Your first cruise ship

My first cruise was on the old Royal Caribbean Song of America in April 1997.

 

It was a 14 day Panama Canal cruise and a lovely introduction to an already old-fashioned style of cruising. All three meals were at our assigned table in the dining room with the same wait staff. And we had one of very few "suites" which was 150 square feet total but actually quite comfortable and included a decent size bathroom.

RCCL's Song of America

Our first cruise was on the Renaissance Cruise Line's R4 -

 

It was over the millennium in Tahiti. We figured if all the electronics in the world were going to stop working due to Y2K, being on a cruise ship in Tahiti was the place to be!

Renaissance Cruise Line's R Four

Showing my age,...first cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth II....not longer in service. September, 1970, crossing from New York to Southampton. Cheapest room, inside, lowest level, but at that time was cheaper than a one way airfare. Was going to live in London for a year. Great fun and fond memories!

Showing my age,...first cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth II....not longer in service. September, 1970, crossing from New York to Southampton. Cheapest room, inside, lowest level, but at that time was cheaper than a one way airfare. Was going to live in London for a year. Great fun and fond memories!

Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth 2, a classic! Saw her berthed in Dubai, this March

First cruise was for our 30th anniversary on the Caribbean Princess 5 years ago to Canada and New England. In late May we are booked on the Zuiderdam out of Copenhagen for 12 nights in the Baltic. Cannot wait. Any tips on recommended shore excursions would be most appreciated

 

 

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Princess Cruise Line's Caribbean Princess

What a wonderful thread! Our first cruise was on the Maasdam out of FLL to the Western Caribbean in May of 2002. We booked a balcony and loved every single minute of the cruise. We were definitely hooked.

 

We will be sailing to Alaska in late August on the Westerdam. :)

Holland America Line's Maasdam (prior to the Gym extension)

Ms.Nieuw Amsterdam (the old one), August 1991, 7 Day Alaska, Cptn: Jacob Dijk, Hotel Mgr: Hans Dernison, while walking by a VIP party as a newbie, CPtn, invited us to join the party, and it was all downhill from there, now 1000 days later.....

Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam III

Our first cruise was a Med cruise on Crystal Symphony for DW and I. All expenses paid by my employer. It was a sales achievement award. My employer chartered the ship for 8 days.

Fabulous cruise and we were able to tack on an extra week in Rome at the front of it.

Here's a test for Copper - to see if he can find a picture. My first "cruise" was in 1943, on the NYK liner "Teia Maru" from Shanghai, via Singapore and Manila, to Mormagao (Goa). My mother and I sailed from Shanghai in September as internees of the Japanese and were exchanged in Goa for Japanese internees who were returned to Japan, while we went on the "Gripsholm" via Port Elizabeth and Rio, to New York, where we disembarked and went to Vancouver by train. The voyage lasted 3 months - we arrived in Vancouver in time for Christmas.

I think that's when I got my sea legs! (I was 3.)

Here's a test for Copper - to see if he can find a picture. My first "cruise" was in 1943, on the NYK liner "Teia Maru" from Shanghai, via Singapore and Manila, to Mormagao (Goa). My mother and I sailed from Shanghai in September as internees of the Japanese and were exchanged in Goa for Japanese internees who were returned to Japan, while we went on the "Gripsholm" via Port Elizabeth and Rio, to New York, where we disembarked and went to Vancouver by train. The voyage lasted 3 months - we arrived in Vancouver in time for Christmas.

 

I think that's when I got my sea legs! (I was 3.)

That had to be quite an experience!

Teiyō Maru

Our first cruise was a Med cruise on Crystal Symphony for DW and I. All expenses paid by my employer. It was a sales achievement award. My employer chartered the ship for 8 days.

 

Fabulous cruise and we were able to tack on an extra week in Rome at the front of it.

