There’s an imaginary line known as the equator which separates the top half of our planet from the bottom half.
If some people had their way, the haves would live north of the line, and the have-nots would be forced to exist on the south side. Or vice versa, depending on the effects of global warming.
There have even been suggestions that the world’s alternatively oxygenated nicotine companions, a.k.a. smokers, should be incarcerated north of the line, while politically correct anti-smokers remain free to gloat and preen themselves south of the border.
Presumably if you are an occasional smoker, or someone who has managed to hang on to part of your wealth, you would be allowed to straddle the 40,075 kilometres long equator. You could then hop from one side of the line to the other as the mood takes you while singing the Rolling Stones’ anthem, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.
If this is the first time you’ve crossed the line, especially while travelling on a cruise ship from north to south, you will probably be invited to appear before King Neptune and his court. The court will usually be made up from your ship’s highest ranking seamen (and seawomen), who officiate at a traditional ceremony.
The whole thing is often preceded by a beauty contest of seamen in drag. Which may make you wonder just how long the crew have been at sea.
New seamen and passengers crossing the line for the first time are known as Slimy Pollywogs (don’t ask), and are sometimes locked in stock or pillories on deck where they are ritually shaved or pelted with fruit or foam from fire extinguishers. The rest are known as Trusty Shellbacks (OK, check it out on Wikipedia 
)
If you think this all sounds a bit doubtful, be grateful you are not serving on an 18th century British ship where new crew members were dunked in the sea three times on the end of a rope from the yard-arm.
Apparently some of them could have paid a forfeit to avoid the ritual but embraced the damp experience, enthusiastically. Which just goes to show how poor the on-board entertainment was a couple of centuries ago. Or how desperate the new crew members were for a bath.
These days, this traditional ritual is maintained by many of the world’s navies. Similar rites of passage on cruise ships are usually celebrated with jolly, carnival-like events and parties.
During the course of your voyage, there will be other rituals you will be encouraged to participate in. Such as the formal handing over of gratuities at the end of the trip. Or the avoidance of the bore who insists on joining you for dinner every night.
Actually you can scratch that last item off the list by signing up for My Time Dining, which Royal Caribbean International has piloted on selected ships since early 2008. My Time Dining guests can make daily reservations for specific seating times or choose to walk-in for a meal.
Guests can be seated with the party they arrive with or request to be seated with other guests. Or (Heaven!) dine alone. To ensure a smooth and undisrupted experience, no additional guests will be seated at a table once dinner service has begun. Guests choosing My Time Dining must prepay gratuities and enrol on-board or in advance, which sounds fair enough.
So if you are planning to cross the line soon, I can think of worse ships to be on at the time.
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6 Comments
May 08 2009
14:09
I always think of the equator as an imaginary line. A bit like the queue at my local bus stop.
May 08 2009
19:21
Phew ! Neptune, seamen, polliwogs, Trusty Shellbacks, shaving with or without foam… sounds like my nightmare years at boarding school. Crossing the line indeed !
May 12 2009
10:57
Great blogs. I need to take another cruise!
May 12 2009
11:00
is that why they are called ‘liners’, because they cross the line?
good work king james, my friend!
the fork ‘n’ crown suits you!
May 12 2009
14:19
That’s a good question, south-island-invader.
Traditionally, liners were ocean going ships that conveyed passengers on a regular fixed scheduled route, summer and winter, in all weathers, particularly from Europe across the Atantic to north and south America. I.e. they sailed on a fixed line from a-b (for example, Southampton to New York) and back.
In the 1930s depression years, ocean going liners became cruise ships, and took passengers to other places than the usual ports.
Some say that the word liner comes from an old nautical term, line-of-battle, which preumably described an array of battle ships facing an enemy fleet, or something like that. If somebody has a better description, I’d love to love to hear it.
The alternative to liners were tramp steamers, which ran on variable ad hoc routes, i.e. they tramped around the world and you never quite knew where they’d end up.
The last great liner is said to be the QE2
But whatever you want to call them, and cruise ships now seem to be the operative word, they are still a great experience.
Some new cruise ships such as Cunard’s Queen Victoria have been designed to emulate the liner experience. Of course, what the traditional old liners didn’t have were all the extra entertainment today’s cruise ships have, but then times have changed, cruise lines have expanded, and 21st century passengers expect more for their money, I guess.
It’s worth remembering that the great liners of the 1930s were pre-jet age transports. They eventually were replaced by airliners.
May 13 2009
14:05
I think we have all crossed the line many times, we should write a book. love to you both.
Linda