Getting your "around the horn" Earring

[makai 7]

We will be on the Rotterdam March 3 2008 trip around the horn and can't wait!

 

One topic I have not heard anything about on these boards is getting your earring for going around the horn.

 

Has anyone done it? Do they offer it on board the ship (with the purchase of a gold hoop, of course) or did you wait until you arrived home?

 

Thanks!

[eh2zed]

Went around on the Rotterdam last year and i don't remember the horn earring thing but that doesn't mean they weren't selling them. However, we all did receive a certificate signed by the Captain.:) :D :) :D

[infohunter]

According to Wikipedia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn

The Horn exacted a heavy toll from shipping, however, owing to the extremely hazardous combination of conditions there.Traditionally, a sailor who had rounded the Horn was entitled to wear a gold loop earring — in the left ear, the one which had faced the Horn in a typical eastbound passage — and to dine with one foot on the table; a sailor who had also rounded the Cape of Good Hope could place both feet on the table

I like the part about putting one's foot on the table ;)

 

On the other hand....

http://www.victory-cruises.com/cape_horn4.html

Whoever had rounded the cape bound westward was part of a superior class of men: they were authorized to carry an earring on their left ear or on their chest, and they could urinate to windward.

But if that wasn't enough...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/06/03/savvyt.tall.ship/

Proffering his diamond stud earring into the sea, he replaces it with the gold hoop of the Cape Horn sailor, a tradition started when seamen wore the gold hoop to pay for a decent burial if lost at sea and washed ashore.

 

[stuff deleted]

 

Rob:

Now, I get to eat with my feet up on the table. I get to urinate to windward and spit to windward, and all the other privileges -- and wear the gold hoop. Excellent.

 

Todd:

Further, he declares that, traditionally, a sailor of 10 times around the Horn is entitled to red tattoos on the forehead, thus promising the bearer drink at shore-side pubs for his natural lifetime.

 

Guess I'm going to have to get my ears pierced ;)

[Keith1010]

We've been around the horn twice on two different cruise lines and ships (but not on the cruise line you mentioned). We did get a certificate on each of these sailing though from the captain(s).

 

Keith

[CrossMyHeart]

SO it' just one earring? :confused:

[makai 7]

Yes, it is just one earring, typically in the Left ear.

It usually has to be a specific type of hoop, also, though I am having a hard time finding out what kind of hoop (gold) it should be.