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Wild party at sea rocks the boat
9 December 2009, 08:57
By Jauhara Khan and Kamini Padayachee
Drunken revelry, debauchery and even vandalism by some passengers, allegedly characterised a three-day party on the luxury cruise liner MSC Sinfonia which ended in Durban yesterday.
It was claimed that some passengers "went ape" at the Miller Rock the Boat Party on a cruise from Durban to Mozambique. On board were 5FM DJs Fresh, Grant and Anele, and Erica Elle, as well as The Parlotones, Flash Republic and 340ml. The popular event is held annually as a promotional opportunity for SAB brand Miller.
The cruise was marketed for people aged 20 to 35.
According to a passenger, who asked not be named, some of the young revellers "just went ape, openly bonking on the deck and throwing deck chairs into the sea".
A crew member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "It was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it." The alcohol consumption ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.
Eighteen hours into the trip one passenger had blown R5 000 given by his parents.
The crew member said security had also allegedly discovered drugs and two were arrested.
There were unconfirmed reports that nine passengers had been "held" after misbehaving, including after trashing a lift.
A police van was spotted at the harbour when the ship docked yesterday, but neither the passenger nor the crew member said they had witnessed any arrests.
The crew member said he believed that MSC had opened charges of vandalism, but this could not be confirmed.
Given that people were sharing cabins, some had opted to "fornicate" on deck in view of anyone walking past in the early hours of the morning, rather than disturb their cabin mates, he said.
Most guests appeared to be from Johannesburg and were "pretty wild", the crew member claimed. One group had partied throughout the trip. They were spotted at 6am in a jacuzzi, slugging a bottle of Jack Daniels and helping themselves to buckets of beer.
The ship left at 4pm yesterday.
Allan Foggitt, spokesman for MSC's sales agent Starlight Cruises, said the 2 000 passengers had broken records for bar sales.
However, he downplayed allegations that drunken passengers had trashed part of the ship
"The ship was not trashed. But when you have 2 000 young people and a lot of alcohol, you are going to find people who misbehave and ruin it for the rest. But there were no disruptions in the lounges and the show venues, where the DJs and bands were performing. There will be people who overdo it but it wasn't the majority."
Foggitt said he was unaware of people being arrested after disembarking yesterday.
Speaking at sea last night, Sinfonia Captain Ciro Pinto would only say: "South African people love to drink. There were a lot of drunk people, who could not find their cabins and were sleeping on the floor, and these people had to be helped to their rooms. But there was no serious damage and no one was detained on the ship."
Natalie Dell, of event organisers Launch Factory Experiential, confirmed that two men were arrested for possession of dagga, but denied that people had engaged in sexual activities in view of other passengers or had trashed the ship.
Police said no arrests were made at the harbour yesterday
