Welcome to the Love Boat
A few weeks ago I went on one of the most unusual trips that I’ve ever been to. When my travel mate Katja asked me to join her for the Christening of the Italian cruise ship MSC Preziosa in Genoa I was at first a bit sceptical, as cruises hadn’t really been on my agenda in terms of travel. But in the moment I stepped into the glamorous main lobby of the massive ship I knew I had made the right choice to go and would have an exciting time.
And exciting it was indeed. Discovering this little swimming city on the sea was like walking through a little foreign wonderland with many hidden points of entertainment. The cruise ship had it’s very own aesthetic with glittering staircases, shiny ornaments and patterned carpets. It was a bit like Disney Land meets the Love Boat with a twist of Titanic. Quite impressive really, so huge and over the top. It fully embraces the kitsch and glamour in every corner. Out eyes lit up with every new sparkeling launch we stepped in, playful pool areas we passed by and luscious cake buffets we stumbled upon.
On our stay we basically indulged into every fun activity we could find, including the on-board musical, the seemingly endless breakfast buffet, and the casino. We even did bowling, played every one of the arcade games, were super excited about the 4D cinema, and both of our two nights we ended up dancing the night away in the discotheque. But what was even more impressive was the actual reason we came for: the Christining of the brand new ship, the MSC Preziosa. This turned out to be an elaborate gala event with a ballet, an orchestra, a live concert, a musical performance, several speaches by famous Italian people, a very cool symphony played by the horns of three of the MSC ships that were aligned in a triangle (the melody was from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters), and finally the champagne bottle was smashed on the bow of the ship by none other than Hollywood diva Sophia Loren. And in the Italian spirit of “more is more” everything was topped off with a massive firework. Wow! More details about the ship and the impressions of our unusual trip after the jump.