happy cruzin

Wait they don't have steel drum music anymore?? That's what I was looking most forward to!

First time I cruised was about 1990 and it was the days of flaming Baked Alaska/Bananas Foster and waiters dancing through the dining room. Same people sat at your dinner table all week. Last time was 1997 and it was pretty much the same.

Guess I might be in for some surprises when we cruise next month!

Heads up....there are still dancing waiters - just not what you're thinking!!

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LOVE the Rustic Inn ....casual and very good!! Will definitely do it again - pre or post cruise. ;)

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On my very first cruise, my best friend and I were 23 years old. A week to Bermuda that I had won. There were, say, 7 of us under 30 on the ship (we ended up partying with the crew! So much fun!! but I digress...)

Anyway, we met up with a group of 3 couples in their mid 40s. They showed us the ropes of cruising, they were awesome!! We called them "The Mamas and the Papas" because they treated us like their own children.

 

Anyway, they all bought one of the horses, and asked us to do the race. Remember that we were some of the only 20somethings on board? Well, a lot of the other horses were kind of tame. Not ours... we named him NumbNuts. Somewhere we got poster board and made a big sign for him. I borrowed a waiter's flowery long sleeve button down for my jockey outfit, worn with bike shorts. We made a cloak of somesort around the horse and had two round and one long balloons hanging out underneath the back.

 

It was so much fun!!!

Memories!! ;) :D

HA! I'd forgotten about the horse races. "Teams" would buy the horses, and decorate them. They'd carry them all over the ship to get interest in their horse, then they'd race them, with a toss of gigantic dice up on Lido Deck. GREAT FUN indeed!

 

"SKY"

YES...they did. I remember one being at the table next to us during dinner for a couple of nights!! :eek:

HA! I'd forgotten about the horse races. "Teams" would buy the horses, and decorate them. They'd carry them all over the ship to get interest in their horse, then they'd race them, with a toss of gigantic dice up on Lido Deck. GREAT FUN indeed!

 

"SKY"

Yep!

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No TV, no in-cabin phone, no "Cellular at Sea", no Internet, NOTHING. Getting away REALLY meant getting away.

 

I remember going with my dad to the ship's Radio Room to call my grandparents back home.

How about the "daily newspaper" - which was a single sheet of news snips that kept us informed while we were away! :rolleyes:

Theme nights. And people used to dress according to the theme.

 

Among the theme nights, there was a masquerade ball. Passengers were encouraged to bring their costumes, or you could swing by one of the lounges for materials to make your own.

 

Don't know if Costa still does it, but I also remember Toga Night in the early 90's. Passengers would be dressed in white sheets tied with a knot and gold leaves around their heads.

That makes me think about the horse races! Had forgotten all about them.....anyone else remember those?? Wooden horse heads decorated by teams with only things they brought with them or were found on board. Pretty funny!

I'm enjoying this thread a lot. Now that I see the comparison between now and then, I know what people mean when they say the cruising experienced has changed over the years.

 

Happy cruising everyone!

Yay...I'm glad!! ;) :D

Love the photos & memories of the Midnight Buffet! I remember I couldn't eat hardly anything as I was still full from dinner, but the first line past the buffet was just for photos and then you had to get back in line for food!:D I remember all I ate was shrimp from a giant shrimp tree!:eek:

Agreed! We always went for pictures - but I rarely ate anything. ;)

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I don't know why some insist food was ever wasted. After the viewing, the dining room was opened for eating. It was always reworked. You would see what was left at the late late buffet, which started around 1:30.

Maybe you're right...I always wondered if it was not more because of the general cutbacks. :confused: If there are fewer chefs - in general - then they would have less time to work on things like were on display.

Who knows! I just still really miss the display....it was always very special. :cool:

My first cruise was in 1993 and I was 20 years old. Cruised with my best friend because we were too young to go to Vegas. We were so shy and totally lost. Did not know WHAT to do when the men working the ship would say...

 

"Where will I meet you?"

 

Never asked if we WANTED to meet them. Just where. I think it might have been the one English phrase they'd been taught. LOL. It was very disconcerting!

 

I ordered escargot on the menu in order to be adventurous but turned chicken by the time they arrived. Didn't want to hurt the waiter's feelings, so I swallowed three of them whole. Ick.

 

I don't remember what cruise line it was. Just that it was a 5-day out of Tampa and it ran aground. Nothing too serious. But on the last night things were a bit rough and they lined the halls with bags in case anybody got sick.

 

Also the midnight buffet, which was AMAZING! Lemons turned into fish, a giant replica of the ship made out of butter. Fantastic stuff.

 

I didn't cruise again after that until 2001 I think.

YES...the Gala Midnight Buffets were amazing! Such beautiful and unusual work from the ice carvings to the cakes, pastries, sugar work and vegetable "flower" arrangements.

