May 1, 2, 2015, en route to Bali (Benoa), Indonesia, Crossing theEquator

Two cruise days to unwind.  Friday, May 1, we crossed the equator!

King Neptune welcoming all the shellbacks

 We were in the Karimata Strait.  At 10:00am they had a parade of King Neptune and his cohorts with music, to the pool deck which was prepared with sheets of plastic.

The polywogs, those who have not been deemed worthy by Neptune of sailing, were tested and then granted passage and the title of shellback.  First you had to kiss a huge raw fish.

King Neptune's retinue

Can you kiss this fish?

The Captain announce the exact moment we crossed the Equator and we all jumped over the line.

Then you chose an egg to crack on your head.  If it was hardboiled, you did not have to be anointed.  If it was raw, you had to have green goo poured over your head.  We lined up for our initiation.  Soon they ran out of eggs, so after you kissed the fish you could choose the green slime or not  Of course everyone chose it because we were warned to wear a bathing suit and it looked like fun.

The fish was really gross.  No french kissing was the rule.  The goo felt fine, and seemed to come off easily in the deck shower.  However after I got to the spa shower, it took washing my hair two times to get it out, and still there were globs on the comb.  We still don't know what it was made out of.  David's white hair was particularly green for a day.   Thank goodness we won't have to do it again.  We will cross the Equator at least one more time before Miami, on our way to Hawaii.  The ceremony was observed by most of the ship and was a fun time.  Andy did a great job as Neptune.  He changed his voice and wore a sleeve tatoo.  I frankly kept wondering which crew member they found to be Neptune because I didn't recognize him he did such a convincing job.

It was gross

This was also gross

A shellback at last

Cocktail party recognizing passengers who have traveled on Oceania before.  It seemed as if the whole ship was at the party.

The Captain Maksym Melnikov and General Manager Yves Segers

Executive Chef and comedian, Faid Oudir

The evening entertainment was an Australian show and opera singer, Darren Williams.  He livened up the crowd with his tight leather pants and 4 1/2 octave singing voice.  

Saturday, May 2

Another sea day crossing the Java Sea to finally wash off the green goo.  The highlight was the passenger talent show.  Shelby did a wonderful comedy routine about her home in Alabama.  She is a kick.  Another man from Australia told us the story of how 10 penguins were brought to the Darwin zoo.  Fredrika from Switzerland played her dulcimer, this large instrument similar to a xylophone, she brought on board ship.  A huge young black woman sang beautifully.  I had never even seen her on the ship.  This cruise continuously surprises us.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show.