We had technically crossed the equator overnight at two minutes to midnight, something we’d enjoyed on our balcony with a bottle of wine and the full moon for company (see previous post: Star Princess At Sea And Specialty Dining At The Crown Grill), but that’s not a very convenient time to hold a Crossing The Line ceremony because cruise ships are full of people who have been drinking all day and need their sleep so the event to mark the occasion was scheduled to start at midday of the third consecutive day at sea instead.
Sea Day Morning
The morning was spent doing typical sea day morning stuff – breakfast, trivia, sudoku, crossword, a bit of reading – but it started with a sea bird cruising on the air currents alongside the ship as we opened up our balcony door first thing to take our first look out to the Pacific Ocean of the day. As I’ve said on numerous occasions, I’m not a birder but I do like to see what evolution has produced around the world and this was unusual-looking enough for me to snap a few shots. Determining just what sort of bird it was has proven to be difficult because searches for “white and black sea bird” or “white sea bird, black wings, black head” or variations on that theme produce ridiculous numbers of results. I welcome any suggestions from readers of this page should they ever be forthcoming.
Crossing The Line Ceremony
As our Princess Patter proudly announced:
Be it now proclaimed by the Call of Conch and Nautilus throughout the latitudes and longitudes of our Oceanis Domain that we, Neptune, Ruler of the Seven Seas, King of the Secret Currents, Lord of the Boundless Waves, Master of the Tides, High Constable of the Coral Caverns and Outermost Reaches of the Deep, do hereby sanction and affirm that our most noble Crossing of the Equator has fallen upon us. Come watch the action on the Lido Deck as the pollywogs who have never crossed the Equator become the “Shellbacks” with King Neptune and his Royal Court.
The early morning cloud had mostly burned off as the afternoon approached so we made sure to cover ourselves in Factor 30 before heading up to the main pool. Arriving about half an hour before the equator-crossing ceremony was scheduled to start we discovered that the event was a popular one and finding a decent viewing spot was already a tough task. However, I knew where I wanted to be and that still had some space; right beside the main camera filming the ceremony for the ship’s DVD of the cruise. I wanted this spot for two reasons: firstly, I knew it would have a decent angle of the goings-on around the pool area because this is something the cruise line would have done on numerous occasions before; secondly, there was far less chance of us being filmed from this location. In case you’ve never noticed, you shouldn’t ever see any photos of the pair of us on this site or online. It’s best for everyone.
While it was extremely warm out on the deck and with the sun almost directly overhead there was also a welcome breeze that made it slightly more tolerable. This, though, did make setting up the court area for the ceremony a little tricky as the various sheets that were covering some of the carts and tables needed to be taped down to stop them flying off. The band kept the crowd entertained with some music during this process and we even had Captain Tuvo out and performing Y.M.C.A. along with most of the passengers. Interestingly, it looked like the captain was the only person in the world who’d not heard the song or performed the dance before, or the skills he had developed commanding ships had been offset by a complete inability to hold a rhythm in his head. Regardless, it did make the wait before the ceremony a very entertaining one.
And so the ceremony began, hosted by cruise director Fernando Cunha dressed as a pirate. No, I don’t know why.
The Crossing The Line ceremony has existed in some form or another with many of the world’s navies for centuries. Each country has its own take on the ritual but with Star Princess being operated by Princess Cruises, an American company, the line-crossing we experienced featured a lot of references from American traditions. Those who have not crossed the equator are referred to as Pollywogs while those who have are Shellbacks and it is the former group who need to undergo the initiation at the hands of the latter in the Court Of King Neptune.
Various groups of people were introduced to the waiting crowd. King Neptune himself, of course, along with his, er, beautiful wife, plus Captain Tuvo would be the judges and jury; cutlass-wielding pirate-barbers, a crazed surgeon, and assistants were there to carry out the judgements of the court.
A number of pollywogs from the passengers were then brought before the court one at a time to hear accounts of the crimes for which they’d been accused. With this being a cruise ship the charges were often cruise-related, such as heinously not washing hands before entering the buffet, crimes which received boos from the gathered crowd. No defence was asked for or mounted by each of the accused but you have to remember that we were in international waters and the laws of the land did not apply, so King Neptune found each passenger guilty – and rightly so – and justice was summarily dispensed. This mostly involved getting covered in coloured goo and having it shaved off with a cutlass but there were some different punishments too, including kissing another passenger’s stomach while blindfolded and an enjoyably grisly ritual disembowelling by the surgeon with entrails and other body parts tossed out from behind the protective sheets towards the crowd.
It wasn’t just passenger pollywogs who were processed in King Neptune’s court. Crew members yet to become shellbacks were also brought before the judges and subjected to the same messy treatment.
