Friday April 12th – at Sea

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Hello from the South Pacific. It was another beautiful but hot day on the ocean. The seas have been so smooth that Janet has not needed her seasickness patch since before we arrived in Hawaii. Today we did actually get s brief rain shower while we were eating breakfast in the Horizon Court, but that didn’t last long and it was sunny and hot all day.

After breakfast Janet went to the Knitters Meeting and David spent the morning relaxing and reading until about 10:30. The official ceremony to get King Neptune’s blessing for crossing the Equator started at Noon, so David went up to stake out a location on the rail about 10:30. The shady places were already gone but he did get a chair so he didn’t have to stand all morning. However David did have to stay out in the sun for a long time. Unfortunately his location did not turn out to be very good for photo-taking, so he mostly just watched the show.

By noon the deck surrounding the Neptune Pool on deck 14 was completely surrounded with people many layers deep. Also the rails around deck-15 and the stairways, and viewing places further up on 16 were also packed with people standing several rows deep. That was when King Neptune and Queen Aphrodite, along with the Royal Court all arrived and our ship’s captain officially welcomed the royal entourage. There were a few volunteers who had agreed to represent all the passengers and crew who were making their first time crossing the Equator. Those folks were referred to as Polliwogs. After the ceremony everyone is reclassified as a Shellback and can cross the Equator without Neptune’s permission again. However the volunteers had to accept the royal punishment decreed by Neptune to pay the price for everyone’s transgressions. These punishments mostly consisted of being doused in various forms of slime, although the ship’s officers (including the captain) were thrown in the pool for crossing yesterday without permission. It was a lot of good fun. Afterwards all the former Polliwogs were invited to kiss the Royal Fish (a 24 inch “fresh fish”, recently thawed from the freezer). There were lines of people eager to get their picture taken kissing a cold fish. Yuck!

Afterwards, David returned to the cabin and found Janet. She had stopped at the ship’s store and gotten a new Hawaiian dress which will be cooler to wear during our excursions the next couple of days. She had some other things to be able wear, but this will be a special remembrance for her. Anyway, we went down to the International Café and had a light lunch with grilled Tuna Paninis. David got a couple little cakes for dessert.

Back in the cabin, Janet worked on her needlecraft project before taking a nap. David went to the pool for a swim. It turned out that the outdoor pool has absorbed so much sunshine that the water temperature is almost bathwater warm. Instead he went to the other pool which is covered with a glass canopy and is generally cooler than the main pool – most of the time the indoor pool would be warmer during anything except this very hot weather.

David returned and took a little nap too before getting out the computer and trying to find some acceptable pictures from today. We changed into dinner clothes and went to the Stargazer Lounge about 4:30. This evening the featured appetizer is Stilton Cheese which David really likes. Instead of another giant margarita, we had a couple of simple cocktails and then at 5:00 we went down to the dining room for dinner.

This evening is a Friday in Lent so Catholics are supposed to not eat meat (unless they are on a luau). Naturally the premiere offering on the menu was Surf and Turf. After we each had a delicious crabmeat appetizer then Janet had Fettuccine Alfredo and David had Seafood Skewer (pieces of salmon, shrimp, tuna, scallops, etc). So we didn’t really suffer too badly. Then we had dessert and headed off to the Vista Lounge to hear a show by a comedian – he was fairly funny.

Now we are back in the cabin and preparing for a day ashore tomorrow in Western Samoa. Tune in to the next episode of this blog to hear all about it.

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Photos

Passenger around the Pool
waiting for ceremony to begin

Comments

[Janel]

Off to Guatemala
Been loving hearing about your trip! We know Hawaii very well since it's the go to vacation spot for California but am really looking forward to Samoa. We'll be keeping up with your travels from Guatemala where we're going to be for a very special Easter week. Leaving tomorrow am. Will most likely be posting pics on FB. Have fun!