The second sea day out of Moorea we crossed the equator and King Neptune had to bless all the polywogs (those crew and guests that had never crossed the equator before).  At the completion of the ceremony you are a shellback and have Neptune’s permission to cross his boundaries without ceremony in the future.  John and I were initiated on the Holland American Rotterdam in 2009 when we did the World Cruise so we did not have to participate again.  Of course, it is voluntary anyway – except for new crewmembers who must go.  It was a fun thing to watch.

Annointed with a raw egg.

With some added flour to make it messy.  We arrived in Honolulu on April 29 after four lovely, quiet, lazy days at sea.  We have been to Honolulu several times and all we did was walk around some of the city streets near the terminal. The ship stayed in Honolulu overnight because the next day,  April 29,  was the last day of the 17-day cruise from Sydney, Australia to Hawai’i.

If there is a fire truck nearby one must check it out.  Well, someone must check it out.  Me, not so much. The iconic Aloha Tower at the harbour.

We said goodbye to our tablemates that evening and they caught flights back to Australia the next day.The majority of the guests disembarked the morning of the 30th and then all the cabins were cleaned and the ship was re-stocked for the arrival of the guests taking the 13-day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands to Seattle, WA and on to Vancouver, BC.