The cruise to amuse
At just before 6:00
AM this morning, I looked out of my window to see a cruise liner passing to the
right in the bay ahead, and just as I thought it was going to dock it turned
around and cruised back out of the bay, this apparent circling in the bay continued
for a few hours as I took out my binoculars to view what might be going on. It
transpired that the wind which we did not particularly feel as close to the
beach as we were made it unsuitable for a docking manoeuvre.
Then just before
noon, it appeared to disappear close to the V&A Waterfront and soon we
found that she had docked at the cruise terminal. We returned from Wynberg to
the waterfront curious to find out about the cruise liner we had already
determined was the MSC Orchestra.
A view to a queue
At the cruise
terminal, we found ourselves channelling Chaka Khan with two lines from one of
her hit songs, paraphrased, as one is wont to play at.
I feel for you,
You’re in a long queue.
The queue of
passengers waiting to board was quite literally interminably long even without
the social distancing and we supposed it was exacerbated by the need for rapid
testing before boarding as cruise liners have been unmitigated incubators of
the Coronavirus and communal spreading is most definitely encouraged by the community
and confinement in closed spaces of a cruise liner regardless of how luxurious it
is.
Yet, this portends a
change in activities that suggest either moving beyond or living with the
pandemic. The surprise for me was that I did not realise there was a proclivity
for cruises amongst South Africans, the majority therein being the nominal
majority of the country. I am gladdened by this because this might be the year
of exiting the strictures of the pandemic, with wider and easier opportunities
for travel and much else.
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| MSC Orchestra this morning, coming into the bay. |
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| MSC Orchestra circling out of the bay. |
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| MSC Orchestra, up close at the cruise terminal. |
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| MSC Orchestra, at the cruise terminal. |
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