Something odd from first cruise?

[Mr. Romer]

Our first "cruise" was on the river Nile in Egypt.

We had just entered the river boat and was guided to a sundeck, where a lot of the other passengers also was.

The music from the speakers where pretty loud and the tune was Memory from the musical Cats.

When the song ended a new song started and guess what the next song was: Memory. The next song: Memory and the next: Memory.

Every time the song ended all the passengers looked on each others and hoped for a new tune, but no luck :) All passengers where lauging and joking about it, and it was a very fun start of cruising.

I went to the bar and tryed to explain the "problem" but they played the same song in about 45 minutes, before one of the waiters suddenly started laughing and changed the song.

Do I need to say, that every time we hear Memory, we starts to laugh :)

[sunshine_fanatic]

My first cruise was to Alaska on Princess CL in 1976. I was 11.

Two things come to mind...

The movie Jaws was shown in the movie theater onboard and before we sailed all of our family and friends were allowed on the ship for a bon voyage party. I think that was the only cruise I was on when that was allowed.

[buckeye82]

Our first cruise was to Alaska on HAL. We were on deck in Glacier Bay and it was chilly. The crew passed out plaid blankets and bowls of hot pea soup. For some reason this really stands out for me, though it is hard to explain to others why. I will always remember those two Ps, plaid and peas!

[mpk218]

First cruise memories ?? That was some time ago..

 

I'd say , standing on the stern of the ship shooting clay pigeons with a 20 gauge shotgun while the clay pigeon launcher guy held my Gin and Tonic..

 

You don't see that anymore.. :eek:

 

Oh , as mentioned, the toilet flush , certainly an attention getter..

[gooch47]

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Tropicale. The dining room was in the bowels of the ship, and the first night my husband got very sick during dinner. Not from the movement of the ship, but from the vibrations of the engines. He recovered fairly quickly after he went back to our cabin. After the first night it didn't bother him.

[lazydaz]

My first cruise was with HAL inn 1994. During our first online dinner, I felt the call of nature and left to find a ladies room. I spotted an attendant and asked him where the washroom was. He gave me an odd look and directed me - to the laundry room.

[Sauer-kraut]

My first cruise was on a container ship from San Francisco to Suva City, Fiji with one port of call in Los Angeles.

 

Things that I found quirky at the age of 13 were, wood charcoal barbque as the "formal" dinner served in the passenger lounge. (There were only 4 staterooms, 2 singles and 2 doubles). All other dinners were in the officer's dining room, we had the Captain's table and the single passengers got to eat with the Chief Electrician and his wife (they looked like they had a lot more fun at meals....)

Playing deck golf almost every day with one of the officers. Deck Quoits as well, (I was very inept).

 

And just hours and hours of sitting and reading, talking with the other 5 passengers, playing word search games with my Granny. 14 days with no organized activities, only access on the one deck we were allowed on

and getting to "Drive the ship" in the open ocean from the bridge for about 10 minutes! That was the highlight! (I was practicing doing a slalom course :D)

[Winnigirl]

What small strange thing do you remember about your very first cruise that sticks in your memory above other things, yet may seem odd if you had to describe to your friends about your experience.

 

When I went on the Norwegian Sea in 1997 I was fascinated that when you had dinner in the MDR every night, as well as getting half a dozen courses, was that the waiter had a tray of sauces for the salad - thousand island, blue cheese etc etc. there must have been 5 or 6 and in a weird way it was something I looked forward to every night (and I'm by no means a salad man :eek: ).

 

Odd but that's my weird memory :D

 

 

Ours was something similar. Our first cruise was on The Norway in 1996. I loved the formality of the MDR. The servers wore gloves and we were offered a cheese course every evening - and afternoon tea everyday. I remember the salad dressings, as well! It was a wonderful way to introduce our teenage daughters to formal dining. They, surprisingly loved it too, and never complained about "dressing up" for dinner. That and the beautiful gleaming teak decks - they became so hot in the Caribbean sun that you couldn't walk on them in bare feet. I loved The Norway. It makes me sad to think what became of her.

[Mr Robberts]

First cruise memories ?? That was some time ago..

 

I'd say , standing on the stern of the ship shooting clay pigeons with a 20 gauge shotgun while the clay pigeon launcher guy held my Gin and Tonic..

