April 14^th, 2023

At Sea

It was raining when we got up, and very, very humid. Today is the day that we cross the equator officially, with a traditional crossing of the line ceremony.

People who have not crossed the equator by sea previously, pollywogs, need to ask King Neptune’s permission to do so, and once they have received this they become shellbacks. The ceremony usually involves the pollywogs getting covered in slimy material, and then jumping in the pool to wash off. The last time we have experienced this ceremony was on Queen Mary 2 in 2020. COVID was beginning to show it’s ugly face, and Captain Hashmi was monitoring the deteriorating situation. So although we were actually in Asia, we were not stopping at any Asian ports. There we were in view of the nearby Singapore skyline having the ceremony, it was quite surreal. Things were going on as normal on board, while things were definitely not normal in the real world as we were changing our itinerary on a daily basis. Today’s ceremony will be different.

The first time I crossed the equator by sea I was a baby. I have the old 16mm film taken by my grandfather of the captain dunking me in the pool while I looked like I was screaming my head off. I don’t think I was having fun.

There were several things going on at 10:00 today: Dave Wright’s talk on Louis VI and Marie Antoinette, the water color class, stretch class, line dancing, morning trivia, and craft class. All very tempting (except the water color class), but yet again I opted for the craft class.

We were doing silk painting again, and today’s class had the option of making a glasses case. Dressed to paint, I set out to turn the plain silk case into a masterpiece of color and pizazz.

It was fun, and although my end product wasn’t quite what I had planned, and Louise, the instructor had to help me redo one of the flowers after I accidently smudged the glue, I was quite happy with the end result. I think Brian was quite glad that I hadn’t done another piece of art to adorn our already overcrowded stateroom. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

My case and Louise’s sample case.

During his noon announcement Captain Hall asked us to pause for a minute to remember the sinking of the Titanic 111 years ago. He is very good at giving us an update on our position, and the weather, but I do miss the little nautical stories that other captains used to tell during their noon announcements. Still, as long as the noon whistle blows, all is well with the world.

After lunch I went to watch the crossing the line ceremony. Viewing it is difficult, the aft pool is great, but not a good design for watching activities there. So my photos are pretty useless. Neil Kelly, the entertainment director, was dressed up as King Neptune and did a great job. The pollywogs were dowsed in vibrant colored sticky spaghetti. Yuk! They also had to a kiss a large fish. All quite nasty, but it was all in good fun on what turned out to be a very hot, sunny day after a rainy start.

Later in the afternoon, the Royal Shakespeare Company members on board starred in a great production in the Royal Court Theater, Boundless as the Sea. It was described as a beautiful and uplifting story of love on board Queen Mary 2 told by the most famous lovers from Shakespeare’s plays. Looking at the actors costumes, and the background video, it looked a lot more like the original Queen Mary. The cast was very talented – and it was a delightful way to spend time out of the sun in the cool theater. The theater was full, and everyone really seemed to enjoy the production.

The background film of the original Queen Mary was wonderful. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were such iconic ships. I suppose Queen Mary 2 is as well – she’s not a cookie cutter cruise ship, she is unique. Quirky yes, and not getting any younger. But still the most magnificent, if only liner, afloat today. At the end of the show I went and took a photo of the original Queen Mary. Maybe we will get to stay on her again this year when we pass though Los Angeles.

There is an introduction to foil fencing in the Queen Room this afternoon  – limited to 12 guests. Fencing has always looked very interesting, and I think it’s great that Cunard includes this as an option on their ships. Maybe I will try it one day.

One thing I do want to try is the silent disco. I think it might be the same sort of thing that our daughter goes to in Portland. She goes to concerts where there are several DJs playing music, but you listen to the music through head phones, so you could be dancing next to someone who is listening to totally different music to you. It must look terribly odd. I never really understood it.

Well I see in the program for tomorrow night that there may be an alternative to our usual habit of us retiring to the Commodore Club at the end of an evening so I can listen to Campbell Simpson on the piano, and have a chocolate affair martini. These are not nearly as good as milky way martinis, but are actually quite nice. Any chocolate in a storm.

Yes, there will be a silent disco in G32. As I am overcoming my dislike of G32, maybe we should try it out. The program says that headsets will be available from 9:00 (we will still be in dinner), and the disco starts at 9:45 (we may still be in dinner). According to the Daily Programme this is a unique way to party on QM2! With Motown, Classic 80s, and Requests Live with DJ Lily on offer, at the click of a button you chose the sound that gets you on the dance floor. They provide the headsets and the playlists of various musical tastes….you provide the moves! Well who could resist? Ummmm, maybe Brian. It would actually work better for me if they have Abba and the Village People. Although trying to do YMCA when everyone else is on some Motown kick might look odd. Anyway, fingers crossed that I can report back on how it went.

This evening together with tomorrow’s program and our chocolates were 2 certificates proving that we have crossed the equator. In a way it made me feel a bit sad. We won’t be in the southern hemisphere again until we are on the Fred Olsen Bolette in November. I do like the southern hemisphere and the southern cross. I also think they should include the prime meridian on the certificates. I will let Neil Kelly know. Maybe I am the only person who is obsessed with it, but you never know.

What I do know is that the voyage has been ridiculously calm so far. Not a decent wave in sight. There is nothing better than to sink into those wonderful Cunard beds, and be rocked to sleep by the rolling motion of the ship. If I didn’t look outside I would not know that we are in the middle of the Atlantic. Hopefully there will be some more interesting weather ahead……….