The good ole days of cruising. . .or not??

[scchasgal]

Good old days when the airfare use to be included in the prices (from select cities) and there were many cities to choose from. Even where I lived up in Canada I flew to Los Angeles and got on a ship and the airfare was part of the cruise price.

 

Not feasible with today's airfare prices but it was a nice feature.

[swedish weave]

My first cruise was on the Sitmar Fair Seas in the late seventies.. It had a capacity of about 600 passengers, and had no elevators that I remember. The food and service was excellent, and the Circolo de Comandante (Lattitudes) party was held in the Captains stateroom and there were about 10 or 12 of us there. We were invited on our first trip because we were NRP's (Non revenue passengers). Our daughter worked for Sitmar and the cruise for her family was one of the benefits.

 

We had bon voyage parties in which we could invite our friends to come onto the ship to celebrate before we sailed. That generated a lot of interest in cruising among our friends and co-workers, and the ship provided snacks. We could bring our own drinks onto the ship with no restrictions.

 

I remember the servers in the dining room would set your plates and other service on the table and turn them so the logos were in the exact same direction.

 

The big problem with the cruise was that it got us hooked, and we still love the life on the seas. Good old days !!!! You betcha!!!!!!

[amistad]

This is a great thread, it made me start thinking about my first cruise. I won it and I took my Mother in 1991. We planned everything and I do mean everything around our meals. The quality of the food was terrific and so was the service. Our cabin was also an inside with tiny bunk beds, grey carpet and plain walls, if it had a tv I really don't remember watching it. We were so excited and exhausted since we got up early for our breakfast, did our excursion for the day, ate our lunch, spent hours getting ready for dinner (we look like we were going to prom) ate our dinner 2 hour event, went to a show, headed to the midnight gala buffet and don't forget the 1:30 a.m. mini mexican buffet after the deck party. We were so tired from our vacation one day we decided to take a nap so we set our alarm so we wouldn't over sleep for dinner, we did not know it was nautical time so it went off in 15 minutes, but we didn't miss our meal. LOL Thanks for the Memories

[mypleasure]

Then there was the Grand Buffet, which was held once per cruise, was awesome back then....huge bowels over flowing with huge shrimp, small lobster tails, and clams.

 

That certainly was an awesone sight I imagine.

 

Couldn't resist it!

[mypleasure]

For me this has been a fascinating thread. I am relatively new to cruising taking my first cruise a little over 2 years ago.

 

Having read through the posts I am pleased I only decided to try cruising 2 years ago. Yes, some of the stuff from years ago sounds nice but for me it would have been generally purgatory. The regimentation would have put me off forever. Indeed over the years I have met many cruisers and the things they said, most of which have been outlined above, are what kept me from the ships all of these years. It took NCL and the freestyle concept to get me to try cruising at all and I am still unsure of trying other lines in case they are too structured.

[wibeachbum]

With all the recent complaints about what the cruise lines seem to be taking away, I was also thinking about what a great value cruising still is. I looked up the receipt for our honeymoon cruise on the Carnivale in 1982. The total was $2,420. That did include airfare. We also spent three nights in a hotel in Orlando, I'm not sure if that is included in the $2,420. The ship was a tub. We had a tiny inside stateroom way down low in the ship. I remember that during most of the cruise there was a terrible smell in the bathroom. We did enjoy it enough though that we tried it again two years later on the M/S Starward.

 

We paid $2,508 for that cruise. Air was included. Again we had a tiny inside stateroom. We enjoyed that also. Then came a house and family and we didn't get to cruise again until 2002.

 

Our upcoming cruise on the Jewel, twenty eight years later almost to the day after that first cruise is costing us less for cruise fare and air fare than those first cruises and we have an aft facing balcony cabin. The old ships can't even compare to the ships today. I know it will be a great, relaxing vacation. When I compare prices today to those past cruises and take inflation into account, I think cruising now is an even better value than I realized!

[chemist661]

My first cruise was with NCL in 1993. It was a 3 day from Los Angeles. (Catalina Island & Ensanada). I paid approx $350 for an inside.

 

My next cruise was in 1997 on Celebrity out of Miami. 7 day Western Carrib. There was 4 of us & it was $750pp (inside cabin) for the first 2 and approx $200pp in taxes/port charges for the other two. I got a great deal at the time since they had a 3/4th person for free promo. (pay taxes, etc). I had 2 for 1 air and it was approx $500 for the 4 of us to fly from LA to Florida. Room was OK. The food/service was excellent. They had baked Alaska and the midnite buffet was over the top. In 1997, Celebrity was just sold from the Chandris line to a large Corporation. (maybe still the current owners). Top notch service.

 

Fast forward to 2006. I got married and in 2007, we did a 7 day Hawaii cruise on Pride of America. Paid $850pp for a balcony. After that, we did a few more cruises on NCL. (Alaska, New England, etc). We noticed cutbacks on each cruise but I usually went when the pricing was very good. Last year in April, I went with a relative on the $99pp 3 day Pacific Coastal from Los Angeles to Vancouver. Now, that was a very nice deal! That was when they cut out Latitudes benefits on <6 day cruises.

 

With the most recent cutbacks in Latitudes and general service benefits, I will shop even more on price/itineraries than before. I have noticed alot more announcements (on loudspeaker/in the daily bulletins) pushing revenue based activites than ever before. I have learned to tune those out.

 

We have a 7 day NCL Pacific Coastal from LA to Vancouver. We paid $359pp for an oceanview. We like the itinerary and we only have to pay for 1 way air from Vancouver to LA. Hopefully, the security hassles on Canada-USA flights will greatly decrease when we fly back in early May.

 

Bottom line: Services were better in the past but the pricing seems better. We will still have a very nice time on the cruise but we know that there is more "nickel & diming" than before. The cruise lines are getting to be more like the airlines. In time, I plan on counting on paying for more things which used to be free and count on less benefits.

 

Cruising is still a very good value. We will still go on more cruises. It may not always be on NCL. Whoever offers the best value to us will get our business. :)

[yoyocruiser]

I think it gets very easy to take things for granted. This too has been fascinating for me to read. It is interesting that so many of us had similar experiences and reactions.

 

The cost is really an interesting thing to consider. Imagine that after twenty years we can be paying the same price (in some cases even less) and most of us feel that we are getting a better produce, at least in most areas. Yes, the food was indeed better--but one had to eat it with whomever you were assigned. And it certainly was ALL about the food.

 

The one thing that did pre date my first cruise was having to pay for a deck chair--and then they placed it where they wanted to place it and you had to keep it there for the week. OMG Can you imagine if that happened now. There would be mutiny aboard.

 

Yes, the great ole days of cruising where you paid for your deck chair!! I love it!!!

[PlayTheAces]

This thread brought back some memories. :)

 

Anyone remember how rigidly the ship officers kept to the schedule? When they said they were leaving at 5pm, the ship left at 5pm and that was that.

 

I remember a cruise around 1990. I think it was on the old Skyward. We were starting to pull away from the dock in Miami, right on schedule. A couple came running up on the dock carrying their suitcases. The ship was about 10 feet from the dock. The ship stopped for about 30 seconds, then resumed backing away, leaving the poor people standing there. Somebody said they would have to catch the ship at the next port. We really felt bad for them.

 

In ports, the ship always left on time. If you weren't there when the gangplank was raised, you were left. If you were late and somehow managed to get on board, you could look forward to a very unpleasant meeting with the captain. Today, they hold the ships over and try to account for missing passengers.

 

Memories. :D