duck tune

DH and I would play the Daily Quiz every day, go to afternoon tea, dress up for dinner and go to the Ocean Bar for a before dinner drink ... things we did not do at home. We also took decks of cards to play games we never took time to play at home. Mostly we focused on relaxing and enjoying time together. We tried not to make too many plans so we truly had a vacation from structure. This gave us many nice memories.

Haven't been able to cruise for a few years since DH has had bad outcomes from two back surgeries but we are grateful for what we had.

As a new cruiser I am sure that you will be excited to get on board and start your vacation. As others have said most ships board at 11:30 a.m. with occassional exceptions. Once we were not able to board our ship until late afternoon because of a severe norovirus outbreak on the cruise prior to ours which meant that the ship had to have a total scrub down. That rarely happens. I recommend boarding in time to enjoy lunch and take a walk around the ship. Some cruisers wait until 1 p.m. or later to board in order to go directly to the cabin.

Thank you so much Copper 10-8 for the great photos and historical comments about these great cruising vessels. I appreciate your time and effort with this informative thread!:) I actually stayed on the Hotel Queen Mary in Long Beach in July 1974 with three other college friends prior to taking our California State Board Exams to become Registered Nurses. Thousands of new grads from nursing programs in California converged on the Long Beach Arena (the Dome) in July for two days of 8 hour written exams. My friends and I from San Diego booked two rooms on the beautiful Queen for three nights - it was very cheap at the time. It sparked my desire to cruise but it was 28 years before that first cruise happened. Better late than never!

DH and I are pretty new at cruising compared to many on these boards. We took our first cruise in July 2002 on the Norwegian Sky. It was an Alaska Cruise round trip from Seattle with stops in Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway. We booked it because at the time my husband was active in SPEBSQSA - The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in American (the name has since changed to simply BHS: Barbershop Harmony Society) and that year the annual convention was held in Portland, OR with the offer of a post-convention cruise with a Gold Medal winning quartet and the chance to put on a show for the passengers. DH was particularly fond of the quartet and I had always wanted to take an Alaskan Cruise so convinced DH that it would be a fun trip for both of us.

We were bused to Seattle from Portland. We booked a balcony and I'll never forget when we first opened the door our jaws dropped when we saw the room! Of course DH was thrilled about the singing activities and we both were hooked on cruising for sure. It has been difficult in these challenging economic times to have to cut back on cruising but I hope one day we can do another cruise. There is no better value and no better way to relax.

In June 1974 three of my college friends and I stayed on the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach while we took our California State Nursing Boards to become licensed as Registered Nurses. I remember how thrilled I was to be staying in a cruise ship and vowed that someday I'd take a cruise to Alaska.

That first cruise was in July 2002 on the NCL Star with DH - an Alaskan Cruise from Seattle to Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Victoria, BC. We had a balcony and will never forget that first impression when we walked in the cabin and thought we had died and gone to heaven. We figured it would be the first and only cruise that we would ever take. We had a great time but we weren't hooked on cruising - yet.

A year later while DH was sitting in a waiting room prior to having eye surgery to remove a cataract an old friend of his whom he hadn't seen in years came in and as they caught up on old times his friend told us that he and his wife were escorts for a travel agency and regularly took Holland America Line cruises. He said that Holland America was THE BEST cruise line and if we ever had the chance we had to take a cruise with them.

In August 2003 I ran across a continuing education class for nurses to be offered on the Ryndam out of San Diego - one in December 2003 and one 6 weeks later in January 2004. The first one went to Cabo, PV, Mazatlan and the second one went to Cabo, Loreto, La Paz and Mazatlan. The continuing education courses were both cancelled due to lack of interest but DH and I went ahead on the cruises since the prices were good and we were curious about HAL. We paid $849 pp for a B Veranda on each cruise. We both fell in love with HAL. Loreto and La Paz were just wonderful. We sat at tables for 10 at dinner and had great table mates both times. The crew on the second cruise remembered us from the first and that was so impressive. We were hooked for sure.

You can see the rest of the cruises we have taken since then. We have had to cancel 3 cruises - one due to bad weather and two due to illness. We were crushed when we had to cancel every one.

The one and only time that we had a suite with the Neptune Lounge perks was on the Amsterdam Alaskan Cruise from Seattle. We loved the suite but haven't been back at that level since. We've had an outside cabin once and enjoyed that but DH loves to have the balcony. Two days ago DH started this routine "I wonder what they are having in the Lido right now?" "I wonder how busy the Pinnacle Grill is tonight?" Yes we are in need of another cruise!

Thanks for starting a great thread!

In June 1974 three of my college friends and I stayed on the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach while we took our California State Nursing Boards to become licensed as Registered Nurses. I remember how thrilled I was to be staying in a cruise ship and vowed that someday I'd take a cruise to Alaska.

That first cruise was in July 2002 on the NCL Star with DH - an Alaskan Cruise from Seattle to Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Victoria, BC. We had a balcony and will never forget that first impression when we walked in the cabin and thought we had died and gone to heaven. We figured it would be the first and only cruise that we would ever take. We had a great time but we weren't hooked on cruising - yet.

A year later while DH was sitting in a waiting room prior to having eye surgery to remove a cataract an old friend of his whom he hadn't seen in years came in and as they caught up on old times his friend told us that he and his wife were escorts for a travel agency and regularly took Holland America Line cruises. He said that Holland America was THE BEST cruise line and if we ever had the chance we had to take a cruise with them.

In August 2003 I ran across a continuing education class for nurses to be offered on the Ryndam out of San Diego - one in December 2003 and one 6 weeks later in January 2004. The first one went to Cabo, PV, Mazatlan and the second one went to Cabo, Loreto, La Paz and Mazatlan. The continuing education courses were both cancelled due to lack of interest but DH and I went ahead on the cruises since the prices were good and we were curious about HAL. We paid $849 pp for a B Veranda on each cruise. We both fell in love with HAL. Loreto and La Paz were just wonderful. We sat at tables for 10 at dinner and had great table mates both times. The crew on the second cruise remembered us from the first and that was so impressive. We were hooked for sure.

You can see the rest of the cruises we have taken since then. We have had to cancel 3 cruises - one due to bad weather and two due to illness. We were crushed when we had to cancel every one.

The one and only time that we had a suite with the Neptune Lounge perks was on the Amsterdam Alaskan Cruise from Seattle. We loved the suite but haven't been back at that level since. We've had an outside cabin once and enjoyed that but DH loves to have the balcony. Two days ago DH started this routine "I wonder what they are having in the Lido right now?" "I wonder how busy the Pinnacle Grill is tonight?" Yes we are in need of another cruise!

Thanks for starting a great thread!

I just returned from cruising HAL out of Tampa and stayed at the Embassy Suites Downtown. It was very nice and within walking distance to the Aquarium as well as a Publix Market in case you forget anything. I took a cab from the hotel to the pier for $5. The taxi from the airport was $22 flat rate and I know that Blue One Shuttle offers service from the pier to the Airport and also has luggage storage at the pier available if you have a late plane. The Aquarium is right between the pier used by HAL and one used by Carnival. Very nice way to spend a day too.

We have always booked a balcony since we started cruising in 2002. In April of this year we booked an outside cabin with HAL to Alaska because that was all that was available. Guess what? Upon arrival at the pier we had been upgraded to a balcony. Maybe what an earlier poster said was true - we are hooked on balconies so maybe HAL was concerned we would not spend as much money in the future if we booked a lower category! LOL. Our upgrade occurred with cruise #5 with HAL. Probably a once in a lifetime event IMO!