 

You don't see that anymore.. :eek:

 

Oh , as mentioned, the toilet flush , certainly an attention getter..

 

The good old days.

 

 

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[SPARKLE10]

Hi::)

 

Our first cruise was in 1987 on the SS Norway. We didn't know what to expect, and certainly didn't read Cruise Critic every day to see what was new.

But that was the one that got us hooked on cruising.

 

That was 75 cruises ago and I'm happy to say that we're still able to cruise; and although that one was the very best, even though we were in a very small inside cabin, every day was a new surprise. We still love cruising and even though we're landlocked in Iowa, we've managed to cruise several times a year since then.

 

The one thing that really surprised me was how windy it was on deck. They never showed that in the old cruise commercials I remember watching. I soon realized I couldn't wear a dress while walking around on deck.

 

Another reason it was so great, was that everything was new and each day was an adventure. Now I think I spend too much time trying to research everything.

 

Happy Cruising...Sparkle 10 (Anita):)

[Studebaker59]

In 1959, I sailed on the Queen Elizabeth (1) from N.Y. to England. I studied in Europe, and returned on the same ship in 1960. Coincidentally, I had the same waiter once again.

 

He remembered details I had told him about my family. He remembered that I'm a lefty. He remembered my food preferences. Wow!

 

There was an elderly couple at my dining table. They had saved for this trip to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. They bought me a pin with the QE1 pictured on it. I still wear it!

 

I vowed to myself that I wouldn't wait for my own 50th Anniversary to cruise again. Fortunately, my next cruise will be #47 big ship cruises.

 

Once you get the cruising bug.....

[IndyColts84]

One of my favorite memories on our first cruise was boarding the ship starving, having not ate much at breakfast because we were just too excited. We had read that you could eat at one of the dining room as opposed to the buffet. We were on the Epic and went down to Taste for our first meal aboard. After promptly being seated and waited on hand and foot over a cheeseburger and philly steak sandwich, we had finished our meal. It was at this time I looked over at my wife who had this puzzled look. She said and I quote "We've already paid technically so...can we get up now?" There was this odd feeling that I was dine and dashing as we got up and walked away from our table which we had practically bussed ourselves. So I walked over to our waitress to let her know that we had finished and tipped for her exemplary service. My wife stood there and watched. I had to explain myself..."honey, I feel like I'm dining and dashing!" to which she replied "well don't ever do it in real life, usually you don't tip the waitress and let them know you're leaving!" Five cruises in now, I got the hang of it!

[Cubechick]

2002 NCL Majesty. Every night they offered a different consummé. Beef consummé, guinea hen consummé, pheasant consummé, etc., but they were all the exact same broth!

 

DH and I would crack up every time we ordered it (which we kept doing to see if it changed...it didn't). :)

[mitsugirly]

Some of the "odd" things I remember and will never forget...(from the 80's)

 

*You could "eat/snack" all day if you wanted...but it was only hotdogs! Hotdogs, hotdogs, hotdogs. We ate more hotdogs on that cruise then we have our entire life. LOL :o

 

*Having assigned seating every night and 2 of our table mates asking to be moved to a different table from us because we were "young" and had nothing in common with them...old fuddie duddies I guess? :p

 

*Watching the flaming Alaskan show during dinner when fire use to be able to be on the ships. :eek:

 

*The midnight buffet...where you never knew exactly what type of sea food you were eating. :eek:

 

*Being at dinner one night and feeling the ship hit something and the bang. Then all the lights went out for awhile. The next day we were told they hit a small ship that night. :eek:

[spidybabe]

Our honeymoon cruise Nov 79 on Carnival's - Carnivale( their first ship) how small the rooms were( my dh knew to ask for double bed) BUT one of us had to sit on the bed if the other person needed to go to the bathroom, and u had to sit on the bed to open drawers..shower curtains that hugged u during shower...food all over all the time--- dinner then- Midnight buffet.......25cents for the drink of the day( yes with booze)........sitting at large dining table( so very formal) with other honeymoon couples....and yes that first flush.

Quirky: one person at our table ate ketchup on everything!! I love ketchup but this was too much, putting it on lobster was soo wrong.

