Why did you start cruising??

[Love.II.Cruise]

incorrect post

[printingchick]

I'd WANTED to cruise since I was young, growing up watching "The Love Boat". (Followed, of course, by "Fantasy Island"...as I completely date myself!)

 

I BOOKED my first cruise because was out with a group of friends, watching our favorite local band. They announced that they were pairing with a local travel agent for a kind of celebrity cruise event. Booking through the TA as a fan of the band provided extras like T-shirts and on-line events with the band. We decided to go for it.

 

Upon further investigation, we determined the band-related cruise was over-priced (probably due to the perks) and we could book a FIVE-day cruise on the same ship, one week later, for LESS money than the 4-day band cruise. THAT'S what we did!!

 

I've been addicted ever since!!!

[RoofingPrincess]

I've been a single parent since my son was 2, and when he was around 8, I was looking for a good vacation for us. Stumbled across a package deal with Disney World and "The Big Red Boat" -- 3 days at one and 4 at the other, or vice versa, to be honest I can't remember which one we ended up with.

Turned out cruising was an AWESOME vacation for a single mom, because the kids' club gave me some "Mom time" and there was plenty of time & activities for us to do together.

So I did it again the following year, on the short-lived American Family Cruises line, and since they were offering a kid-sails-free promo, invited my mom to come along (kid only sailed free with 2 adults, so the cost to me was the same either way). After I asked, I learned it was something she'd always wanted to do but couldn't talk my dad into!

Don't remember why, but I didn't do it again for about 12 years after that... when I "rediscovered" cruising because the community choral group I belonged to was putting together a group trip. And it's been at least one cruise a year since then...

[youngestof9]

we opted for a cruise for our honeymoon not knowing anything! We flew in the morning of the cruise and basically knew nothing. I remember meeting people online (I can't remember where now) that were on the same sailing and thinking how strange it was since online certainly isn't what it is today. (I still keep in touch with 2 couples who all got married the same day as us!)

 

But life got in the way and never did it again until I was thinking about my 40th birthday and opted to cruise. Then I REALLY fell in love. We have 2 more booked (2/13 and 10/13) and planning on Alaska 2014. I can't imagine NOT working in a cruise every couple of years now. I wish it were more but 2 kids and 1 salary :)

[Sinppu]

By accident, really :o

My husband won a poker cruise package from an online poker site. We fell completely in love with cruising and swore that we'd come to every poker cruise after that.

Turns out they didn't cruise every year :rolleyes:

We waited three years for the next cruise (again my hubby won a package) and realized on the Oasis that we can actually buy a cruise :D

 

Now I also got my Mom hooked and three of our friends want to cruise Alaska with us next year ;)

[Zubsin]

My mother made me do it!! LOL! I asked her where in the world she would like to visit...she picked Alaska....I tried to plan a land tour...way too expensive...we cruised and now I'm addicted. Sadly my mother passed away last fall but she got to Alaska a couple years before. CHEERS TO MOM!

[greatam]

Super deal that really had nothing to do with a cruise. In 1994, the Porsche dealer in Des Moines Iowa was offering super discounted Concorde tickets if you took a test drive and were financially qualified to buy a Porshe. I thought-why not, always wanted to fly Concorde. And at about 1/10 the price of a normal ticket, it was truly a bargain. So spent two hours taking the test drive, being high pressured into buying a Porsche (worse than those time share presentations) and I got the certificates for my cheapo Concorde flight. After I really looked at the vouchers, I realized it was only a one way ticket. Now how do I get back to the USA??? Guess they figured if you could afford the Porsche, you could figure out how to get yourself home.

 

One way air tickets, even 15+ years ago, were pricey. So I started looking at options. A friend told me to take a ship back. I went to a travel agency in Kansas City and the best option was the QE 2 leaving Southampton in December, arriving NYC on Dec. 22. Just in time to get back to MO for Xmas. We could ride home with one of our truck drivers and not have any expense.

 

A couple of cheapie cabins were available-even cheapie on the QE2 was a stretch but thought it would be a one time thing. Got a cabin that was as far forward as you could go before falling into the ocean.

