Westysclan World Cruise 2023

Today, our first crossing of the Equator for this trip was celebrated with a fun ceremony on the outside pool deck. Having done it many times in his Navy career, Mark was very impressed that the Princess ceremony remained true to many of the traditions that he remembered.

At 1pm, King Neptune and his queen ‘Double D’ were ushered in with a band and body guards. The Captain then officially asked his permission to ‘Cross the Line’

Before permission was given King Neptune had to be appeased by the ‘sentencing’ of some passengers for crimes. Their punishment was being shaved. In Mark’s navy days they really did shave the polliwogs – luckily for these passengers they were just covered in shaving cream! The crew members that had not crossed the line before had to appease Neptune by kissing a fish! Then the rest of us passenger polliwogs joined the courtroom for sliming with cooked spaghetti, chocolate custard, raw eggs and jelly. The cruise director Aaron was ‘sacrificed’ so, as part of the theatre of the ceremony, raw sausages, whole livers and a variety of uncooked bones from the kitchen were added to the food fight.