Tell us your story....Why did you start cruising?

[rafinmd]

I don't know if I can answer the "why" but at age 47 I had never been more than 200 miles from the "lower 48". The trip that broke the mold was a mostly land trip to Alaska. The highlight was driving the Alaska Highway from Skagway to Anchorage. One part of the tour was an overnight on the Alaska Ferry Matanuska (I've been back twice on the system since then). A couple years later I had my first traditional cruise, 3 days on the Carnival Fantasy, and a year later 7 days on the Regent Sun Montreal to New York. I enjoyed both but could take or leave cruising.

 

The big breakthrough came with a pair of cruises in 1996. The first one I booked was with Blount Small Ship Adventures (then American Canadian Caribbean Line) through the Erie Canal in August. The other was booked later but taken earlier. I got a flyer for a European cruise on the Crystal Symphony in April at a very attractive price. I was sure this would be a once in a lifetime experience but from the moment I stepped onboard I was hooked. To this day these 2 companies are my head and shoulders favorites.

 

Something else happened a year later that has become something of a standard with me. I saw a note in the paper that the SS Rotterdam was about to be retired and I decided I had to sail that ship before it sailed into the sunset. I've sailed a number of other ships as they were ending their runs since that time including the QE2's final transatlantic and the Monarch of the Seas, Statendam, and Ryndam(soon) in their final days.

 

While I was working I very seldom strayed from Blount and Crystal. I still do sail with them as much as or more than ever but have found in retirement that I want to cruise more than I can afford with them and I have branched out to other lines:

 

Cunard is a superb experience but their itineraries are not terribly interesting to me, other than transatlantics. It is my may of choice for getting across the pond and I usually manage at least one Cunard transatlantic per year.

 

Royal Caribbean is my go to cruise line for an easy getaway out of Baltimore. I do occasionally use them for other things but that's my primary relationship to them.

 

Windstar is an extremely nice experience, just a step below the Prinsendam in experience but close to Crystal in price. They are a nice occasional splurge but not really one of my go to companies.

 

HAL is a very nice experience at a usually affordable cost and an excellent cost vs benefit value. My order of precedence among large ship companies is:

 

1: Crystal

2: Prinsendam

3: Cunard

4: Other HAL

5: RCI

 

If Crystal is an Everest experience, Prinsendam is Kilamanjaro, Cunard and the rest of HAL Denali, and Royal Pikes Peak.

 

PS: An interesting find in the Wind Star library. I was looking at a cruise guidebook and the Windstar section had a sampling of cruise dailys. One of them listed "Captain Tim Roberts".

 

Roy

[kazu]

More great stories.

 

Roy, you are more than correct on Captain Roberts :)

 

Serendipity, I agree that post by Cow Princess is just SO uplifting.

 

All the stories are so great.

 

I hesitated to start this thread and now I am glad I did.

 

Wonderful to hear everyone's experiences:D

[Copper10-8]

................................PS: An interesting find in the Wind Star library. I was looking at a cruise guidebook and the Windstar section had a sampling of cruise dailys. One of them listed "Captain Tim Roberts".

 

Roy

 

Hope you'll have a chance to sail with Capt. Roberts, Roy; one of the best and one of the nicest/friendliest individuals you'll ever meet :)

[rafinmd]

Hope you'll have a chance to sail with Capt. Roberts, Roy; one of the best and one of the nicest/friendliest individuals you'll ever meet :)

 

Done so 1 1/2 times. First on the 2011 Arctic Explorer, and again a year ago when he relieved the retired Capt Gunderson on the Amazon Explorer.

 

Roy

[Copper10-8]

Done so 1 1/2 times. First on the 2011 Arctic Explorer, and again a year ago when he relieved the retired Capt Gunderson on the Amazon Explorer.

 

Roy

 

Copy that! :) PRDM's other captain, Andre van Schoonhoven ain't half-way bad either! Now retired Capt. Halle Thon "It's me again" Gunderson was a classic! ;)

[kazu]

Copy that! :) PRDM's other captain, Andre van Schoonhoven ain't half-way bad either! Now retired Capt. Halle Thon "It's me again" Gunderson was a classic! ;)

I'll second that for Captain Gundersen. He was a classic indeed.

