Day at Sea _Baltic_take 1

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31.08.2015.

Today's German comedy word: Ausfahrt = this is a versatile word that in this case means 'exit' but you could easily have einfahrt, abfahrt gute fahrt. Whichever ‘fahrt' you use and whatever context you use it in, it is always a source of amusement for non-Germans young and old!!

Our first full day aboard was a day at sea so this gave us the chance to familiarise ourselves with the layout of the ship. A child's water park area had been constructed on the pool deck complete with water cannon. An array of pipes spew streams of water out at various angles and the pool itself contains no more than a few inches of water.

There is a mini golf area on deck 12 the sits around the ship's funnel. I have already walked the 9 hole course in preparation for the tournament between Mrs H and me. Not that I'm competitive!! I just like to be well organised!!

As black card members we are entitled to a plate of chocolate strawberries and bottle of champagne…each! These are usually delivered to your cabin on a gala night. Tonight is a gala night. However, Roisin thought that due to cutbacks and a reorganisation of the loyalty programme champagne is no longer on the menu. ‘That's OK' I said. ‘Prosecco will do just fine!'

‘I don't think it's even Prosecco', replied Roisin.

‘Well, Spumante, then. At least it's free.'

All Roisin could muster was ‘Hmmm?'

‘Oh C'mon. Not even Spumante? There is not a lot left as we have practically reached the bottom of the Sparkling Wine drinks chain.' I said. Then I felt the colour drain from my face and my stomach started churning as if it was mixing cement. The cabin suddenly felt smaller than it actually was (until Roisin reminded me that it actually was that small!!)

I cried: ‘No! Please God. Not….not Pomagne!!!'

As it turned out, it was Prosecco after all!

Wandering through the ship we stumbled on Pasha's disco which had more than usual people milling around for this time of the morning. A few of the Animation Team were dressing in Lederhosen and the Ladies looked like extras from the film Heidi!! This was Fruhschopen. An invitation to experience al things Bavarian and had been brought in from the Deck due to the lack of sun! A buffet food stall had been prepared and Oom Pah Pah music was blaring out. This was the opportunity for Roisin to try out the sauterkraut, something she had been yearning for since we arrived in Hamburg but seemed to be too stereo typical to be included on a German menu!!

Another perk of being a Black Card Member is that you receive a small gift on every voyage; a small token of their appreciation. As there are only 24 Back Card members on board out of a capacity of approximately 2600 guests, it's unlikely that the special gala reception will take place so we received notification to collect our gift from the Info Point. This is a special desk open at certain times of the day where enquiries can be made about the MSC Club, its benefits and also future cruises.

We received our gift; a nylon bag with the MSC logo screen printed thereon. This sport bag has draw strings and can be worn over the shoulder as modelled by my good self. Come to think of it, the bag reminds me of those pump bags one used to have in primary school to carry ones gym kit in!! It will compliment very nicely our back pack we won on the last cruise!

We attended our first quiz of the voyage hosted by Candice, a young lady who was born in Devon, UK but raised in France. She speaks 4 languages fluently and has travelled the world living in different countries but has still maintained her British nationality. Her accent is the strangest mix of English and French with a twang of West County thrown in!

All the usual quizzes on ‘Where in the world', ‘Flags of the World', ‘Country silhouettes' have been taken away from the animation team as it is the end of a season and once we return to Warnemunde, the MSC Sinfonia will head to Genoa, Italy to start 11 voyages in the Med before heading to South Africa for the Winter. Instead, Candice and the team have devised a few music quizzes. Today's music quiz was ‘Name that Beatles Tune'. It wasn't long before we were rumbled!! From early in the quiz Roisin and I were known as simply ‘Liverpool' and on revealing the answers Candice turned to us for confirmation. Of course we scored 10/10 but because we, in everyone's eyes, were related to the Beatles (even if it was only by birth right) it seemed only fair the team who came second received a prize as well. And guess what? It was another ‘pump bag'!!!

