How do we liven up this board?

[starboard gal]

I just happened upon this board while perusing the CC site today, I guess we 55+ just don't have any excitement. I just returned from a great trip aboard explorer of the seas a couple days ago.

 

Last year, (2012) my husband of 24 years died very suddenly just a week before we were to cruise. But instead of sitting around crying, I dragged my sister along and we went on the trip.....I knew my husband would have wanted me to go.

sis and i had hoped to have a table for 2 at dinner, as I was really not in the mood to meet new people. Luckily, the nasty Maitre'd could not/ would not accommodate our request.....so we wound up at a table with 3 other couples, 2 African American and 1 Caucasian. And us 2 chicks. After just 2 minutes at this table, we realized that we had "struck gold". And by the end of the cruise, we were having such a great time, that someone asked if we were having a "family reunion" :-) Still in touch with all of them today. These people really did become our "family", and unbeknownst to them, they all helped me so much by showering us with good times, laughter, and real friendship. Only on a cruise could something like this happen...

 

Fast forward 15 months. Had made a reservation on EOS while onboard in 2012, with sis as the co-passenger again. Then, this spring, our elderly dad got ill, and passed away in August....

Sis winds up staying home to keep our 87 year old mom company. So off I go on my first solo cruise, despite dire warnings from all sorts of friends who think I am crazy and in danger by traveling alone. LOL. What could be a nicer place than my beloved explorer to travel solo? It is my "home away from home".

 

Luckily, the roll call connected me with so many nice people, and I felt a kindred spirit with them instantly. Our first meet-up after the muster drill was so fun, and I knew I had made the right decision to forge ahead with the trip. Had a great time, doing whatever I pleased, and was really enjoying the trip and the ports.

 

9 days into the trip, I attended a "top-tier" party (just some free drinks in the overcrowded lounge) and found nowhere to sit. So I just stood near the bar, hung around and had my "free" rum punch. A few minutes later, a guy is standing next to me, and we start talking.....I think he assumed I was with someone, and I certainly assumed he was also with someone. But no, he was on his first cruise since his wife died 2 years ago. We found it amazing that we met like this.....and wound up hanging around together for the remainder of the trip, and danced til the wee hours for 3 evenings. ...We had a blast together!

 

Life is always ready to surprise you!

[JimAOk1945]

starboard gal,

Thanks so much for your post. I really enjoyed reading it. Happy cruising wherever you may go!

[starboard gal]

Hey Jim,

Thanks! My experience was most unexpected, so the fact that it happened made it all the more special ;-)

[Nisky18]

Starboard gal, I loved your post. You made me smile because you have a wonderful outlook on life. I wish you were sailing on the Jan 4, 2014 Carnival Splendor or Sept NCL Breakaway so we could meet.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

[cctn]

Carol, you said you were the only child, and your husband was from a family of 10, well that is almost like me. I was an only child (half brother lived elsewhere) and married a man with 6 siblings, which made 7 children. It was hard for me to get used to it, but I did. We had 3 sons, and now have 15 grandchildren. When all of the Beshears family get together, there is probably 100 - 150 now, starting with us over 50 years ago.:)

 

 

My in-laws are all wonderful and I love all our nieces/nephews esp all the grand nieces/nephews they have given us - right now I am spoiling my cousin's (who is like the sister I never had, we are that close) first granddaughter who is 14 months old now - she is a doll!! So even tho' I am an only-only and didn't contribute to the world myself, I have 49 first cousins all over the world and hubby's large family so I am never without a relative somewhere ! ha!ha! really fun - however, one thing really really regret, NOT having my own grandchild - I would have loved to have a grandchild of my very own to spoil rotten, well, that's what I have been doing with my cousin's GD.

Carol

[cctn]

run around naked.... are these seniors alive or are they all dead?:mad:

 

 

Me - Me...I am alive !!- and would love to keep this thread going so it continue to be Alive too!! Host Corkey

[cctn]

I'd love for there to be more on this board about cruising for us who are 55+. I'll be cruising on Carnival's Splendor in January 2014 which will be my....mmmm, possibly 10th cruise but my FIRST as a single adult. I'm taking my daughter and her friend but it's doubtful they'll want to spend much time with ME. It doesn't matter though as I'm a sociable adult and look forward to meeting people. The Roll Call boards and various discussion threads are a good way to talk with others who share the love of travel.