 

By even the barest cruise standards, the TA was a DISASTER for most people. Not much luxury, very little worked, there was an entire crew of workers on board retrofitting the ship (Cunard had spent a chunk of change and the retrofit was NOT finished when we left the UK). Carpets and building materials all over the place. Dust everywhere. Some people were left in Southampton because workers were in their cabins or their cabins were not finished. Ship was impounded upon arrival in NYC by the Coast Guard due to safety concerns. All we heard was complaining-a true mutiny onboard with an attorney holding court every night. We ate a lot of cold food. DH and I had a great time in our little cheapie cabin-it was truly one of the highlights of my life. We thought it was going to be luxury and ending up on something like a camping trip, listening to everyone complain. We were laughing most of the way-we flew Concorde. That was the prize. The cruise was a way to get home.

 

Cunard refunded our entire cruise fare and gave us a cert for 50% off on another cruise. Kind of hooked after that-Concorde, QE2 and 50% off another cruise-almost a free vacation.

[Andee]

In 1996, my parents took me and my family on a cruise to clebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. To them, they would miss my brother (who died in 1990) less on a cruise than at a big party.

 

DH and I went on several other cruises with them and on several with just each other. Our last cruise was in 2006, for their 60th anniversary. Three months later, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer; three weeks after that, he was dead.

[mr green]

While we were working, my wife and I had very little money, and holidays were few and far between, however when our luck finaly turned, I took early retirement.

We decided to 'spoil ourselves', and try to make up for the things that we had never been able to afford, which included cruising.

No, we are not rich, but for the past 20 years we have finally been able to enjoy our hard earned retirement, and, by always 'planning ahead' we always have a goal to aim at, which I believe to be of the utmost importance to anyone in ones 'later life'.

 

john

[lady_cruiser]

A local radio station was sponsoring their annual cruise and my boss took it the year before in 2004. He was such a hard man to please that when he came back relaxed and all excited about his first cruise we decided to try it for ourselves.

 

Our first cruise (Sept 2005) should have been seven days but turned into nine days because the port we left from, Galveston, had been closed due to Hurricane Rita. Those last two days at seas was the best days we had that week. The weather was beautiful, the seas calm and we even stopped at an extra port, Costa Maya.

 

When we finally made it home and found the only damage to our property was that our yard was littered with every pine cone and needle from every one one of our 27 pines trees :eek: we knew cruising was for us.

 

And we have been cruising every since.

[elleks]

My husband has health problems, and on a bad day can't get out of bed.

I wouldn't feel happy leaving him alone in a hotel while I went out, so we figured at least on a cruise we'd be going somewher even if he stayed on board.

Touch wood, he's only missed a couple of ports in 4 cruises.

[OCruisers]

My husband has health problems, and on a bad day can't get out of bed.

I wouldn't feel happy leaving him alone in a hotel while I went out, so we figured at least on a cruise we'd be going somewher even if he stayed on board.

Touch wood, he's only missed a couple of ports in 4 cruises.

 

What a wonderful idea! Wishing you MANY, MANY more cruises! :)

 

LuLu

[Scubadoobie2]

Gee, we took our cruise so long ago (when Princess Cruises had those all-white ships like on the old Love Boat show) that I really can't remember exactly why we -- my wife and I -- decided to cruise.

 

Maybe the lines were getting too long at Disneyland. Maybe we saw the killer whales at Sea World one time too many. Maybe Waikiki Beach hotels were getting too expensive? Maybe I finally admitted to myself that camping and sleeping on the hard ground in a tent were not my idea of a great time.

 

One thing is for sure.... Being on a ship at sea is very soothing, very comforting for me, as long as the seas are calm, of course. Got hooked on cruises with that first one. Gonna have to find another to book before I start feeling deprived.

[jocap]

Many of our holidays began with us driving onto a ferry for an overnight crossing to France or Germany. We enjoyed being at sea so much that we realised a cruise would be the right sort of holiday for us.

Jo.

[toxicfairy]

I had always dreamed of a cruise . My first husband had said no! because he couldn't swim :rolleyes: (guess looking back he was right I probably would have threw him over!;)) !! Jump foward forever and a day to August 2006 and my then soon to be husband called a TA and teh two of them planned the cruise and the wedding ! It was not the first marrage for either of us so we didn't want all the fuss of a trditional wedding . He knew I had never traveled and was dreaming of a cruise. So He took me on the FOS it was I beleive it's 6th sailing ! I was hooked (He had been on a few prior cruises) !! It was more than I had ever dreamed of and now we have our 5th one planned for 8/2013 on Oasis.

