From the Navigator (this appears on page 1 of today's Princess Patter): During the day, Pacific Princess will continue to follow her northerly course through the Pacific Ocean bound for Hilo. Early in the morning, we will cross the equator, brining the Pacific Princess back to the Northern hemisphere.
But you already knew that, didn't you? And, once again, during an entire day at sea, we are not close enough to any other island to bear mentioning.
---------------------------
Breakfast was leisurely and light...we cannot eat our way through ten sea days. Drink, perhaps, but not eat. I went out to walk on Deck 10 but the intense sun chased me into the fitness center and onto a treadmill, where vertigo eventually took over and I retreated to our cabin. It's not that it's particularly bouncy. In fact, there's been very little roll (side to side movement) since we left Bora Bora; however, the ship is pitching (front to back movement) noticeably and it is very pronounced when looking out from the front or back. I took care of some hand laundry and started a list of to-do's for Hawaii. The excitement about our arrival there is palpable among the crew. There are WalMarts in both Hilo and Honolulu, and I think that every crewmember who is not disembarking in Hawaii will be making tracks to one or the other, schedule permitting. Their last big shop was on the Pacific Princess's southbound journey through Hawaii in September; you know how hard it was to get things in French Polynesia, and their supplies are running low.
We went to lunch around 12:30pm, and it was another feast. I ordered a bottle of wine (Simi Chardonnay) to have with my seafood entree, and I much prefer it to the Silverado Chardonnay. I am really very happy I purchased a wine package for this cruise. It's allowing me to try several wines that are new to me, and I have plenty of time on our sea days to do that.
At 1:55pm (I'm being precise here for a reason), we went up poolside to watch the official Crossing the Line ceremony. Now, on prior cruises that crossed the equator, we'd have to be in place a few hours ahead of time to get a good viewing location for the festivities. Not so on the Pacific Princess; just five minutes before it began there were ample places to watch from. Love this ship!
But...back to the ceremony. It is rooted in a maritime tradition where pollywogs (people crossing the equator by ship for the first time) are mock-tried by a court headed by King Neptune and his queen for their various crimes and misdemeanors. On cruise ships, it's largely become a comic food fight involving great humiliation and mess. Volunteer pollywogs were solicited to participate, but as shellbacks (veteran equator crossers), G and I didn't qualify. The funniest part of the entire thing is that dear, openly gay Jere Ring played the queen, and tiny Executive Housekeeper Michael Collins played King Neptune. Perfect casting!
Jere played his part as if it was a role he was born for
King Neptune and his queen paraded around the jogging track on Deck 10 above the pool while the Pacific Princess orchestra played Land of Hope and Glory. Harious! Michael wore a pair of wellies with a big tag on them: Cross Dress for Less (get it? Instead of Ross Dress for Less. LOL!)
The weather was perfect again today, and a fun time was had by all at the crossing ceremony. Michael's Accomodations crew works so hard to set up for this event and then clean up afterwards, but nearly every passenger on the ship turned out for it, and it certainly was a highlight of our first five days at sea.
There had been such an uproar about the fact that the BCS National Championship game was not going to be shown on the Pacific Princess that, apparently, a deal has been struck and Princess has just today paid for the rights to do so. The game was shown starting at 3:30pm in the Casino Lounge. Hopefully that will temper some of the unhappiness about yesterday's games not getting the viewing space that passengers wanted. The issue, again, is simply that this is a small ship that lacks some of the features and abilities of the larger ships. I watched until just after halftime while G used a hot tub, and we went to dinner with zero (no, none, not a bit) of appetite at 5:30pm. I had a seafood skewer and sorbet and was done.
We were finished in time to get to comedian Cary Long's 7pm show. We first saw Cary along perform on the Celebrity Galaxy exactly ten years ago (again with that!!) this month, and I thought he was the funniest cruise ship comedian I had ever heard. His bit about men packing underwear for a cruise described my husband to a T. (And for years I thought G was the only one like that. Obviously not.) However, Cary hasn't changed his show one bit in ten years. It's still funny, just not as funny for repeat viewers. I guess that's why we're partial to musical entertainment. Heard over and over again it never grows old.
We went up to Deck 10 for perhaps our last look at the Southern Cross constellation. The skies were clear and there were a lot of stars to see and, surprisingly, we also saw what appeared to be the lights of another ship on the horizon. If that's what it is, it's our first sighting of these five days at sea.
We are a bit burned out tonight, and back in the cabin by 9pm. There is a movie on TV about the last queen of Hawaii that sounds appealing, and we will finish out our evening watching that. Three sea days filled with football and a crossing the equator ceremony might be my comfortable limit. Just two more to go!!