 

 

I am sure you will enjoy your cruise, esp since you sound very friendly - there are so many activities and folks sitting around the lounges always love to talk and share their time - I love CC and the roll calls - definitely have made a lot of lasting friendships on these boards.

I am soooo glad you found us here -

Host Corkey

[cctn]

Had been just lurking but have been enjoying the back and forth. Looking forward to our cruise on HAL FLL-Dover on Apr 6/14.

 

Just to add to the children part: I am the oldest of 10, my DH is an only.

 

 

My husband is the 8th of his family of 10- oldest is 73 and the youngest is 54... means his mom was blessed every 2 yrs - and I am blessed to have met Him.. married 38 yrs this coming Jan, but unfortunately, we never had kids.. happy tho' and our lives are full and glad to be me and him. Hope you will continue to come in and chat with us - this is getting active again and glad for that! Host Corkey

[cctn]

starboard gal,

 

Thanks so much for your post. I really enjoyed reading it. Happy cruising wherever you may go!

 

 

Hello - hope you will continue to come in and chat with all of us ! I admire Starboard Gal also!

Host Corkey

[cctn]

Starboard gal, I loved your post. You made me smile because you have a wonderful outlook on life. I wish you were sailing on the Jan 4, 2014 Carnival Splendor or Sept NCL Breakaway so we could meet.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

I agree with you re: Starboard Gal - yay for Starboard Gal -

Starboard: I am so sorry for your loss but I am glad you continued with your life - just because we move on doesn't mean we have stopped loving our special people in our lives who are no longer with us physically - in your heart, your love will continue -

I am happy you had a nice cruise - both of them, and it's true, most of the time you meet the nicest folks = I have made lifelong friends with table-Mates! now we cruise with a special group of folks for reunions and have had 5 already since 2007 - I am from CA and the rest of them are from Pa/NJ...

 

anyway, I love your story - please continue to share more with us -

 

If you don't mind my asking, your first name please? thanx... Host Corkey

[cctn]

I love Explorer of the Seas - was on her when she was 2 weeks old then met up with my special East Coast Cruise Gang on the Explorer in 2007, went with them again on the EOS in 2009 then we went on different ships - our latest together was on the Allure last Dec where we all did a B2B - right now one of the couples just left on the Oasis, one couple will be on the Enchantment for this Monday's sailing- and another couple will be on the Allure next month - gee, wish my husband was retired so we could have joined one of them, but I have to wait until Feb to go on the Oasis - will be with friends on that ship too -

Corkey Carol

[cctn]

Hi Carol

We have just returned from a trip to Churchill, Manitoba. I can send youa picture link if you are interested. We saw about 25 polar bears.

Tom:)

 

 

Oh Please Please do -- I love looking at your pictures!! How are your grandkids?

Corkey Carol

[cctn]

Had been just lurking but have been enjoying the back and forth. Looking forward to our cruise on HAL FLL-Dover on Apr 6/14.

 

Just to add to the children part: I am the oldest of 10, my DH is an only.

 

 

Pam - I will be reading your Blog! first paragraph read and I know I will be enjoying it! Host Corkey

[Tom47]

Oh Please Please do -- I love looking at your pictures!! How are your grandkids?

 

Corkey Carol

Hi Corkey

I have sent you polar bear pics, and Panama Canal cruise pics. I also added you to my cruise pics list, so you will get upcoming trips. There is also a picture of our 3 grans taken by Gin a couple of weeks ago. All 3 are well. Julia was in the hospital this summer for a regular "lung cleanout"--happens once a year. Pat had one last spring--heavy duty intravenous antibiotics.

Julia is very excited at the birth of a new cousin. Killian was born at only 28 wks--son of Liz' niece. He will in the hospital until at least Xmas.

Tom:)

[starboard gal]

Hi Nisky18, and Corkey,

 

good to hear from you both!

I'm JoAnn, I live in Maryland and work as an architect and realtor.....

 

I have loved going on cruises since I was a kid, MANY years ago!

 

Every Sunday after church, my mom would stop and get doughnuts from the bakery, and then she would pick up the New York Times at the drugstore. This was our big treat for the week!

 

One day, though, she told us that she had found this really great vacation in the travel section, a "cruise", on a SHIP. "WOW!", we thought. We had never heard of such a thing. She called the Cunard Line in NY and booked us on a trip to Bermuda. our 7 day trip cost $100 per adult, and probably $50 per child.... (it was a good value even in 1970!). So off we went in our Vista Cruiser station wagon from Baltimore to NYC, we had never been there, and with our old paper maps we managed to find Pier 92 on the Hudson River. Our ship, the Cunard Franconia, departed NY that evening amidst confetti and festive bon voyage parties aboard ship (back then you could have visitors come aboard to party ;-) It was simply magical.

