A determined effort today to eat lightly, but with the prospect of lobster on the evening menu, for formal night, some leeway had to be applied.
It must have been the ‘Night Nurse’ pill for flu, that seemed to ensure a decent night’s sleep as we were both feeling a little lethargic. After an extremely light breakfast (so far so good... but passing by those fresh waffles with maple syrup and cream takes some will-power), we skipped the bowls, but did have the fresh coffee. With a few minutes spare and having ascertained the state of young ‘Snow’, we took a card with us to the medical centre to see if we could say hi. Snow was sitting in a chair looking very well and was quite adamant that had he had the heart attack at home in NZ, rather than in the Medical Centre, he would probably now be playing on that great bowling green in the sky. Most of the medics are South African and the fact that NZ were beaten by the Springboks last week, gave them a couple of opportunities to rub it in. Snow’s All Black jacket was hanging on the wall – with the logo facing the wall - and they had wrapped him in a Springbok blanket!
Although another sea day, this was going to be a little special as we had the “Crossing the Equator” ceremony, a tradition on board ship where anyone who has not crossed the line before is deemed a ‘pollywog’ and on crossing the equator is then deemed a ‘shell back’. On the northward part of the cruise, the ceremony had to be cancelled due to bad weather – a fairly rare occurrence over the last three months. Garry & Joanne were disappointed but ‘volunteered’ to take part in the southbound ceremony. The traditional ceremony has a court hearing and when found guilty (as they all are...) the victims are covered with fish guts and other crud, but obviously, on a cruise ship, with such a sophisticated clientele(!) the ceremony has to be modified – just a little.
The ceremony was good fun and they were duly smeared with all sorts of goo. The next ‘victim’, young Todd, was shown one of the dancers doing a seductive dance, then laying on a table. He was blindfolded and told he must kiss her belly-button. As soon as he was blindfolded, Garry took her place!
The next victim who had been bragging about how much food he had eaten, was ordered by the court to have some excesses removed, so he was also laid out on a table, with sheets held up around him, whilst strings of sausages and pile of spaghetti were thrown out.
Several crew were also initiated, including three entertainers, three navigators and two engineers. This was a cue for the entertainment staff to liberally smother them with yet more goo and then this almost turned into a mud wrestling spectacle. A lot of fun, with several entertainers rendered almost unrecognisable.
A quiet day from then on and another 14/20 quiz score. (The winners managed 18.)
As it was formal night, 4 of our table did their own thing but the remaining six of us managed more than our fair share of lobster tails. For once, I didn’t take the extra food and managed to survive on just three courses. (Such will power – again...)
The production show was “Shimmy” which was OK. In the Atrium afterwards, Dave and Hirma, who are excellent high energy Rock ‘n Roll dancers, tried to teach us a back to back move that pushed my bad shoulder just a bit too far, so a slight relapse just as it was coming good!
Another relaxing sea day ahead – woo-hoo!
We have heard that there were a fair few complaints filed about the cruise on the last sector, so it is interesting to reflect. We certainly haven’t filed any and nor have most of the people we have met or meet regularly, so it must be a small proportion who are actively complaining. Of course there are those who weren’t too impressed with itinerary changes and shortened port times, hoping to claim extra compensation. Some take a personal dislike to a member of the entertainment staff or who believe every member of staff should speak with an Oxford accent and can pronounce every word in every language correctly, but the reality is somewhat different.
As any rational person knows, hiccups are going to happen and to jump up and down because a specific pool is closed for a day; or the ongoing maintenance disrupts their normal walking path; or reporting the captain as he was witnessed enjoying a solitary beer with a group of passengers; is rather pathetic. The unfortunate downside is that directives come back from head office that staff have to keep their distance from the passengers, which elicits even more complaints, that they are not mixing with the passengers enough!
Just for the record, we have zero complaints and can only praise all staff for their attitude and helpfulness at all times. Outdoor astro turf carpet is being replaced and one poor guy seems to spend 100% of his time scraping off the old varnish, sanding and re-varnishing the handrails! Maintenance has to be on the move and much of it during the day, so some disruption is inevitable, so why do some people feel the need to complain?
The Dawn Princess is a little tired in places, but overall, a fine ship with a great crew.
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