Crystal Cruise Line's Crystal Symphony

Here's a test for Copper - to see if he can find a picture. My first "cruise" was in 1943, on the NYK liner "Teia Maru" from Shanghai, via Singapore and Manila, to Mormagao (Goa). My mother and I sailed from Shanghai in September as internees of the Japanese and were exchanged in Goa for Japanese internees who were returned to Japan, while we went on the "Gripsholm" via Port Elizabeth and Rio, to New York, where we disembarked and went to Vancouver by train. The voyage lasted 3 months - we arrived in Vancouver in time for Christmas.

 

I think that's when I got my sea legs! (I was 3.)

:eek: What a journey! That must have been a very memorable Christmas.

Our first cruise was on the Renaissance Cruise Line's R4 -

 

It was over the millennium in Tahiti. We figured if all the electronics in the world were going to stop working due to Y2K, being on a cruise ship in Tahiti was the place to be!

I beat you on that one. I was on the Sierra Madre Express train to Mexico's Copper Canyon and spent New Years Eve in a hotel that barely had electricity (the washed sheets were even draped over tree branches)

I think in 2000 even cruise ships were pretty sophisticated electronically.

Roy

Thank you, Copper, I've never seen a picture of her - she was supposed to be a "luxury liner"! My mother and I shared a two-bunk cabin with another woman and her child. During the day we would all leave the cabin so that some of the men (who were held in the hold) could wash up and perhaps sleep.

Thank you, Copper, I've never seen a picture of her - she was supposed to be a "luxury liner"! My mother and I shared a two-bunk cabin with another woman and her child. During the day we would all leave the cabin so that some of the men (who were held in the hold) could wash up and perhaps sleep.

Those could not have been easy times, Ann! An uncle (Dutch Navy, flew on Catalinas) and aunt of mine who were living in, then, the Dutch East Indies, were taken prisoner by the Japanese. This is probably not the forum to describe what they went through in the camps. They survived!

Thanks Copper for adding all the great ship pics to this thread.

Thanks Copper for adding all the great ship pics to this thread.

Hi St. Pete's Cruiser and thanks! :)

Our first cruise was a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Oosterdam for our honeymoon in 2005. Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Villarta. We were hooked! 7 days with no contact with work or family, a gorgeous hotel that takes you to different places. Great food! Can't beat it for the price. We also feel in love with Cabo and now own a time share there.

We are signed up for our third cruise this November, all on HAL!

My first was only back in 2012. It was the Cunard Queen Elizabeth. The voyage was called "Holy Land Explorer", 12 days sailing from Athens, east around the Mediterranean and ending at Rome.

We were supposed to go to Izmir, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Alexandria as part of this cruise..none of which happened. There were riots, and terror attacks going on so the ship was diverted to alternate ports out of safety concerns. Remember the 'Arab Spring' at Tahir Square in Cairo? It was then. Also, Gaza terrorists were firing RPG at Haifa and often the rockets would land in the sea where ships would normally dock!

I had a great time though, and made some friends I still keep in touch with. Since that first trip, we discovered HAL & have yet to change to a different line. Were I to try another line, it might be Oceania for another go to the Mediterranean. I'd like to try Cunard QM2 for a transatlantic someday too.

Thanks Copper for adding all the great ship pics to this thread.

Thanks from me as well! I'm not sure how you do it--when I try I can't get pics to post any larger than a thumbnail on CC :confused:.

My first was only back in 2012. It was the Cunard Queen Elizabeth. The voyage was called "Holy Land Explorer", 12 days sailing from Athens, east around the Mediterranean and ending at Rome.

 

We were supposed to go to Izmir, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Alexandria as part of this cruise..none of which happened. There were riots, and terror attacks going on so the ship was diverted to alternate ports out of safety concerns. Remember the 'Arab Spring' at Tahir Square in Cairo? It was then. Also, Gaza terrorists were firing RPG at Haifa and often the rockets would land in the sea where ships would normally dock!

 

I had a great time though, and made some friends I still keep in touch with. Since that first trip, we discovered HAL & have yet to change to a different line. Were I to try another line, it might be Oceania for another go to the Mediterranean. I'd like to try Cunard QM2 for a transatlantic someday too.

