You're correct that the spacecraft was already more or less on the right course, but on the way to the moon, the CSM/LM stack would make several attitude changes for various purposes. 

The spacecraft would spend most of the flight aligned roughly perpendicular to its flight path, in a north-south orientation, spinning slowly on its axis to evenly distribute heat from sunlight; this is called the Passive Thermal Control (PTC) roll or informally the "barbecue roll".

The PTC roll was stopped and the spacecraft reoriented to take star sightings along the way, as well as to do short course correction burns.

The next major firing of the CSM engine would be to slow down on the far side of the moon to slow down into lunar orbit. This would be done "pointing backwards", with the engine pointed in the direction of motion.