NCL-A blast from the 80's with pics-just a fun little thread & review

[Sweetnspicy]

10 hours ago, GA Dave said:

So, here are a few from our 2002 cruise on the Norwegian Sea (formerly the Seaward).  I will post more this weekend.

We so thought that this ship was huge back then and that our cabin was amazing!  Lol.

 

All the brass!! Was the carpet pink?! 

[derek005]

Love this!!!!!!

[mitsugirly]

9 hours ago, Named-Tawny said:

... That's not playa del Carmen.

 

Has geography changed since the 80s too? 😉

 

 

OMG lol I never even noticed that "boo-boo". HA!

 

 

1 hour ago, newmexicoNita said:

This does bring back some memories. Our first cruise which was about 1985 was on a now gone cruise line: Commadore. Our first NCL cruise was the Seaward. I remember how impressed I was cause they had 2 dining rooms. Before that all the cruises we had taken had only one and the Seaward seemed so big to us then. We did sail her again after the name change and now I look at the pics of the cabins and I wonder how we survived in such a small space for a week? Those were fun days though and cruising was so different than today, not better or worse, just different.  

 

It's funny to look back and remember how we thought the ships were so big back then...and look at them now.

 

19 minutes ago, Sweetnspicy said:

@mitsugirly Thank you so much for the laughs! I cried with laughter over the part about the hot dogs. My husband who was in the Navy said “hotdogs all day long is just like what you would get in the Navy if you missed meal time”!! 

 

Thank you for taking the time and for saving all of that stuff! I wish I would have made a scrapbook from our first cruise in 2009. 

 

 

Hot dogs forever....whew!

 

17 hours ago, lacy1101 said:

 

Oh my, what wonderful memories you have stirred up!  My husband and I took our honeymoon on the Norwegian Seaward in October 1988 (our first cruise too).  I found your post googling the ship today just to reminisce.  I actually found a few videos on Youtube as well. 

 

My husband did the golfing off the back of the ship and I totally remember the flaming Alaskan dessert at dinner.  We must have cruised shortly after you because I remember Jamaica had just been hit with a terrible hurricane, but we were able to dock in Ocho Rios and do Dunns River Falls.  I do remember, however, how sketchy some areas looked.  We were 22 and 23 and it was our first time out of the country, too.

 

Thanks for your post! 🙂

 

 

Haha, I wondered how this thread popped back up from so long ago. I had forgotten about it. I actually went back and reread my post. Memories...

 

Share the videos you found. That would be awesome.

 

 

16 hours ago, GA Dave said:

My wife and I did our first cruise on the Norwegian Sea in July 2002.  That was after the Seaward was renamed to the Sea in 1997.  We still laugh to this day about how small the bathrooms were in our port hole cabin! 

Our cruise was out of NYC to Nassau and Great Styrup Caye.  I still remember talking to so many First Responders on that cruise who were taking their first vacations since 9/11/2001.  Once we got past lower Manhattan, they really let loose and had a great time!  If I can find my pictures, I will try and post some here.

I, too, remember those great midnight buffets!!

 

That's awesome and I loved the midnight buffets.

 

10 hours ago, GA Dave said:

So, here are a few from our 2002 cruise on the Norwegian Sea (formerly the Seaward).  I will post more this weekend.

We so thought that this ship was huge back then and that our cabin was amazing!  Lol.

 

 

 

Oh my gosh that's great! Love the pictures.

 

18 minutes ago, Sweetnspicy said:

All the brass!! Was the carpet pink?! 

 

Yes, yes it was! 😄

 

11 minutes ago, derek005 said:

Love this!!!!!!

 

Thanks

[graphicguy]

Kim...Dave...thanks for the pics.  WOW!

 

I was on the SS NORWAY on my honeymoon on the SS NORWAY.  The wife is now an “ex” and the SS NORWAY exploded.

 

We had a cabin right next to a boxer (for those who follow boxing) called Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini.  He was with his wife, too.  We kept in touch for a while, but eventually, we lost track of each other.

 

Fascinating guy.  He literally killed a guy in the ring (a Korean boxer) and went on to write TV scripts (wrote some scripts for the old TV show, Hill Street Blues) and became a TV producer.

