, really.
First a little scene-setting. A blue sky, a lovely warm day (hard to imagine after our lousy UK winter, I know), and some 3,000 guests - 2,200 of them passengers who had sailed from Savona to Dubai on Costa Deliziosa - in specially-erected seating on the quay by the bow of Deliziosa, beneath a giant white awning.
In front is the stage, with two big screens so people at the back could see all the action, and a sandy arena. Up in the air, paragliders are circling, dragging banners saying "Welcome to Dubai", to the right was QE2, looking sad and alone, and in exactly the same place as when I was last in Dubai, in January 2009.
The naming ceremony started with a display of Middle Eastern dancers twirling sticks and guns, moved on to Italian singing - Nessun Dorma and Ol Sole Mio of course - and then came the horses and a super dressage display by these beautiful Arabian mounts.
The action all came to a halt as Dubai's Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum and his entourage - he must have been surrounded by at least 30 minders - took their seats.
Then came the national anthems for Dubai and Italy, welcome speeches, a few words from Costa chairman and chief executive officer Pier Luigi Foschi, more entertainment, more dressage displays and the big moment, when godmother Tala Dionisi, wife of the Italian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, was asked to cut the ribbon.
A ship is usually christened with Champagne, but when in Rome - or in this case Dubai - and all that. So Deliziosa was due to be bathed in date juice. Assuming the bottle smashed, of course.
And it did, with a resounding thud. Confetti streamed, everyone clapped and proceedings came to a halt again as the Crown Prince and his minders left. Then the dancing started again.
No doubt the show went on to keep us in our seats until the CP was safely out of the way but even after his helicopter flew off overhead, the horses were back, this time galloping the length of the arena while their riders rolled around in the saddles.
Passengers went back on the ship for lunch, but the rest of us dined in the old terminal - the official opening of a new one was times to coincide with the naming ceremony but it had been nabbed by Royal Caribean International, which is also sailing the Arabian Gulf from Dubai - and then had a couple of hours on board to see the ship.
I'll tell you more about that another time, but I can't resist putting in a picture of me on this chair.
One of the more outlandish creations interior designer Joe Farcus managed to sneak onto the ship, which he says is aimed at appealing to the "highest level" of customers. You've got to love it!
Jane Archer