Safe sailing

 

 

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[medsed]

It's so nice that so many people have wonderful memories of their first cruise. Ours was a bit of a disaster, but in making the best of it we had a wonderful waiter, Marco and his assistant Oana....they made up for the mess that was our stateroom and the poor job Carnival did in rectifying the problem and in being less than honest about what was going on.....we fell in love with the concept of cruising, even though we would likely not ever sail with Carnival again.

 

I was so amazed at the way the wait staff remembered our names, our favorites beverages, and even noticed I did not care for something one night and immediately produced another entree....service with a smile, consideration, etc.....I made sure the cruise line knew how wonderful these two servers were and I made sure they knew how much they helped turn a bad situation into a better time than we thought we would ever have....I even danced with Marco a couple of times...and Oana was,so sweet I wanted to pack her in my bag and sneak her off the ship!

Edited July 6, 2014 by medsed

[TwinMommyByGrace]

The thing I remembered was at check in, after we were finished, the agent telling us we go on board and "Lunch is being served on the lido deck."! It sounded very 'Love Boat-ish'! Being a kid in the late 70's/early 80's it just made me so excited! :p

[tutuwahineLV]

In 1959, I sailed on the Queen Elizabeth (1) from N.Y. to England. I studied in Europe, and returned on the same ship in 1960. Coincidentally, I had the same waiter once again.

 

He remembered details I had told him about my family. He remembered that I'm a lefty. He remembered my food preferences. Wow!

 

.

 

We were on an NCL NEW England/Canada cruise last Sept with extended family. 3 sets of Aunts/Uncles. One of my Aunts won the free cruise at bingo. When they went on their freebie, this year at Easter it was on the same ship, but to the Caribbean. Their first dinner in the MDR... the hostess' remembered them, and asked if the rest of the group would be joining them for dinner. Then the server, also wanted to know if Michelle was with them. They were surprised that the crew remembered them, and us.

 

And the quirky memory from my first cruise, definitely the first flush. That is a sound that confirms you're on vacation now... ;)

[DevonianCruiser]

First cruise memories ?? That was some time ago..

 

I'd say , standing on the stern of the ship shooting clay pigeons with a 20 gauge shotgun while the clay pigeon launcher guy held my Gin and Tonic..

 

You don't see that anymore.. :eek:

 

Oh , as mentioned, the toilet flush , certainly an attention getter..

 

Ha ha I remember doing clay pigeon shooting with two guys from Texas who said they hunted quite a lot (I never shot so it was a first for me). I had 10 shots. The first hit . . . The second hit . . . The third hit . . . The fourth hit. . . They then said I was very impressive and obviously used to shoot regularly :D

 

I then missed the next 6 :mad:

Edited July 7, 2014 by DevonianCruiser

[nets33]

On the Starward in 1987 I was asked to participate in a pool "event".

 

They had drained the water in the pool half way and put a pole over the pool which had been oiled. I was handed a pillowcase filled with balloons along with another girl and we had a "pillow" fight while straddling the greased pole over the pool. Needless to say the men enjoyed the spectacle.

[Tiggertastic]

they used to sound the horn as they spotted land and I would run up onto deck at 5am with my camera - I grew out of it

[QuickieGlenn]

Our honeymoon on the Song Of Norway 1991, thought the ships was huge, now it would be a lifeboat

 

getting seated with people who did not drink, I tried my best to teach them

[Bars7816]

...She said and I quote "We've already paid technically so...can we get up now?" There was this odd feeling that I was dine and dashing...

You haven't heard the old joke about training for a cruise by walking out of a restaurant (on land) without paying?!:D

[julie3fan]

You haven't heard the old joke about training for a cruise by walking out of a restaurant (on land) without paying?!:D

 

We always have to be careful at the first restaurant after a cruise that we stick around for the bill and to remember to tip!

 

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[All-ready2cruise]

I've been avoiding this thread having only started cruising a couple of years ago. Although we're in our 60's we ended up getting engaged on our 1st cruise on the Star. It was really very special for us. If I had to choose the oddest thing about our 1st cruise it would have to be the overwhelming feeling of joy both with cruise itself and the resulting engagement which was kind of unexpected. We met so many wonderful people, crew and fellow passengers, and it will remain with me/us forever.

 

We'll be on our 4th cruise in December and still have 2 more already booked. We love to cruise.

 

Enjoy. :D