PS we got married on the Grand Cayman Island :D Perfect !!

[bean24]

Like a few of the others I loved the Love Boat as a kid. In 2004 my aunt and uncle ( who are only 10 yrs older than me) were going on a cruise with some friends, one of them was a single woman who wanted to share the cost of the cabin so I decided to go for it. I loved it, and met my now DH a few weeks after I got back, he told me he loved cruising and we have been on 5 cruises since then.

 

 

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[cctn]

Summer of 2005 my in-laws and several other family members went on an Alaskan Cruise. My DH and I had just lost our business and did not have 2 dimes to rub together....so we were not able to go:( but because we live in Seattle we went down to the pier to meet the ship and visit with cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Well to make a long story short, when I saw that ship, Island Princess, I wanted soooooo badly to get on it (and I had never even thought of cruising before!) After talking and talking with my DH we were able to take our first cruise (Alaska on the Sun Princess) in 2006. And the rest as they say is history!!!:D We are now doing 2 a year! love it!

Our line of choice now is Celebrity but I would not rule out other lines.

Melody:D

 

 

Hi Melody - we meet again -!!! glad you are still cruising!

This is a great thread -- We started cruising in 1988, Sovereign of the Seas when it was the largest ship in the world!- loved it and have been going on cruises every yr since except in 1996, which I won't let the hubby forget-we cruise twice a yr sometimes - love it - next we are booked for a B2B on the Allure - the largest ship in the RCCL fleet - compare that to the now-long-gone Sovereign!! Corkey Carol

love cruising!!

[brian1403]

I never really thought of cruising as a vacation option, it seemed old fashioned to me. Then I had a relative whose wedding was going to be on-board, and they invited the family to join them on the cruise. I declined siting work as an excuse, but mainly wanting to give them privacy and lack of desire to be around family in close quarters. So I made the trip to Galveston and boarded the ship for the wedding. I could not believe the opulence of the ship (and this was just Carnival's 5-day ship) and how fun it must be to be in this floating palace out on the sea. I snuck up to see what some of the rooms looked like and they were not the cramped porthole dormitories I expected, but light and airy cabins to escape to.

 

A year later, I was engaged to be married to my now wife and we were looking for a honeymoon. My wife loves the water and would spend every minute on it if possible. So she wanted something near the water. I am an uber-history nerd who had never ventured much out of his home state and wanted to see Europe. Remembering the previous wedding on the sea, we kicked around the idea of a Med cruise. We looked online and found an itinerary that just blew us away on the Celebrity Summit, and that was all we needed to get hooked.

 

Regretfully we have only taken the one cruise so far (3 years ago this August), but as soon as funding and time allow I know we will be back for more. Obviously since I am still surfing CC 3 years after the cruise.

[boopsahoy]

I think our first cruise was in 1994. We married in 1988 and went to acapulco that year and the next and then disney one year and then the dorado in PR 2 years in a row and the Bahamas once. What next? Lets try a cruise. First cruise on RC was a blast. Had great tablemates that we still exchange xmas cards with. That trip we just had a cabin with a porthole. The next year we booked RC again and got upgraded to a balcony room. Loved the cruise but we didnt fit in with our tablemates. All much younger than us, but they wanted us to join them in their activities. We felt bad continually saying no so it got a bit uncomfortable.

 

OK cant go back to no balcony and we still love cruising but didnt want another uncomfortable dining experience so we found out that NCL would let you book a table for 2. Well we loved that! When they started Freestyle we were thrilled. We also love the casino and the CAS program. Weve been getting free cruises for a while now and last year we got a free minisuite so we upgraded to an aft penthouse suite. HOLY COW! We LOVED it! So this year we did the same.

 

We are now loyal NCL cruisers and love our annual cruises. We havent had the desire for a land winter vacation since we started cruising. We do a 1/2 Montauk 1/2 Atlantic City vacation in the summertime but the cruise is the highlight of the year. Weve done pretty much the same itinerary for the past few years because we dont want to fly and love leaving out of NY. To us the itinerary is not that important. As long as theres beautiful beaches we are happy. Did the touring thing the first few cruises and now we prefer to just relax on board or on a beach.