At the end of the crossing the line ceremony officers who were crossing the equator for the first time were ducked in the sea. As you’re not allowed to throw anything overboard on a cruise ship this activity took place in the next best thing, the swimming pool. Captain Tuvo joined his officers for reasons only he knows. Perhaps he was hot. Perhaps he just liked getting wet. Perhaps he wanted to give everyone some idea what colour his underwear was when his uniform got soaked through. He’s Italian and nothing would surprise me.
The ceremony concluded with us all being declared Honourable Shellbacks while the victims of the trials cleaned themselves up as best they could. We were then invited to head down to the deck where those of us who wished to do so could kiss the fish that had been left out under the sun throughout the ceremony. We decided to give that a miss.
In the evening we received certificates to mark that we’d crossed the equator. We’ll try not to grimace too much at the date format and pretend that it’s some Court of King Neptune tradition too.
The Crossing The Line ceremony was immense fun and lasted about half an hour. Because it was popular, though, a lot of people – ourselves included – were out a lot longer than that and standing throughout, and because of the intense sunshine at that latitude it’s something you need to be prepared to be a little bit uncomfortable during. Indeed, at one point during the ceremony we heard a loud thump from behind us as a fellow passenger passed out and hit the deck. He was treated very quickly. If you get a chance to watch or partake in the fun of crossing the equator on a cruise ship then definitely do so but be prepared to get there early if you want a seat and make sure you’re protected from the sun.
Afternoon Activities On Star Princess
As the ceremony came to an end we decided to get some lunch in the International Café at the bottom of the piazza. Although we hadn’t been that far from the Horizon Court buffet or the Trident Grill this felt like a better option as we wouldn’t have to compete with half the ship dispersing from the top deck to get something to eat too. Pie and cookies for the lady; toasted panini and cake for the gentleman.
Allowing some time for food to go down we then took a swim because that’s what we do on cruise ships in the afternoon. Our second attempt at trivia that day was a success with victory leading to winning Princess-branded magnetic clips. In case you’re not aware, cruise ship cabin walls are magnetic so you can simply place the clip on them and use it to hold information such as the Princess Patter or port information for the day ahead.
We celebrated continuing our streak of at least one trivia win on every Princess cruise we’ve been on by grabbing a glass of wine in Vines where Zander persuaded us to make his chef happy by accepting a complimentary plate of sushi. If you’re drinking wine in Vines then sushi or tapas is free in the late afternoon. We’re still not sold on sushi, despite trying it now on the last two cruises with Princess, but you can’t fault the quality of the preparation.
The final event of note in the afternoon occurred when we popped into the Effy store off the piazza; they were having another one of their regular raffles and we hadn’t really taken a good look at what was on offer by this point in the cruise so figured it couldn’t hurt to have a nose around. I know the sort of thing my wife likes and I spotted a black and white diamond ring that we asked the sales assistant to take a closer look at; this was mostly because I couldn’t see the price but didn’t want to ask as my expected high-pitched shriek of a response of “How much!?” would be the sort of thing that would see me receiving a stern lecture back in the privacy of our cabin afterwards.
Two things then happened while the assistant was explaining that this was a 14-karat white gold ring with just under 2.5 carats of black and white diamonds: firstly, the ring fit my wife perfectly which triggered deep in me an “Uh oh!” that only passing whales could detect and sympathise with; secondly, my barely-concealed look of terror at glancing at the price must have been picked up by the assistant who quickly applied several sudden discounts because we were in the northern hemisphere now and we were English and the manager was feeling generous and sales had been good that month and the moon was in the right position for diamond price reductions and so on. Anyway, my wife got a new ring out of it is what I’m leading towards here.
Evening Activities On Star Princess
The evening was accompanied by more drinking, but you’d already guessed that.
Another excellent dinner was taken in the main dining room. We have found on previous cruises that while Princess food is very good quality, generally-speaking, there are some meals or elements of meals that you see repeated a lot, especially if you cruise often. That’s understandable to a large extent and it’s never been a problem for us but we were pleased to see far more variety in what was offered on this Star Princess cruise. In fact, as I’ve previously mentioned during the travel diary entries for this trip, this particular cruise had overall the best food we’ve had during any of our cruises.
To conclude the evening, for the first time on a Princess cruise we were able to enjoy a Movies Under The Stars experience without several layers of clothing and blankets. We’d been unlucky up until this point on previous trips in that when the weather was nice the movies didn’t appeal and when the movies were good the weather wanted us to suffer for it. A balmy night beside the pool, water gently lapping at the edges because of the slightest of rolls and pitches of the ship; a full moon above; cocktails in easy reach; the odd but oddly-enjoyable Robin Hood movie starring Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton. It was a lovely end to a fabulously enjoyable sea day.
The next day would see us arrive in Costa Rica and cruise diary coverage from there will start in the next post in this travel portfolio series.