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Your first Cruise was it on the SS Uganda


Shogun
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I was on the Nevasa in either 1971 or 1972 and then was on the Uganda the year after.

 

We left Southampton on the Nevasa and went to Gibraltar, Malta, Istanbul, Varna (Bulgaria), Athens and finished in Venice. We went through some brutal weather near the Bay of Biscay that kept me in bed for almost 3 days. Great trip except for the sea sicknesses.

 

The next year on the Uganda we were supposed to start in Venice but due to a snow storm we were re-routed to Dubrovnik. We then did a few ports in Greece before hitting Naples, Rome and finishing in Florence. Absolutely had a great time.

 

I still have my Nevasa and Uganda badges that we were either given or I bought. Can't remember. Met a lovely girl named Dorothy from Barnet. Cute as they come.

 

I was on that same Uganda cruise with you. I remember missing Venice because of some storm or fog or something and we boarded in Dubrovnik. I remember sneak drinking lots of Oozo in Greece, great dances - actually first French kiss with a cute girl from England somewhere. I think we went to Mycenae, Athens, Delphi, Santorini - boy those donkeys smelled - Rome but it rained all day, Florence I think. Go LPCI! Maybe got my love of cruising there, now on our 35th cruise.

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  • 2 months later...

Was on her in 1982 as a school kid when she was requisitioned. (cruise 276?). I remember making it as far as Egypt (as the highlight) but having to return early and fly back from Naples. It was all very exciting.

 

For some reason, I really associate that trip with "Layla" by Derek and The Dominos (Mr Clapton). Just searched for why and saw that song was re-released in the UK in 1982 making number 4 in the charts. All I can remember is pool, table tennis, hundreds of kids from all over the place and the rumour (?) that if you got on a camel in Egypt you would get charged again to be allowed off it. The pyramids were the highlight, but I, perhaps as an impressionable and somewhat rebellious 12 year old boy, seem to remember swords posing as camel whips, as one of the over-riding memories. I think we all wanted to bring one back!

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My first cruise was on Uganda's 'sister ship' Nevasa to the Baltic. A very memorable experience but not at all luxurious!!

 

Since then I've been on many cruises, some P&O but mostly Princess but have not returned to the Baltic (I hope to rectify that in the near future!).

 

It's been great reading about the memories of people who sailed on Uganda and/or Nevassa. I'm amazed so many of us ever got on another ship again after some of the experiences we had - perhaps it shows that cruising is in our blood!

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What a spooky coinicdence - we got back from 7 nights on Oceana last night (my husband's first cruise). I logged on to the forums, and found this thread ...

 

yes, my first cruise was on SS Uganda over Christmas/New Year in 1972/3.

 

We visited Venice, Naples, Haifa, Limassol, and Athens, and possibly some other ports I can't recall! I know we missed one stop because of very rough conditions.

 

The cruise cost £82 and I still have the payment card issued by school so we (bank of mum and dad!) could pay gradually over a few months.

 

Happy memories :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

My first cruise was a Baltic cruise on the SS Uganda in 1979 . The cruise sailed from Dundee and went to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Helsinki, a town in West Germany, near the border with the GDR that I can't remember and a fluke trip to Copenhagen as the port we were supposed to go to we couldn't get into the port - I don't remember where we were supposed to go. I might still have some photos if I look hard. I was the only kid from my school who went, but I really enjoyed the trip. I think it ignited the travel bug in me and I love to go places. Ironically it is almost 40 years later before I even think of taking another cruise. Now I am working taking my first cruise as an adult this time to Alaska.

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My first cruise was on the SS Uganda in July 1974 when I was nearly 14 with my school Woodmill High from Dunfermline. We left from Dundee and visited Santander, Lisbon, St Peter Port, Guernsey but I can't remember the other ports. I remember commentary from the World Cup Final between West Germany and Holland was played over the ships tannoy. All the boys from our school were in one dormitory called the Mungo Park. I also remember there was a school from East Kilbride and one from Northern Ireland on board. I think the cruise cost £72 which my parents paid for at £2 per week and I'm sure we were limited to £7 spending money to take so that everyone would have the same. It was a great holiday and the first time I'd been away without my family.

