We crossed the equator last night, at 11:30pm local time. Prior to this, at 11:30am yesterday a cheesy ceremony was held where a fake God Neptune was paraded around the upper deck where he eventually presented the ‘Key to the Ocean’ to a staff member. This apparently allows the ship to cross the equator, although I’m not sure where the key goes…
There was dance music and the staff were trying hard to get people up and dancing however the demographic on this ship aren’t the kind that would get up and dance to Party Rock by LMFAO. The kids seemed to enjoy it though. There was much “shuffling”.
Cruising at the moment is almost absurdly smooth. I never imagined that the ocean out here could ever be as smooth as this. There is a gentle rocking of the ship from side to side, approx 2 degrees according to the compass app on the iPhone 😉
Thie rocking really only presents one advantage and that is the wave action that is occurring in the pools. Kids both young and old are enjoying being sloshed around without any control over their trajectory or velocity.
We haven’t been in the pool as yet which is pretty lame to put it bluntly. Instead we hang out around the cafe’s, bars and restaurants where it’s cooler and not as loud which allows for conversation. We also enjoy walking around the ship each day, and I’ve been regularly attending the gym at 10am. This keeps us pretty busy.
Leanne and Gary are continuing to visit the lectures held at 10 and 2, but so far we’ve stayed away from these, not because we wouldn’t find them interesting, we’re just not lecture people I guess. Plus the Covent Garden Theatre, where the talks have been held, has been renamed by Gary to the ‘Coughing’ Garden Theatre, as a lot of people on board are sick. This provides for a steady backing track of coughing and sneezing as I understand it.
Last night we went to see Kate Cebrano. Yes Lizzy, I know I said I’m not a fan, but she put on, hands down, the best show so far. She played keyboard and drums, both very well and has an amazing voice. She only played three of her own songs, all the hits, and the rest were classic songs that, throughout her career, influenced her in one way or another. Dusty Springfield and Fleetwood Mac just a couple that spring to mind. It really was a fantastic performance topped off by a cameo duet performance with Daryl Braithwaite, where they sang ‘I get by with a little help from my friends’ (Joe Cocker style).
Today we haven’t done much at all. Breakfast at around 8:30, as usual we ran into L&G and the Gallesio crew. This happens more than you would expect, given the over 2000 people on this ship, we would see Rob and Sharon at least once or twice a day. We generally try to have drinks with them after dinner however Rob usually falls asleep before then so we get stood up a fair bit!
We snuck in a quick cocktail before lunch at the buffet and now we’re catching up on emails, writing this blog. Tonight we have Ross Wilson in concert again before a very special Balinese dinner where the wait staff, mostly all Indonesian, will be dressed in customary attire and perform for us. Oh and Astu, our waiter is still wearing the Gallipoli 100 pin we gave him the other day with pride, which made us very happy.
Currently longitude 4 degrees north of the equator and the captain has slowed the ship down to around 30km/h instead of the usual 40, as were probably running ahead of schedule, largely due to the smooth seas one would imagine. We have an early one tomorrow with the buffet opening at 5am due to tours starting early in Sri Lanka.
We will be doing a Tuk Tuk tour around Colombo, something that Grant may advise against! It should be fun and I hope to get some gopro footage of the chaos, although as it will be Easter Sunday it may not be as chaotic as I’m thinking.
Stay tuned for a special “Quotes from the Boat” post coming up in the near future…