 

We had some fun on that cruise.

 

Thanks, again!

[deliver42]

My first NCL cruise was on the Sunward 2. My second, and to this day one of my all time favorites was on the Norway in 1995. My wife and I were booked for a second cruise on her when she blew. I still look at her occasionally on You Tube, and get choked up with tears.This is no exaggeration.

[NYcruzzer]

Thanks for taking us all down memory lane..Our first cruise ever was on Premier Cruiseline's (Big Red Boat) to the Bahamas in 1988 with our 18 month DD.. Our first NCL cruise was the SEA out of NYC in 2001 .. Immediately fell in love with the Freestyle concept and NCL..   23 NCL cruises later, they are still our favorite !!

[Nclgetawaymenhoney]

Good memories of cruising, my first cruise as a teenager was costa and Carla c, second cruise as a teenager was early 80's  on ncl southward, we had a inside cabin, it was so tiny the double bed was from one wall to the other, then my bunk bed was above it.  What fun, us teenagers slept outside all night by the pool one night, don't think that happens anymore, now they pack up the deck chairs every night and their Are curfews, what fun we had!

[newmexicoNita]

11 hours ago, deliver42 said:

My first NCL cruise was on the Sunward 2. My second, and to this day one of my all time favorites was on the Norway in 1995. My wife and I were booked for a second cruise on her when she blew. I still look at her occasionally on You Tube, and get choked up with tears.This is no exaggeration.

Norway was the one I am so sorry we did not have a chance to take. We made plans to sail her with our daughter, her husband and her 2 teen age daughters. just a few weeks prior to our sailing date she had her accident. So sad, but we all get over our disappointments in life. 

[mitsugirly]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:40 AM, graphicguy said:

Kim...Dave...thanks for the pics.  WOW!

 

I was on the SS NORWAY on my honeymoon on the SS NORWAY.  The wife is now an “ex” and the SS NORWAY exploded.

 

We had a cabin right next to a boxer (for those who follow boxing) called Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini.  He was with his wife, too.  We kept in touch for a while, but eventually, we lost track of each other.

 

Fascinating guy.  He literally killed a guy in the ring (a Korean boxer) and went on to write TV scripts (wrote some scripts for the old TV show, Hill Street Blues) and became a TV producer.

 

We had some fun on that cruise.

 

Thanks, again!

 

 

Wow, great story. I remember that name (Boom-boom mancini). That's so cool you met him and kept in touch for awhile.

 

 

20 hours ago, NYcruzzer said:

Thanks for taking us all down memory lane..Our first cruise ever was on Premier Cruiseline's (Big Red Boat) to the Bahamas in 1988 with our 18 month DD.. Our first NCL cruise was the SEA out of NYC in 2001 .. Immediately fell in love with the Freestyle concept and NCL..   23 NCL cruises later, they are still our favorite !!

 

In 2001 they had freedstyle cruising? I didn't realize it had been around for so long. How cool. I know it wasn't freestyle when we went in 1989. I'm glad they changed.

 

18 hours ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

Good memories of cruising, my first cruise as a teenager was costa and Carla c, second cruise as a teenager was early 80's  on ncl southward, we had a inside cabin, it was so tiny the double bed was from one wall to the other, then my bunk bed was above it.  What fun, us teenagers slept outside all night by the pool one night, don't think that happens anymore, now they pack up the deck chairs every night and their Are curfews, what fun we had!

 

That's funny about sleeping outside by the pool. You'll never get to do that now with them taking up all the chairs as soon as dusk hits. I never understood this. Sometimes we like to go up on the decks and just sit and relax and stare at the stars. No more...they have everything put up. :( 

[bobsfamily]

Ah memories.... thanks so much. We have sailed several lines and I think our first cruise together was the Carnival Mardi Gras, what a horrible cruise, the 3 day cruise almost ended in Nassau as the ship broke down, finally limped back to PC (or was it Miami?).... every night shoved into a semi-circle "couch" like you would see in Vegas with a waiter that always said the only thing left was chicken for dinner. Best time was with other cruisers but we tried again a couple of years later (on another cruise line) and now that cruise is laughed about. 30+ cruises and loving it....