With apologies to Copper10-8 (and perhaps he will add his own picture), this is QE waiting for me in New York:

It was just a little after you sailed QE (actually the final segment of the 2013 World Cruise, but just a transatlantic. I haven't yet sailed the Vista/Signature ships but feel a familiarity with them from having sailed the Cunard versions. I'll be back on QE late this year.

Roy

Our first cruise was a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Oosterdam for our honeymoon in 2005. Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Villarta. We were hooked! 7 days with no contact with work or family, a gorgeous hotel that takes you to different places. Great food! Can't beat it for the price. We also feel in love with Cabo and now own a time share there.

 

We are signed up for our third cruise this November, all on HAL!

Holland America Line's Oosterdam

My first was only back in 2012. It was the Cunard Queen Elizabeth. The voyage was called "Holy Land Explorer", 12 days sailing from Athens, east around the Mediterranean and ending at Rome.

 

We were supposed to go to Izmir, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Alexandria as part of this cruise..none of which happened. There were riots, and terror attacks going on so the ship was diverted to alternate ports out of safety concerns. Remember the 'Arab Spring' at Tahir Square in Cairo? It was then. Also, Gaza terrorists were firing RPG at Haifa and often the rockets would land in the sea where ships would normally dock!

 

I had a great time though, and made some friends I still keep in touch with. Since that first trip, we discovered HAL & have yet to change to a different line. Were I to try another line, it might be Oceania for another go to the Mediterranean. I'd like to try Cunard QM2 for a transatlantic someday too.

Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth

No worries, Roy! ;)

Found this bit of history online which highlights my first two "cruise" experiences: Chandris Fantasia, one of the 1960's Greek cruise ships doing the Eastern Med route and the RTW Gallileo on the 1970's which went on to become the first of the Celebrity Cruise Lines all-suite ships, the Meridian.

 

Chandris lines bought the Queen Frederica in 1966 and after fully modernising her with room for 1200 one-class passengers she left for Southampton in October 1966 to join the rest of the Australian fleet. She left service in January 1971, and was scrapped in 1977.

 

But perhaps the biggest expansion came in 1969-1970 when four ships joined the fleet within a matter of months: the Fiorita, the Romanza, the Atlantis and the Britanis. (NB: and also the Fantasia)

 

A few years later, by 1976, Chandris had the largest passenger-cruise fleet in the world, surpassing the prior records held by the likes of Cunard, P&O and Union Castle. That year, there were thirteen active Chandris passenger ships in all: The Australis, Britanis, Ellinis, Patris, The Victoria, Amerikanis, Romanza, Regina Prima, Bon Vivant, Fiorita, Romantica, Fiesta and finally the little Radiosa.

 

While Chandris turned to Greek hotels on shore in 1973, they also began to strengthen their American cruise operations.

In 1975 the Victoria ex- Dunnottar Castle was purchased from the bankrupt Incres Lines, refitted and renamed The Victoria, she started her Mediterranean service in June 1976, she served Chandris well until sold in 1993.

 

A partnership called Chandris-Fantasy Cruises started in the early 1980s and later was divided into two separate arms of the Chandris Group, Fantasy-Cruises and then the more up-market Celebrity Cruises.

 

In the mid eighties, the third generation Chandris Chairman John Chandris foresaw the growth of the cruise trade world-wide especially concerning the upper class of the USA's mass market.

 

This segment was the most competitive on the market, with well established operators such as Royal Caribbean, Princess, HAL, etc.

For Chandris Cruises, as budget cruise operator, it was quite difficult to follow the marketing strategy of its Chairman.

 

A new image had to be created and so Chandris formed with the Overseas Shipholding Group Celebrity Cruises. Later Chandris bought OSG out and became sole owner of Celebrity Cruises.

 

The Italian Liner Galileo was chartered in 1980 and 1981 and was finally purchased in 1983, refurbished and started on 1-7 days cruises out of New York and Miami and became a very popular ship. In 1988 when Chandris founded Celebrity Cruises she was rebuilt and renamed Meridian for Celebrity Cruises.

Chandris Line Fantasia

My first cruise was on the NCL Sunward 2 in 1978 to the Bahamas. I believe the ship was about 18,000 tons.

NCL's Sunward II