Booking a trip on a seagoing vessel, unavoidably means during that the voyage there will be celebrations of birthdays. Secretely friends sneak in little presents or birthday cards. Coming up from ‘below’ and finding the deckhouse dressed in multicolored flags definitely comes as a surprise. For every celebration the galley turns out some delicious apple pies. Some people ‘accidently’ appear to be in the shower when the pies are about to be served. As soon as the freshly washed person to be celebrated turned up the singing started: “Happy birthday toooo youuuu….” And then the con-wet-ulations start and a fair helping of pie, with or without whipped cream, finds its way into everybody.