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Do you remember? Celebrity Nostalgia


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Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. – Benjamin Disraeli

 

I just used this quote on another thread about forgetting or remembering a certain experience on a Celebrity cruise from ten to twenty years ago.

Do you have pictures or memorabilia from a Celebrity cruise in the 90's or just a picture of an event that will help us remember the old days... (Please, this is not meant to be another attack on Celebrity or "Modern Luxury" but a stroll down memory lane).

 

Here is a picture of the harpist who played in Murano..Harp.jpg

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I just used this quote on another thread about forgetting or remembering a certain experience on a Celebrity cruise from ten to twenty years ago.

Do you have pictures or memorabilia from a Celebrity cruise in the 90's or just a picture of an event that will help us remember the old days... (Please, this is not meant to be another attack on Celebrity or "Modern Luxury" but a stroll down memory lane).

 

Here is a picture of the harpist who played in Murano..Harp.jpg

 

Does anyone remember one of Celebrity's first and best Butlers, Nikki from England, always said smashing.....

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We see these old ships in port sometimes, recently both the Mercury and the old Monarch

of the Seas. The X on the smokestack is a dead giveaway as is the Viking Crown Lounge. We also remember some of the things that made us love cruising. The theme nights were fun, the live music by the pool, and the newness of it all. Lots of little things have changed. No more grand buffets, midnight, chocolate and brunch. We still miss these things but I guess keeping the fares in line so they are affordable is more important. The new innovations for loyalty cancel out any of the old features that we miss.

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Ah what memories, the Zenith was my first Celebrity cruise, loved it then, love it now. Even though some things have changed, the world changes as well, grocery prices go up, cars change and we all grow older. It's much easier to accept these thing than try to fight them.

Life is good, cruising is wonderful, let's all enjoy life.

Norma

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We started cruising with Celebrity in the '90s.........Horizon, Zenith, Meridian, Mercury. No balconies back then, but we thought we were sailing in the lap of luxury! Does anyone remember the social hostess, Amanda Reid? She's with Cunard now, I believe. She invited us to the Captains Table on the Mercury. Lovely experience, although we were never asked again...lol!

 

We met and mingled with Joe Williams, the jazz singer, on the Meridian on a Jazz cruise. Wonderful cruise on an old ship, but she was beautiful. Dining was a nightly event with amazing cuisine.

 

We still love Celebrity, but we've seen many changes over the years.

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We started cruising in 2001. Our first ever cruise was on the Celebrity Infinity in May 2001, when she was barely 2 months old. WHAT A SHIP!

 

A few things I remember from that cruise:

 

- Formal night was truly formal. I'd say 90% of the men wore Tuxedos and the women were dressed to the nines.

 

-The Tables were set with fine China and a couple dozen pieces of flatware.

 

-Table service was equivalent to today's Murano

 

-There was a great room in there that's now the kids club. It was on the top deck, and had 2 levels with a great view and was in essence a digital music listening room. Very few people knew of the room, and my wife and I spent countless hours there. It was unbelievable. in fact, we got engaged there on this very cruise. :)

 

This is sort of what it looked like:

 

http://www.voyagesdestination.com/images/cruises/37/Celebrity_Infinity_croisiere_lune_de_miel.jpg

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We started cruising with Celebrity in the '90s.........Horizon, Zenith, Meridian, Mercury. No balconies back then, but we thought we were sailing in the lap of luxury! Does anyone remember the social hostess, Amanda Reid? She's with Cunard now, I believe. She invited us to the Captains Table on the Mercury. Lovely experience, although we were never asked again...lol!

 

We met and mingled with Joe Williams, the jazz singer, on the Meridian on a Jazz cruise. Wonderful cruise on an old ship, but she was beautiful. Dining was a nightly event with amazing cuisine.

 

We still love Celebrity, but we've seen many changes over the years.

 

Remember Amanda very well, she was on a TV show at some point where they interviewed her.

 

Thinking of TV shows does anyone remember when Fran Drescher taped an episode of her show "The Nanny" onboard the Century.

 

Also, Celebrity's first ship was the Meridien, here is a link to her sinking near Singapore.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2010/02/a-cruise-to-remember-the-sinking-of-the-sun-vista/

 

I can't remember his name but Celebrity has a male singer on their ships going to Bermuda in the mid 90s. At the time Celebrity was sending two ships to Bermuda every week, one would leave Saturday and the other would leave Sunday. This singer was similar to a Tom Jones and I was talking to him one day and he mentioned his schedule. He would leave on the one ship on Sunday and sing a couple of nights on the way to Bermuda. Once in Bermuda he would switch to the other ship and do a couple of shows on the leg back to New York. He would then depart on Saturday and repeat the whole thing over again on Sunday.

Edited by dkjretired
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Ahh those time were great. Our first Celebrity cruise was on the Meridian, then the Horizon and so on, and so on. I wish Mr. Chandris hadn't sold Celebrity to Royal. Oh well ....

 

On the Meridian I remember that shoe shines were free.

 

String quartets at dinner.

 

Lovely silverware and china.

 

No sugar packets but sugar cubes at dinner.

 

Everyone was dressed accordingly.

 

I could go on and on.

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Remember Amanda very well, she was on a TV show at some point where they interviewed her.

 

Thinking of TV shows does anyone remember when Fran Drescher taped an episode of her show "The Nanny" onboard the Century.

