‘All friends at sea’: inside the cruise ship bubble, by Élisa Perrigueur (Le Monde diplomatique

Time seemed to stand still on the empty Adriatic. ‘Feel the magic in the air,’ sang the on-board band, Magic System, the music blending with the low thrum of the engines. The Armonia can accommodate 2,620 passengers and has a crew of 721. This giant 13-deck, 274-metre vessel churned the deep blue water as it progressed, leaving behind a plume of smoke from its large funnel bearing the logo of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest shipping line and fourth-largest cruise operator.

All the passenger decks are named after gemstones in Italian. On deck 12, Zaffiro (sapphire), holidaymakers had claimed the deckchairs facing away from the millpond sea. At dawn, these free loungers are all aligned in the same direction. ‘That’s the rule, but you can turn them around if you like,’ said Amman. a Filipino who, like all crew members, wore a badge displaying his first name and nationality. From deck 12, passengers could look down on the organised activities under way on the deck below. On this June afternoon, a mega-bingo session was drawing a crowd beside the saltwater pools and much-in-demand Jacuzzis.

Holidaymakers in swimsuits fixed their attention on Pedro, the Brazilian bingo caller: ‘€25,000! You could win up to €25,000!’ he announced in six languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Italian). An Indian waiter threaded his way through the throng of players with his trolley. Plying back and forth between the cocktail bars and kitchens, he cleared away glasses of sangria and MSC-branded plates, some with half-eaten portions of chips and sandwiches. In the scorching heat, the all-you-can-eat buffets – Il Girasole (sunflower), Hamburger Paradise and Pizza e Pasta – serve food virtually round the clock.

That day, no one won the mega-bingo jackpot, but the next session was only two days away. ‘If I win, I can give up work,’ said Théo, a car mechanic and cruise enthusiast from the south of France, (…)

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