[MrsTravelBug]

My first cruise was on the NCL Windard.  Does anyone remember the Windward?  I sailed it before they stretched it and renamed  it the Wind.  To this day I remember our waiter was Junior, from Jamaica, and the assistant waiter was Caesar.  

[GA Dave]

Here are some additional pictures from the Norwegian Sea in 2002.

 

[GA Dave]

A few more.  The two beach shots are how Great Styrup Caye looked back then.  Very sparse.  The last picture is of the show the final night at sea, when all the crew would come out on stage and sign the NCL thank you song.

[mitsugirly]

9 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Here are some additional pictures from the Norwegian Sea in 2002.

 

 

9 hours ago, GA Dave said:

A few more.  The two beach shots are how Great Styrup Caye looked back then.  Very sparse.  The last picture is of the show the final night at sea, when all the crew would come out on stage and sign the NCL thank you song.

 

 

 

WOW thanks for those. It's so amazing to see pictures from back then. I remember a lot of them and GSC...it was so plain back then. It's amazing how things have changed so much! It's even more amazing how small the ships were back then and we always felt like they were so big!

[bobsfamily]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:11 PM, NYcruzzer said:

Thanks for taking us all down memory lane..Our first cruise ever was on Premier Cruiseline's (Big Red Boat) to the Bahamas in 1988 with our 18 month DD.. Our first NCL cruise was the SEA out of NYC in 2001 .. Immediately fell in love with the Freestyle concept and NCL..   23 NCL cruises later, they are still our favorite !!

Dang! I completely forgot about the Premier - Big Red Boat we took in 90... our first was 1 and half.  Wonderful Disney cruise and we have fond memories of it.  Castaway Island was so much fun, even with a very young child.

[JoeTec]

I love looking at these pictures.  One thing I noticed with all things that have changed all the pools look the same 🤔

[rihannalexis]

On 8/23/2019 at 8:11 PM, NYcruzzer said:

Thanks for taking us all down memory lane..Our first cruise ever was on Premier Cruiseline's (Big Red Boat) to the Bahamas in 1988 with our 18 month DD.. Our first NCL cruise was the SEA out of NYC in 2001 .. Immediately fell in love with the Freestyle concept and NCL..   23 NCL cruises later, they are still our favorite !!

That brings back memories, Haha. The first cruise I ever went on was The Big Red Boat III. I was 12 and remember the preteen club and the friends I made. Great memories and I do remember thinking how massive the ship was. Compared to the other ships I've been on though, not so much.

 

@mitsugirly Love your reviews. They help to keep me sane on my countdown to my Thanksgiving cruise. I love your descriptions of the places you've been and the things you saw and experienced on the ships.

[mitsugirly]

8 hours ago, JoeTec said:

I love looking at these pictures.  One thing I noticed with all things that have changed all the pools look the same 🤔

 

I was just thinking the same thing. The ships get bigger but the pools have been the same size since forever ago. 🙄

 

 

7 hours ago, rihannalexis said:

That brings back memories, Haha. The first cruise I ever went on was The Big Red Boat III. I was 12 and remember the preteen club and the friends I made. Great memories and I do remember thinking how massive the ship was. Compared to the other ships I've been on though, not so much.

 

@mitsugirly Love your reviews. They help to keep me sane on my countdown to my Thanksgiving cruise. I love your descriptions of the places you've been and the things you saw and experienced on the ships.

 

@rihannalexis Thanks so much! I appreciate the comments.

[kitty-sail]

Thank you very much for sharing great memories. Those early days of cruising were special moments.

My first cruise was in 1993 when my best friend asked us to join her for her anniversary.  It was a 7 day cruise to Bermuda on the Dreamward.  We had assigned seating and also didn't get along with the other couple at our table. They wound up moving.

 

My husband and I didn't cruise for several years. Then in 2001, we booked a cruise to Hawaii for our Anniversary. No one was traveling then since it was right after 9/11 but we went and had a great time. It was also our first experience with NCL's  'free style dining' which they had just recently introduced.  It was also the inaugural voyage of the Star with a brand new crew.  The dinner menu called for "twice baked potatoes" so back in the kitchen it was interpreted as "2 baked potatoes".  Low and behold they ran out of potatoes soon into the dinner hour.

