Spring 2015 - Day 66: Neptune Day

I wanted to approach Neptune Day differently this time. Mostly because last time was so special for me and I didn't want to try and repeat the experience. For one, I wasn't going to go through the ceremony again. The point of it is to go from pollywogs to shellback and I am already a shellback. 

 

I woke up right before the crew came parading my my door banging on drums. I dressed with the intention to go to breakfast and then get up to the pool deck early but then an announcement was made by Lisa requesting us on the pool deck by 8:30. That gave me no time for breakfast but I was totally fine because I got up by the pool just in time. I got a good seat as everyone started filling the area. 

 

First, for any new readers, what is Neptune Day? Neptune Day is a tradition that started a very long time ago. It is not a SAS specific thing. The Navy does it, fisherman do it. It is a ceremony that occurs on the day you cross the equator where you ask King Neptune for permission to cross into the opposite hemisphere. The ceremonies vary depending on where you do them but for the SAS one you get fish guts dumped on your head, then you jump in the pool, when you get out of the pool you kiss a fish, then you kiss King Neptune's ring, and then you are knighted. Finally, you may shave your head if you wish. 

 

There were a few major differences between this Neptune Day and the one I experiences last time. And I know that I am not supposed to compare things from my voyages but since the day was almost exactly the same, that is how I am going to do this. It's my blog, I can do whatever I want. 

 

So, the major differences. First, Captain Roman wasn't King Neptune. Mom Shelley said that Roman is too serious to do that kind of stuff. On my first voyage Captain Jeremy was King Neptune and it was great fun. Second, it was so disorganized this time. So, so disorganized. They have you sign a form to say that you went through the ceremony so that you can get a certificate. On ours we signed it once we were done. For this one you had to sign it before hand it it was a mess. It backed it up and was so confusing. It just did not flow as well as it did last time. AND THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE. It's in all caps because it annoyed me the most.

 

We didn't actually cross the equator today. They announced yesterday that we were crossing the equator. I didn't say it because I made the executive decision to honor the crew but WHAT THE HELL. Why didn't they just make the study day yesterday and make today the B day? THE HECK. I'M SO ANNOYED. The point of Neptune Day is to ask King Neptune permission to cross but we already crossed! So we didn't ask permission at all! I was so mad. 

 

But it's fine. In the grand scheme of things it isn't that important. But still, I think it matters, to have Neptune Day on the day we actually cross the equator. 

 

Whatever. 

 

I watched, I took pictures of my friends going through, and then I tried to watch people get their heads shaved but the crowd was huge. I eventually gave up and went to stand out towards the back of the ship. Underneath the canopy was stifling hot. I talked to mom there a bit and then completely gave up and went back to my room to shower.

 

We were doing fancy dining for Jessi's birthday at 6:15 but my discussion section for World Mythologies went right up until 6pm so I got completely ready for fancy dining before my discussion section started. 

 

My discussion section was actually useful. We reviewed for our exam and I really needed to do that. We played a Jeopardy game and evaluated a fake myth. It was definitely useful. 

 

When the review session was over I ran back down to my room and threw on my dress. Then I went and knocked on Jessi's door but she didn't answer so I went to Jen and Andi's room. 

 

They were all there so we went together to classroom 9 where the fancy dining is held. 

 

I remember a moment right at the beginning of the voyage when I mentioned fancy dining to a random girl and she said that she would never do that. I then ranted to her for a considerable amount of time about how amazing it was. 

 

I would give that rant over and over again, fancy dining is amazing. We had a 6 course meal. 

 

We started off with champagne while we waited for the others to arrive. Once we were all seated we were served pass around hors d'oeuvres. We could choose from a bunch of options. I chose a little cheese thing and a mini quiche. 

 

After these mini hors d'oeuvres we had our orders taken. We chose a appetizer, our main meal, and our dessert. We were all served the same soup and salad. 

 

For my appetizer I had bruschetta. It was absolutely amazing. 

 

Our soup was tomato bisque. I think we all died and went to heaven when we ate that soup. It was so creamy, it was amazing. Our salad was caesar salad, which is always my favorite. 

 

For my meal I got chicken cordon bleu. It was phenomenal. Some of the other options were steak, and fish. I was glad that I chose the chicken. It tasted so perfect. It came with potatoes and broccoli and carrots. It just all seemed to taste better because it was laid out on a plate and not scooped from a buffet line. 

For dessert I had banana split. It was a half banana split in two with three scoops of ice cream, and a cherry. It was so. good. 

 

I wish we could do fancy dining every night. 

 

When we finished we went to Tymitz square to take photos of us all dressed up. Which was tons of fun, as it always is. 

 

The day ended on a high. We had Neptune Day, we were well fed, and we celebrated Jessi's birthday with everyone. It was a great day.