There was no bright sunshine to wake us up this morning; in fact, we had a mix of all sorts of weather today. We had a simple breakfast in the Club Restaurant (actually, G had two simple breakfasts because he got there before me and then returned with me). There were plenty of activities scheduled for this morning, including Douglas Pearson's last port lecture, this one on Maui (but we caught all of those on the way down in September), and the special lecturers on board, talking about astronomy and NASA, but our only planned event this morning was the Crossing the Line ceremony taking place on the pool deck at 11:15am.
We had actually crossed the equator about 3:05am this morning, and we got a photo of the navigation channel on our cabin TV right after we did. I guess you could say we sprang into fall. ;-) but, for obvious reasons, the formal ceremony on board was held hours later. The beauty of this small ship is that we can show up right when the ceremony starts and get a great view. I remember on the larger ships arriving hours ahead of time and waiting in the sun to be assured a decent line of sight.
The entire ceremony centers on the pretext of a mock trial of selected polliwogs, people who have never sailed across the equator before. I heard that nearly a hundred passengers signed up for about eight "defendant" spots. Captain Ciruzzi kicked it off (and for being a fine skipper was awarded the Order of the Kipper, with a fake fish hung around his neck). Craig the male vocalist was King Neptune and dancer Harry was Queen Titicaca (harious casting) and they paraded around Deck 10 to the Pacific Princess show band playing Land of Hope and Glory. This seriousness complete ;-) it turned silly.
The defendants were tried for crimes such as gluttony and scarfing down free drinks and complaining and making out in the hot tub, and, found guilty, were required to kiss a real fish and then were covered with food. The accused glutton was operated on (the surgery performed behind white sheets) and real bones and spaghetti and miscellaneous items like beer cans came flying out from behind the surgical drape. The whole thing was fun and clever and, I thought, particularly well done by Sammi and her staff. And it seemed like nearly all passengers turned out for it, which was nice. Pity the poor Accomodations crew that cleaned up the mess (they had covered the pool deck with plastic to make it easier).
Craig O'Hara as King Neptune
Of course, seeing people covered in chocolate syrup naturally made us hungry, so we went right to lunch in the Club Restaurant (just a chicken Caesar salad for me) to allow G to get to his 1pm ukulele lesson. I had nothing on tap until quilling at 3pm, and so went up on deck and worked out in the pool for an hour. The mix of sun and rain continued all afternoon, the worst weather of the cruise so far and still not too bad. The wind died down a bit today, making the seas less bouncy and us all much more comfortable.
At 3pm, I joined a large group for quilling, headed by Company Performance Manager (and dancer) Rachel and aided by dancers Harry and Michael. You know, I thought I'd never get used to the new cast after having enjoyed getting to know the old one so much, but I have, and they are equally wonderful. I went rogue today, making a Christmas tree while everyone else was making the usual butterfly. We all asked to have another session on one of the sea days returning to Los Angeles. I am really enjoying those projects!
Dressing for dinner and the Elite Lounge starts so early these days, by 4pm or so. But it was Breeza Marina and herbed goat cheese night; I'd dress for dinner right after breakfast for that. There was nothing to see but a lot of grayness out of the large Pacific Lounge windows. I don't mind at all, but hope the weather improves when we arrive in Hawaii.
We had a familiar menu for dinner tonight. G had the surf and turf but gave me his shrimp, and I had the seafood skewer, delicious but not as exciting as when we see a new menu. We went to the Cabaret Lounge for the 7:30pm performance by comedian Derrick Cameron (he also performed at the Welcome Aboard show, but I didn't include his name in my post that day), and then listened to pianist Brad Stevens in the Casino Lounge for a short time. At 9:30pm, we are watching an Adam Sandler- Jennifer Aniston movie in our cabin and shockingly (for me) enjoying it.
I forgot to mention something from yesterday's fruit and vegetable carving. A set of grandparents on board had to take photos of carvers Samuel and John and their finished projects with a Flat Stanley. G and I enjoyed that immensely, and it brought back great memories of our own Flat Stanley experiences with the twins...Flat Stanley at the dentist, Flat Stanley at water aerobics, Flat Stanley playing my piano. I'll post a photo of yesterday's Flat Stanley when I can.
And, finally, regarding Princess Messenger@Sea and our Messenger IDs that don't work...we've been told, sorry, but there is no fix. Period. Thankfully, it's something we've lived without until now on this small ship, but faced with a longer stay on a larger ship, we might feel a bit more disgruntled at the apparent apathy shown toward finding a resolution. Such is life.