 

Edit: I just read the whole thread and Amsterdam was also a port of call and suspect that the poster Shogun was on the same cruise.

Edited by two_n_six
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  • 3 weeks later...

Can't believe this thread has been running since 2006!

Anyway my first cruise was on the Nevasa 1966 I think as Sloop John B was the tune of the day on the juke box! We sailed from Greenock - sailing past the Radio Caroline boat, through the dreaded Bay of Biscay to Vigo, Lisbon and Madeira. Sailing back through the Bay of Biscay the weather was so bad we were a day late in arriving back at Newcastle! Sick bags were the must have accessory of the day. They even put table covers on the tables and wet them so the plates wouldn't slide about! Happy days. Brilliant time though, and I'm sure I remember it costing £36 paid in installments. :D

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Hi all. Another survivor of a school Uganda cruise. December 1968. Cannot remember where we sailed from in the UK (but would love to be reminded :)) Viewed Vigo bay on the way to Algiers, Izmir, Piraeus, Syracuse and Genoa, before flying home on a Dan-Air Comet. I still have my badge from Chichester dorm and many memories, some even happy. Sadly, no photographs though as I discovered that I had failed to load the film correctly into my new camera that had been bought specially for this 'trip of a lifetime'. Remembered highlights: seeing lightning but no thunder off the coast of Algeria, the disgusting toilets in Turkey, it raining for the two days we were in Athens and it being told it was the first time for many months that it had rained for two consecutive days there, live octopus being sold on a doorstep in Syracuse, sitting on the grey 'sacking' seats in the sircraft as freezing cold air blasted my legs, the yellow walls of the dorm with metal lockers (oddly I remember nothing of the washrooms), lectures on Ancient Greece and standing in line with a tray in the stark canteen.

My wife travelled on Uganda as a very young teacher on her first school trip. Her experiences were somewhat different: having a room steward to run her bath, pre-dinner drinks in the bar before a silver-service meal in the dining room and sunbathing by the pool (free of pupils who were all below decks).

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  • 3 months later...

I'm fortunate to have done 2 trips with Wellsway Secondary School, Keynsham, Somerset.

The first in 68 or 69 to the Baltic on the SS Nevasa from Tilbury and visiting Copenhagen, Visby, Leningrad (with an optional trip to Moscow), Oslo and back to Southampton. In 1970 on the SS Uganda, we did the Mediterranean flying Dan-Air from Gatwick to Venice and then on to Corfu, Piraeus (Athens), Izmir (Ephesus), Bizerte (Tunis), Rijeka and flying back via Pula.

We were meant to visit Tripoli in Libya but as there was a cholera epidemic so we were diverted to Tunis.

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SS Dunera 1963. 2 weeks from Grangemouth with. Only 3 ports, Vigo, Casablanca and Lisbon. Favourite song was Kelly by Del Shannon. I think we nearly wore the disc out. Highlight, as I was a ship's prefect, was dining in the dining room with the teachers.

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Like many others here cannot believe that this thread is still going!

I had the most amazing cruise on the Uganda in either 1970 or 71, I still don't know how my parents afforded for me to go but they realised what an opportunity it was. We boarded at Venice which was absolutely magical to a 14/15 year old in the early 70's, called in to Corfu, Hvar, Athans (being able to see the Acropolis without any restrictions or many tourists) Cyprus (just at a time of the separation) Haifa with trips to Jerusalem, wailing wall, dome of the Rock and many other places which would not be the same now. It was the first place that I saw a female from the army carrying a machine gun on a bus!

 

As indicated the bunks were what I remember as well as some truly awful storms going between Athens and Cyprus, but we all enjoyed ourselves and I have a few limited slides to remind me of the time.