And what a wonderful vacation it was. The ship was primitive by today's standards (we did not even have our own bathroom in our cabin; we had to go down the hall) but what a ball we had! We docked in Hamilton for 3 nights, saw the sights of Bermuda and began a lifetime love with Horseshoe Bay. Our old ship had no stabilizers, no bow thrusters, no real means of steadying the ride, so it was quite a bumpy experience. Nonetheless, we watched people dance every evening in the "Mayflower Room", had tea at 4pm, and got to hear 3 cute young singers faithfully reproduce Beatles songs in the "night club". That was about it for entertainment! Of course, we loved this vacation so much that we could barely stand to come home.

 

The day we got back, we booked the trip for the next year.....A tradition that many of us find to be the only way to cope with the reality of being home.

 

Hope to see many of you on future adventures, and would love to hear all of your cruise stories too!

 

JoAnn

starboardgal at gmail dot com

[skierjj]

Hi all,

I have just read through ALL of the postings! Love all the travel info! My name is Joyce, I live in So. Calif. in Orange county: Rancho Santa Margarita. Which is about around 18 miles from the beach. We enjoy cruising, road trips, camping, skiing, hiking, fishing, casinos (We are not smokers), gardening, reading, backyard bird watching (OK we are in the 55+ group for sure now).

DH: Mike and I have been married for 35 years! We still act like kids and still dance, swim, and do wild and crazy things! I hope we never grow old in spirit!

We have 2 grown kids: DS Ben and DD Cynthia and are both married; DIL Lisa and SIL Jason. No grandbabies yet. I hope they get with it soon though!

We cruise about once per year...I love getting ready for trips and research everything constantly about the ship and destinations we'll be visiting.

Our next trip is NCL Jewel out of New Orleans over Christmas...so excited!:cool:

[JimAOk1945]

Hello - hope you will continue to come in and chat with all of us ! I admire Starboard Gal also!

 

Host Corkey

 

 

Hi Corkey,

One thing I keep looking for is threads written from the 55+ cruise passenger point of view. I'm sure I'll find a lot of helpful tips here.

I've enjoyed reading the comments here so . . . I'll be back! :D

[starboard gal]

Hey Corkey, or any other cruisers,

 

has anyone been on the Breakaway, and specifically the solo cabins?

 

they look sort of claustrophobic, but seem to be a good price.

 

I don't think I want to pay double for the rest of my cruising life...

 

I'm wondering about the demographic of the studio group.... would I be the only 55+ in the whole place? that's a scary thought =)

[Nisky18]

Hey Corkey, or any other cruisers,

 

has anyone been on the Breakaway, and specifically the solo cabins?

 

they look sort of claustrophobic, but seem to be a good price.

 

I don't think I want to pay double for the rest of my cruising life...

 

I'm wondering about the demographic of the studio group.... would I be the only 55+ in the whole place? that's a scary thought =)

 

Hi Starboard Gal - I've heard that the Norwegian Breakaway is one of the newest ships to offer the solo cruiser a decent deal on going solo. I'm actually booked to take the Breakaway in September 2014 with a neighborhood reunion of people I haven't seen since either the 1960s or a reunion about eight years ago. I haven't done that much research on the Breakaway because I'm focusing on the Carnival Splendor which I'm taking in January 2014. But from what I've read and heard, the Breakaway appreciates the solos. If you take it, please post what you learn. Thanks!

[starboard gal]

Thanks Nisky18 (what is your name??)

 

I suddenly realized that my late husband purchased a "future cruise credit" on Norwegian about 4 years ago and it's going to expire if I don't use it.... so I need to get booked on something.

 

after the ridiculous parade of friends who said they would go, then bailed out, I'm thinking of "roughing it" in that little closet of a room =)

 

would miss my balcony but the price is right!

[Tom47]

Thanks Nisky18 (what is your name??)

 

I suddenly realized that my late husband purchased a "future cruise credit" on Norwegian about 4 years ago and it's going to expire if I don't use it.... so I need to get booked on something.

 

after the ridiculous parade of friends who said they would go, then bailed out, I'm thinking of "roughing it" in that little closet of a room =)

 

would miss my balcony but the price is right!

Hi

Good luck. We have never sailed on NCL, so can't help.

