At Sea - crossing the equator

It seems like we have been very busy. Saturday we crossed the equator. At 2:00 we had a visit from King Neptune and his court. They did an excellent production of this - starting with the Captain sounding a long blow on the ship’s whistle and making the announcement. King and Queen Neptune judged 6 passengers and 40 crewmembers that were pollywogs; all failed and were sentenced to “the doctors” who covered them with whipped cream and spaghetti noodles. All good fun, they then jumped in the pool to get the worst of it off. I’m sure the crew hates to clean up that mess and the pool sure needed a good cleaning; they had emptied it down to about half so there wasn’t too much water in it.

On Saturday evening we were invited to a Cocktail party with the Officers and a number of other guests. I was surprised since we aren’t in a suite for this cruise. It was very enjoyable and we enjoyed visiting with Roger, the bar manager, and Kevin the assistant cruise director. Earlier we met with Roger to finalize the details for the Ensemble cocktail party on Monday.

Sunday we were in Manta, Ecuador. We took the shuttle into town and wandered through the market and purchased a couple things. Jim got a t-shirt and I bought a lovely embroidered shoulder bag. It has a nice wide padded strap so I can carry stuff more comfortably than using my little tote bag. After several trips, my tote bag is starting to look pretty grungy… I guess I’ll have to treat myself to a new one when we get home. After the market we walked about a block and were in a great park with huge shade trees… we sat there for a while just catching a few photos of local people. Then we headed for the pharmacy to get a couple things… a gel pack to keep in the little cabin fridge so I can use it on my back. It won’t be frozen, but has to be better than putting ice cubes in a ziplock baggie which always seem to leak.

Random thoughts:

• The food has been excellent - I love the variety but often get the beef. Last night I had pheasant and it was perfect.
• I really miss having a balcony; not just for the use of the balcony itself, but being able to see out through the full size of the sliding door. Our window is quite big, but you can’t see anything except sky unless you are standing. Well, as long as I’m being honest… I really miss being in an D suite. I like having the cabin space, the special amenities and most of all the Neptune!
• Our cabin would be perfect for someone that suffers from seasickness. We are on the lowest passenger deck and almost mid-ship. We feel almost no movement… I miss rocking and rolling! There is a huge difference in what we feel in our cabin /vs. what we feel in the public areas or the lido when the seas are a bit rough - we are surprised that the ship is moving as much as we are.
• All of the staff and crew are wonderful - I haven’t found one grumpy person. It still amazes me how they learn everyone’s names so quickly. Our steward was worried that something was wrong because we put our ‘do not disturb’ sign out in the evening… sometimes before he has turned down the cabin. We have assured him that it’s ok, we really don’t need anything if the sign is out.

Well, I guess that’s it for now… I’ll add pictures later.