[thebooler]

I'm off on my 1st cruise on Sunday. I'll answer when I get back next week. :cool:

[Blondilu]

At the time I took my first cruise, I had the desire to go places and do things that didn't appeal to anyone else I knew. Just not their thing. Traveling alone seemed a little daunting at that time in my life, so, when I heard the DJ on the radio station I listened to advertise a cruise he was putting together it seemed perfect. I would be part of a larger group (even though I didn't know any of them) and the trip would be all tied up in a neat little package, with all the details handled by someone else and I would get to go to exotic places. I just had to pay and show up! It was so perfect, getting to go different places, see new things and it is so easy that traveling alone is no longer intimidating. The thing about cruising is that you're literally "all in the same boat" and you never really feel alone. Not that I travel alone anymore. Funny how that works, now everyone I know wants to go.

[KBS1607]

I love this thread. Great question and everyone's answers are so different.

 

I got married in October 1984 and DH had done a cruise after high school and his grandmother had done an Alaskan cruise. Cruises seemed so sophisticated and elegant. We could only afford a five day and it was on the Big Red Ship. We loved it. When our daughter was 5 we did a week long Carnival and she loved it.

Then we took a break when we fell in love with Hawaii. Fast forward to 2005 and that 5 yr old really wanted to do a Mediteranean cruise and we all loved it. (She even met a boy she dated long distance for a year.).

 

We did a Christmas cruise last year. Also, have to second that I love the fact that DH can't be reached by his office. When we were in Boston this year he was getting calls that stuff was happening back home and it intruded on our trip.

 

I think we are going to do a Panama Canal cruise this year for a belated 25th anniversary trip.

[Waihekean]

About three years ago Mother in Law organised a cruise for her and her best friend on the Diamond Princess. She was on a very low income and had been selling second hand stuff for a while on a E-bay type site to save up for it.

 

She was very excited of course and when she showed the ship on the computer I was blown away. One day my Mum asked how MIL was getting on with the cruise and I described the ship to her and the like. We then found out that we both always had wanted to go on a cruise, but never actually heard much about it or came in contact with or most likely thought we could not afford it.

So, rationale was if MIL managed to do it, so can we.

 

Mum just had an operation for cancer and was on the mend. She paid for the flight to NZ from Holland for herself and I paid for the cruise and related expenses from a small pension fund I had.

Sailing away from Sydney (Australia) was incredible and we had a fantastic time visiting several South Pacific islands.

 

We are going on our second cruise next month to Italy, Greece and Turkey. I am so happy we can do this again and so grateful to have her with me. She likes to cruise, but would have been as happy to do a land vacation.

Myself, am totally hooked on cruising.

 

Luckily MIL gave me the name/website of an American TA where I found the cruiseline I can book with for a discounted price, so now hubby will also do a cruise with me. He says only once and has to be the Med.

 

Of course here is hoping that there are more to follow with both DH and Mum:D:D:D

[CapeCodCruiser]

Funny - I just brought this up to DH the other day.

 

Summer 1995 - we were sitting around reading the Sunday paper and I saw an ad - about a 2" one for Carnival where 3rd & 4th person cruised free! I said - hmmm...I bet that would work for us as my two boys were 14 & 12 at the time. It was the Tropicale out of NOLA and still when things were definitely more formal.

 

Remember the dining room parades by the staff with the lights out and the cherries jubilee and baked alaska afire? Those were sights to behold!

 

We had an ocean view room - last time - been balconies ever since! What a blast we all had.

[cruiseapril]

Hi- We live in Maine and enjoy cruising in the Caribbean area for the warmth, swimming, and beautiful beaches.

 

We have gone Transatlantic on a ship, but prefer cruising the Caribbean.

 

Maine has some beautiful ocean beaches, but the water is quite cold- so those who like ocean swimming usually go south- and we go way south to explore the Caribbean islands and enjoy water sports.

 

Cruising is our favorite way to travel, with train travel our second choice.

It is majestic to be on a ship in the open ocean- in our opinion.

 

Love cruising!