Every day we receive an A4 leaflet of the following day's events. MSC call theirs the imaginatively titled Daily Programme. Today, after the quiz there followed an acrobatic cocktail making demonstration. This we had to watch. I wasn't naive to think it would be a guy from a trapeze mixing a Manhattan or a Harvey Wallbanger (but wouldn't that have been cool? – perhaps I'll put it as my suggestion!!) One of the waiters showed off his Tom Cruise skills by spinning the bottled around his person and juggling with the cocktail shaker and bottle. Very entertaining especially when he smashed the bottle of vodka due to a mistimed flip!!

There are only 11 Brits aboard for this trip. We are outnumbered by the Irish (15) and even the USA have sent more representatives (21) The Australians have sent their usual crowd and there is one couple from New Zealand.

Tonight is the first gala night. This is the evening the Gentlemen are ‘recommended‘ to wear tuxedo or dark suits with tie/bow tie and the ladies evening or cocktail dress. Dinner is normally preceded by a photo opportunity with the Captain and the passengers are introduced to the senior officers on stage before the evening's entertainment.

It is my birthday during this cruise and as her gift, Roisin bought me a new Tuxedo. If anyone asked me what I was would be wearing this evening I would have loved to seen the look on their faces when I'd said ‘My Birthday Suit!!'

MSC primarily operate fixed dining. There are two sittings; 1^st sitting at 6pm and the 2^nd sitting at 8:30pm. We are on the first sitting. The table is allocated with the number appearing on your cruise card. Our table, number 411, was a table for 2. This table was in a nice position adjacent to a port hole. However, table 411 was next to another table for two. I couldn't help thinking that we were actually sitting at a table for four until Roisin pointed out the one inch gap between the two tables. Nobody was sitting at the table next to us. Perhaps, we will have both tables to ourselves.

At 6:30 when we had just started our main course, an elderly couple weaved their way through the arrangement of tables, acknowledged us and sat down. On hearing them speak, it was a language I vaguely recognised but didn't understand. They were speaking Portuguese. Neither of them were dressed for the occasion. He had a lived in Walter Matthau face. Come to think of it, so did she!!! He wore a well-worn open cardigan over a beige polo shirt. Her attire consisted of a pair of slacks with a dark blue top. Their outfits had certainly not been bought for this occasion. Maybe they were bought for ‘an' occasion but unlikely it was in this century!!

After the Gala dinner, Roisin and I were sitting in the Manhattan lounge when a tap came on my shoulder. Roisin, who was facing me had already widened her eyes in a gesture of astonishment. I turned around to be greeted by the one and only Francesco Pulpo. We first met Francesco on the Lyrica travelling from Genoa to Dubai. He was chief entertainer back then and his crew have never been bettered. A few have come close but definitely ‘no cigar'!! We then met Francesco walking along the Corniche in Istanbul two years later. He remembered us which was pleasing as he must meet thousands of passengers each year. That was 2013. Two years later and he still managed to single us out. He is now the assistant cruise director so very much all work and no play. He doesn't get too involved in the activities as he is just mainly organising rosters, activities and general supervision with the occasional hosting of major events.

This evening's production in the theatre was entitled Oz. MSC's adaptation of the H Baum story of a girl whisked away to a magical land of dwarves, witches and flying monkeys!! The show was a variety of dance, acrobatics (although the cocktail mixer was nowhere to be seen!!) with the occasional unrelated Wizard of Oz song thrown it. Whilst the costumes were very colourful and some of the routines very energetic, we were disappointed at the tin man's effort to get in to character. Walking around in your bare chest like a constipated robot with some metallic grease paint over your face does not qualify you to be a ‘friend of Dorothy'!! (well not in this case anyway!!). However, as I said, this adaptation was only loosely based on the film and as the tin min was no other than ‘Yuri' one of the balancing acts, it was probably in his best interest not to wear too heavy a costume!!

Arriving back to our cabin after the evening's events, we had received the tickets to the only official excursion we have booked. St Petersburg. We plan to visit Catherine's Palace at Pushkin in the morning then, to make the most of our single day in this cultural and historic city take an Anal Cruise!! What's an anal cruise and should we be worried.

The crossing so far has been like a mill pond. We cannot feel any movement of the ship. Tomorrow we arrive in Stockholm. Roisin has already been in touch with her contacts at the Met Office. They replied with a Good News, Bad News option. Their full response was: ‘I'll give you the bad news cause there ain't no good news!!'

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