 

Also, Celebrity's first ship was the Meridien, here is a link to her sinking near Singapore.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2010/02/a-cruise-to-remember-the-sinking-of-the-sun-vista/

 

I can't remember his name but Celebrity has a male singer on their ships going to Bermuda in the mid 90s. At the time Celebrity was sending two ships to Bermuda every week, one would leave Saturday and the other would leave Sunday. This singer was similar to a Tom Jones and I was talking to him one day and he mentioned his schedule. He would leave on the one ship on Sunday and sing a couple of nights on the way to Bermuda. Once in Bermuda he would switch to the other ship and do a couple of shows on the leg back to New York. He would then depart on Saturday and repeat the whole thing over again on Sunday.

 

I believe you are referring to Mark Preston, (of the Lettermen) who we saw a few times on the Galaxy as well. Wonderful entertainer and he still does occasional gigs on Celebrity and Princess.

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Remember Amanda very well, she was on a TV show at some point where they interviewed her.

 

Thinking of TV shows does anyone remember when Fran Drescher taped an episode of her show "The Nanny" onboard the Century.

 

Also, Celebrity's first ship was the Meridien, here is a link to her sinking near Singapore.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2010/02/a-cruise-to-remember-the-sinking-of-the-sun-vista/

 

I can't remember his name but Celebrity has a male singer on their ships going to Bermuda in the mid 90s. At the time Celebrity was sending two ships to Bermuda every week, one would leave Saturday and the other would leave Sunday. This singer was similar to a Tom Jones and I was talking to him one day and he mentioned his schedule. He would leave on the one ship on Sunday and sing a couple of nights on the way to Bermuda. Once in Bermuda he would switch to the other ship and do a couple of shows on the leg back to New York. He would then depart on Saturday and repeat the whole thing over again on Sunday.

 

Thanks for the link to that article, Don. The responses to the account are almost as interesting as the account itself!

Our first cruise was on Meridian to Bermuda in 1996. We had an inside room aft on deck 4, just over the engine room, & were lulled to sleep by the sound of the screws while at sea. I recall that they had skeet shooting off of the stern. She was a pretty ship with a classic profile I still have 1 or 2 dailies from that sailing; I'll have to try & dig them out & see if I can scan & post them.

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I believe you are referring to Mark Preston, (of the Lettermen) who we saw a few times on the Galaxy as well. Wonderful entertainer and he still does occasional gigs on Celebrity and Princess.

 

 

JackWalker.jpg

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JackWalker.jpg

 

I remember him a lot younger but then so was I when we sailed in the 90s to Bermuda. Speaking of the Bermuda trip, the most amazing thing for me on any Celebrity cruise was going through the cut into St George with Meridien, Zenith or Horizon. The passage was so narrow that you could almost shake hands with the people who were sitting on the rocks while you went through. I was told that the Captain had to do calculations, etc when leaving New York as to how much fuel they had and weight of the ship to prepare for the minute or so it took to go through.

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I remember him a lot younger but then so was I when we sailed in the 90s to Bermuda. Speaking of the Bermuda trip, the most amazing thing for me on any Celebrity cruise was going through the cut into St George with Meridien, Zenith or Horizon. The passage was so narrow that you could almost shake hands with the people who were sitting on the rocks while you went through. I was told that the Captain had to do calculations, etc when leaving New York as to how much fuel they had and weight of the ship to prepare for the minute or so it took to go through.

 

Yes, I remember. We've done Bermuda on the Summit, but it's just not quite the same as the Zenith. Loved Bermuda so much that we did it again on the Meridien.

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Does anyone remember one of Celebrity's first and best Butlers, Nikki from England, always said smashing.....

 

Do you know how he got the name "Smashing Nikki"?

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Hi Arno:

 

Great thread!

 

For those who were wondering, Amanda Reid was with Cunard for many years and when I last heard, was permanent (they do thinks differently there) Cruise Director on Queen Victoria.

 

This short thread brought many smiles (Nikki basically wrestled our shoes out of our hands as we were too embarrassed to ask for a shoe shine!)

but also backed our decision last year to no longer cruise on Celebrity.

 

After about 33 cruises and 250 days onboard and three less than ideal cruises in a row, it was time to say "goodbye". As we are both within one year of age 50, we thought life was too short to waste on a product that was no longer in line with our expectations.

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Thanks for the picture of Zenith! We had one of our best cruises ever on her back when she was sailing out of JAX. :)

LuLu

~~~

 

I just loved the Zenith. My DH only complaint was the chairs were crowed in the MDR...we did South America on her and a Deep Caribbean!

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Remember Amanda very well, she was on a TV show at some point where they interviewed her.

 

Thinking of TV shows does anyone remember when Fran Drescher taped an episode of her show "The Nanny" onboard the Century.

 

Also, Celebrity's first ship was the Meridien, here is a link to her sinking near Singapore.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2010/02/a-cruise-to-remember-the-sinking-of-the-sun-vista/

 

I can't remember his name but Celebrity has a male singer on their ships going to Bermuda in the mid 90s. At the time Celebrity was sending two ships to Bermuda every week, one would leave Saturday and the other would leave Sunday. This singer was similar to a Tom Jones and I was talking to him one day and he mentioned his schedule. He would leave on the one ship on Sunday and sing a couple of nights on the way to Bermuda. Once in Bermuda he would switch to the other ship and do a couple of shows on the leg back to New York. He would then depart on Saturday and repeat the whole thing over again on Sunday.

 

 

I think Amanda was appearing in one of the first so called DocuSoaps by BBC called The Cruise. Also starring Jane McDonald.

Best promotion for X ever. Pity those episodes no longer exist. Or do they?

Edited by RichardQ
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