I know why they were discontinued - alot of food was wasted, I'm sure. :o But it was a great thing to see and you could tell that there was competition between the chefs to produce something more beautiful or unique than last week to have the bragging rites until the next week! ;)

Here is a link I found through google with awesome photos of one from 2002. http://trips.donretzlaff.com/2002Cruise/GalaBuffet/GalaBuffet01.html

LOTS of good ones....keep 'em coming!! :D

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This thread has been a lot of fun over on the NCL board - so I thought I'd start it here too!

If you were to be thrown back in time to "old time" cruising - the 60's, 70's, 80's, etc. - what is the one thing that strikes you as VERY different than cruising now??

For me.....I'd say FLAMING Baked Alaska - that was paraded around the dining room on formal night! :eek:

When are they gonna start serving moonshine on board!

Why do you think the bathtubs are only in the suites, and not available to the general Carnival cruiser?

M'm...m'm...apple pie?? ;) :D

Just off the Glory yesterday (October 25) and at every bar I went to, they did have Captain Morgan.

Good to know! Thanks for the update :)

Just got back today and had a very nice ceremony/memorial onboard the splendor. A member from guest services, security, and an environmental officer led us to a lower deck and my son, his wife, and I dispersed some ashes and roses in what was a very special and solemn event! A few days later we received a letter from the captain along with the date/time, and at sea coordinates for our reference!

 

Thank you Carnival for making this a very special event and thank you to all our cruise mates and roll call friends for all your support!:D:cool:

Sounds like it was lovely!

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Ok so I figured I was supposed to private message "Eddie the Beard" to get this resolved... here is the message and response:

 

Question to Eddie:

 

"It is my understanding from this Cruise Critic Thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1929952 that you and John Heald belive this to be incorrect. If this is the case, perhaps you should send a memo to your staff indicating there is a "typo" on the new menu and even though it is not listed they should stock and sell Capt. Morgan Spiced Rum. I can tell you from first hand experience i was on the Carnival Pride 10/13/2013 through 10/20/2013 and the bartenders on more than one occasion told me they were no longer selling Capt. Morgan.

 

Response from Eddie:

Good afternoon. I rarely check this FB account so if it ever takes me a few days to respond i am sorry. We had some issues with Captain last week it appears but all have been corrected. We do not list every spirit we carry on the menu, other examples are the various flavored rums and vodkas we carry, Hardy Cognac,etc. Captain is still available on all Carnival ships and at all bars."

 

So I guess now we wait to hear feedback from others on cruises this week to see how things went for them.

*fingers crossed*

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This is really annoying. I never tried Spiced Rum until about a year ago and discovered I love it! It's my fault people. Every time I find something I love.. *POOF* It's gone! I am deeply sorry and I take 100% of the blame. I suggest you drink all of the Miami Vice's and Crown Royal you can while it's still available!

LOL- well...now at least we know "why" !! ;)

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It will be VERY interesting to see how this one ends!! Got a funny feeling this is another thing JH is "mistaken" about!. :/

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John Heald addressed this on his Facebook page today and said this is absolutely not true. :p

Unfortunately.....it would NOT be the first time we had a "rumor" here - that turned out to be true. Regardless of what John has said in the blog on or fb. :o

I hope he's right on this one! Time will tell I guess. But there is another version of Captain Morgan called private selection. It's stronger tasting to me but a lot of people like it.

....and more expensive - so I really doubt that is even a remote possibility on board! :o

DH has always wanted a wrap around. So, I called my PVP and we talked. Decided on the Breeze and she told me she wanted to look at something...okay, she comes back on and said, I can get you aft wrap 9475 for about the same price as a regular balcony on the Breeze (oh it might have been about less than $5/day total).

 

Now I have searched on here and I have heard that 9475 (as well as 9472) do not have a sofa....no big deal.....

 

My question is....why are these two rooms on the 9th deck less than the regular wrap arounds? Anyone stayed in these rooms? Is the balcony smaller than the other wraps?

 

Thanks for your responses.

Yes - because of the step up deck to deck across the back of the ship the largest balcony is on 6 and they get smaller as you go up. Aft wraps are pretty much all we book and we've had 6501 - on the Breeze - twice.

But even saying that - the ones on 9 are no way near a spacious as those on the other decks that fall under the "Premimun Balcony" pricing.

Still a great way to see if it's something you enjoy!! ;)

John Heald wrote: "its not so mate - please post this on the cruise critic site because I spoke to the VP of Bars and he confimed that we serve and will continue to two spiced rums, Bacardi Oakheart and Captain Morgan. Whoever said we are not is wrong. The end. cheers"

John Heald the voice of Carnival just posted this on his Facebook page

 

"its not so mate - please post this on the cruise critic site because I spoke to the VP of Bars and he confimed that we serve and will continue to two spiced rums, Bacardi Oakheart and Captain Morgan. Whoever said we are not is wrong. The end. cheers"

BUT...he's been "wrong" a lot too! :o

JH just said it wasn't true. I hope not but my friend who is on board was told they aren't carrying it anymore. You can't order it on Bon voyage either. They only have spiced captain Morgan

WELL....let's just hope this is one he's right about!!! ;)

Rut-roh.... :eek:

DH will not be happy. But I guess there's always vodka! ;)