 

I do cruise now, preferably not in a dormitory and still enjoy the magic of cruising into a new port and what it has to offer.

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I recently bought the most amazing book "Uganda: The Story of a Very Special Ship" that I discovered on Amazon. This huge book is a treasure trove of information and makes fascinating reading that will surely bring back many memories for anyone who has sailed on her. As well as photos, history and stories there is a wealth of information including a list of all the educational cruises that she made with dates and ports. I recommend everyone with the slightest interest to scour secondhand bookshops and online for a copy but be warned - it's now very rare.

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I recently bought the most amazing book "Uganda: The Story of a Very Special Ship" that I discovered on Amazon. This huge book is a treasure trove of information and makes fascinating reading that will surely bring back many memories for anyone who has sailed on her. As well as photos, history and stories there is a wealth of information including a list of all the educational cruises that she made with dates and ports. I recommend everyone with the slightest interest to scour secondhand bookshops and online for a copy but be warned - it's now very rare.

 

Its a wonderful book. You have just made take another look at my copy.

It was first published in 1998 and I was given a copy as Christmas present in 1999.

It is probably the most comprehensive publication of any cruise ship, especially the photographs, the stories and then the listings of all the dates and and ports of call etc.

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I recently bought the most amazing book "Uganda: The Story of a Very Special Ship" that I discovered on Amazon. This huge book is a treasure trove of information and makes fascinating reading that will surely bring back many memories for anyone who has sailed on her. As well as photos, history and stories there is a wealth of information including a list of all the educational cruises that she made with dates and ports. I recommend everyone with the slightest interest to scour secondhand bookshops and online for a copy but be warned - it's now very rare.

 

 

On the back of this recommendation I brought a copy of the book which looks brand new off Amazon, there weren't many and it cost a small fortune. I've really enjoyed going through it, although have been somewhat perplexed trying to find my cruise from 35 years ago, judging from the itineraries I was 14 rather than 13 as I remembered, but I will dig out memorabilia to try to confirm. I was somewhat disappointed to find a signature in the front but then I realised it's by one of the contributors Marion J Browning which I guess makes it special [emoji4] I just wish I could remember more of the ship, I have only fleeting memories.

 

 

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My first cruise was from Dundee on Uganda in the 70's. Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madeira and La Coruna were the ports.

 

In Madeira we all bought bananas which we kept in our lockers - it didn't end well!!

 

Didn't cruise again for about 25 years....but I still remember that first time in the Bay of Biscay.

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There were two groups of kids from Canada on the Christmas Cruise in the Mediterranean in December,1976: one from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the other ( mine) from Kamloops , British Columbia.

Ports of call included Brindisi, Italy, Delphi, Greece, Hafia ( Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Turkey, Athens, Island of Kios and Malta.)

Great trip - Great memories, whether that was meeting girls from England and Australia, touring the countries and even getting mugged in a bar in Athens by the owner, bouncer and his four prostitutes - as a 15 year old it was scary but I learned a lot from that experience.:'),.Easy to laugh at now:-) If anyone reads this I would like to know the name of this one song that they played every night at the disco/dance that ended the evening. It was an English band and they gave us the record when we left the ship but over time it got lost with most everything else we own. Hope to hear about other peoples experiences from that time.

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I went on SS Nevassa ..which I think is the sister ship......there were 20 of us from South of England and we went to Minorca, Tangiers and Lisbon. In Tangiers so as not to lose any of us, we had to wear school uniform. That was back in the early 60’s...what a sight we must have made. We also could not use the same decks as the other passengers and the food was much like school dinners. Still I have fond memories of my first cruise.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

After reading all through this thread, I am half expecting someone to say that their first cruise was on The Ark, and that Noah was a wonderful captain. There were a lot of sea days however, and the weather was not particularly good; it rained most of the time. And the other passengers! Most of them behaved like animals. And they did not adhere to the dress code on black tie nights!

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