 

We look back on some of our experiences and laugh. Cruising is great.

 

[ScottStacey]

1989 I was working in a prison and talked this cute dental assistant into taking a cruise with me on the Sunward II,
I got food poisoning (3 ships had every 14 out of 17 people get sick and we had the CDC on board when we returned) - my girlfriends mom was an atty for the state and next thing I knew NCL sent us on the same cruise the next year - by this time we was married - Now after being married for 30 years we are taking out 14th cruise together (seem to be doing them much more frequent now the family is grown) but other than the fool poisoning lots of special memories from back in those early days 

This is 2001 on the Norwegian Sea 

[mitsugirly]

10 hours ago, kitty-sail said:

Thank you very much for sharing great memories. Those early days of cruising were special moments.

My first cruise was in 1993 when my best friend asked us to join her for her anniversary.  It was a 7 day cruise to Bermuda on the Dreamward.  We had assigned seating and also didn't get along with the other couple at our table. They wound up moving.

 

My husband and I didn't cruise for several years. Then in 2001, we booked a cruise to Hawaii for our Anniversary. No one was traveling then since it was right after 9/11 but we went and had a great time. It was also our first experience with NCL's  'free style dining' which they had just recently introduced.  It was also the inaugural voyage of the Star with a brand new crew.  The dinner menu called for "twice baked potatoes" so back in the kitchen it was interpreted as "2 baked potatoes".  Low and behold they ran out of potatoes soon into the dinner hour.

 

We look back on some of our experiences and laugh. Cruising is great.

 

 

That's hilarious about the 2 baked potatoes. LOL  It's great to look back at all the old memories.

 

8 hours ago, Dakotagrafx said:

1989 I was working in a prison and talked this cute dental assistant into taking a cruise with me on the Sunward II,
I got food poisoning (3 ships had every 14 out of 17 people get sick and we had the CDC on board when we returned) - my girlfriends mom was an atty for the state and next thing I knew NCL sent us on the same cruise the next year - by this time we was married - Now after being married for 30 years we are taking out 14th cruise together (seem to be doing them much more frequent now the family is grown) but other than the fool poisoning lots of special memories from back in those early days 

This is 2001 on the Norwegian Sea 

 

 

Oh wow...I wonder if it was all the hotdogs that gave you food poisoning...lol  just kidding. I managed to pick up Norovirus on one of my cruises a few years ago. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. :(

 

[Sheshefran]

I was one of those people who shared a room with strangers in the 80's. It was through a single's travel company. Luckily I am married now and don't have to do that anymore. I cant remember what ship it was but it was NCL.  I do remember that I saw "A Chorus Line" as the entertainment.  

[Jasonmom]

Following.  Enjoying the pictures.  First cruises in the 90s.  Maybe I can find some pictures.

 

[ScottStacey]

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Oh wow...I wonder if it was all the hotdogs that gave you food poisoning...lol  just kidding. I managed to pick up Norovirus on one of my cruises a few years ago. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. 😞

 

actually cdc report said the "stuffed lobster" next year it was just regular boiled lobsters -  I stood in line behind 50 people at the ships medical fac. and they said they wanted blood, stool samples and a culture - I left the line thinking that pepto bismol would take care of it once I departed - 7 days later when back in MI after visiting every bathroom I passed for an entire week my dr found a cocktail that cured it.   it was a memorable way for my now wife and I to start our travels together but have not let it slow us down

Love the old pictures and stories - prior to meeting my wife I went on the old SS Dolphin alone - small and not as refined but the greeks had a way of making the cruise great

[kitty-sail]

12 hours ago, Dakotagrafx said:

1989 I was working in a prison and talked this cute dental assistant into taking a cruise with me on the Sunward II,
I got food poisoning (3 ships had every 14 out of 17 people get sick and we had the CDC on board when we returned) - my girlfriends mom was an atty for the state and next thing I knew NCL sent us on the same cruise the next year - by this time we was married - Now after being married for 30 years we are taking out 14th cruise together (seem to be doing them much more frequent now the family is grown) but other than the fool poisoning lots of special memories from back in those early days 

This is 2001 on the Norwegian Sea 

Wow - what a beautiful ship. Nice looking family as well.