Tom:)

[Nisky18]

JoAnn, take the Breakaway from NYC to Bermuda on Sept 14. I'll post more later when I'm at my computer. Cheryl

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

[Nisky18]

Hi Nisky18, and Corkey,

 

good to hear from you both!

I'm JoAnn, I live in Maryland and work as an architect and realtor.....

 

I have loved going on cruises since I was a kid, MANY years ago!

 

Every Sunday after church, my mom would stop and get doughnuts from the bakery, and then she would pick up the New York Times at the drugstore. This was our big treat for the week!

 

One day, though, she told us that she had found this really great vacation in the travel section, a "cruise", on a SHIP. "WOW!", we thought. We had never heard of such a thing. She called the Cunard Line in NY and booked us on a trip to Bermuda. our 7 day trip cost $100 per adult, and probably $50 per child.... (it was a good value even in 1970!). So off we went in our Vista Cruiser station wagon from Baltimore to NYC, we had never been there, and with our old paper maps we managed to find Pier 92 on the Hudson River. Our ship, the Cunard Franconia, departed NY that evening amidst confetti and festive bon voyage parties aboard ship (back then you could have visitors come aboard to party ;-) It was simply magical.

And what a wonderful vacation it was. The ship was primitive by today's standards (we did not even have our own bathroom in our cabin; we had to go down the hall) but what a ball we had! We docked in Hamilton for 3 nights, saw the sights of Bermuda and began a lifetime love with Horseshoe Bay. Our old ship had no stabilizers, no bow thrusters, no real means of steadying the ride, so it was quite a bumpy experience. Nonetheless, we watched people dance every evening in the "Mayflower Room", had tea at 4pm, and got to hear 3 cute young singers faithfully reproduce Beatles songs in the "night club". That was about it for entertainment! Of course, we loved this vacation so much that we could barely stand to come home.

 

The day we got back, we booked the trip for the next year.....A tradition that many of us find to be the only way to cope with the reality of being home.

 

Hope to see many of you on future adventures, and would love to hear all of your cruise stories too!

 

JoAnn

starboardgal at gmail dot com

 

Hi JoAnn, I'm Cheryl and I love your story! What great memories your mother created for you and what a cruise seed she planted, too. My first cruise was a (1) 10th anniversary celebration for me and my (now ex) husband in June 1989 on board The Norway (NCL). Since that first cruise, I've been on the (2) NCL Westward in December 1993 (with each pair of parents to celebrate my mother and step father's 20th anniversary); (3) the Carnival Ecstasy in 1997 (with friends and relatives for my 50th birthday); (4) in December 1998 the Big Red Boat (now out of business but then it had Warner Brother characters on board and the kids loved it); (5) Royal Caribbean Sovereign Of The Seas; (6) Disney (can't remember which ship) (7) Cunard's QE II sailing from Southampton, England to New York; and (8) Cunard's Queen Mary II. I believe I've also been on two more but this is what I remember tonight. C

[cctn]

Hello Everyone - I am so excited that many more cruisers have joined us on this nice thread - have been busy lately viewing the webcam as some of my friends sailed away on their cruises Sat, then Sun and another couple left today 2pm My time, 5pm Ft Lauderdale time - it's so exciting to see them wave as they leave on their ships...

will come in and chat more after I get dinner on the table ! ha!ha! Host Corkey Carol

[starboard gal]

Hey Cheryl,

I will seriously consider your trip in September, as I really do have to use up my cruise credit (or lose it :-(

Bermuda is the best, isn't it?

Have you been on this ship yet?

Lots of mixed reviews, especially from pax used to RC...

Like most, I try to be positive and enjoy all the good thIngs on each ship.

 

Are you in the NYC area?

I'm from Maryland, trying to figure out how to travel to/from NYC.....parking on the pier looks $$$.

 

Some pax from my recent trip from Bayonne spent the night in Newark, left their cars there, and got a private van to the ship. ThAt might be the way to go. Don't really want to get lost in ny;-)

 

Anyone else traveling from afar?

 

I saw a post on this thread asking why 55+ would need our own forum.... Because we are over all the BS. We do our own thing. We can party like its 1879.....oops! 1979. Or whenever. I really enjoyed my last cruise because there were all adults onboard....yes, a lot of AARP onboard! But it was a lot of fun, and we had a blast!!!

 

I see that on the Breakaway, you can actually "walk the plank". OMG! I have some clients who I would love to put on that thing ;-)