 

I've had the pleasure of all three captains and my favourite was Capt. Gundersen. The ship was totally ship shape when he was in charge. Captain Andre is a great guy. I found Captain Tim a tad disorientated when he came on but it was the midst of our cruise.

 

And now back to our regular thread......:D

[rafinmd]

Copy that! :) PRDM's other captain, Andre van Schoonhoven ain't half-way bad either! Now retired Capt. Halle Thon "It's me again" Gunderson was a classic! ;)

 

Yup, although my only cruise with Captain Andre to date was on the Zaandam.

 

Roy

[iancal]

Since retirement, the percentage of time that we spend cruising, relative to our total travel time, is actually decreasing. Now we seem to be tacking cruises on to extended land vacations.

 

The reason is two fold. We want to spend more time in certain areas than a cruise stop would permit and we want to experience more of the local flavour that we could not get by sleeping and eating on the ship. Second reason is that we have the health and the inclination to do this independent travel. Not certain what the future will bring. And of course, cruise pricing has been extremely competitive over the past three years and this has certainly impacted the number of cruises that we have had the good fortune to enjoy.

 

So, while we do enjoy cruising, it is certainly not the be all and end all for us. But is still pretty dam good when compared to staying at home!

[tdk1938]

Thanks you starting this thread, Jacqui.

The TV program The Love Boat had made me interested in cruising. One of my coworkers had cruised regularly from Southern Cal. He came back from his cruise and told us about his wild experience on the ship had made many women blushed. Even a guy like me felt uncomfortable. So I thought that the real cruising was all about, it's not like The Love Boat show. But in late summer of 2007, my brother and his family cruised with new RCI ship from Miami and they loved it. My DW told me we should try it too.

So we cruised with Celebrity Century for 5 days to Western Caribbean and I knew I am infected with cruising bug. After early/forced retirement in 2011 we cruised on the HAL new ship Nieuw Amsterdam to Eastern Caribbean and we all enjoyed it. I'm retired but my DW works for school district and attends college, we can only cruise during her and the kids winter break.

Edited December 23, 2014 by tdk1938

[mamaofami]

We started cruising when DH who is now a retired dentist had the opportunity to work on the crew s a dentist while on board. He also saw passenger emergencies. The crew loved the fact that they had dental services and we loved cruising. We were hooked. :):) Did a few more cruises as a dentist and then became regular passengers.

 

Hal cut out the dental program for crew and passengers a few years ago and now emergencies have to be seen in port.

[Tricia724]

It was 1970, I was young and single, and my college alumni association sent me a flyer with a great deal on a one-week cruise to Bermuda on the (now defunct) Greek Lines "Olympia." I was intrigued, so I asked a friend who worked with me whether she might be interested. She was. Over the next 14 years, we sailed together six times. Our last two cruises together were in 1983 and 1984 on the magnificent Rotterdam.

 

Life intervened along with family responsibilities. I now had a SO, but he wasn't so sure he wanted to cruise. In 2000, out of boredom and curiosity, we attended a travel show, and the door prize was a discount certificate for a future cruise. I won. Both of us thought it was some kind of sign, so we booked the brand new HAL Amsterdam for a 10-day Panama Canal cruise. Couldn't have been more perfect. My SO was hooked, and here we are, something like 25 cruises later and still enjoying the ships.

 

We don't limit ourselves to cruising. We do land trips and have recently tried out some vacation resorts. Still, cruising has been a big part of our lives and hopefully will continue to be for a long time.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Tricia724

[take us away]

 

PS: An interesting find in the Wind Star library. I was looking at a cruise guidebook and the Windstar section had a sampling of cruise dailys. One of them listed "Captain Tim Roberts".

 

Roy

 

Hi Roy - 2 years ago the Prinsedam stopped in Barbados on the way back from So America and Tim Roberts' Windstar ship was parked across the port from us. The horns blasted and he went over to quite the reception per the CD who went with him. His past crew did like the man!

[rafinmd]

Hi Roy - 2 years ago the Prinsedam stopped in Barbados on the way back from So America and Tim Roberts' Windstar ship was parked across the port from us. The horns blasted and he went over to quite the reception per the CD who went with him. His past crew did like the man!

 

A wonderful story but I'm questioning your facts. Are you sure it wasn't 3 years ago. I was in Barbados on the Celebrity Summit with the Prinsendam 2 years ago (my nephew's wedding cruise), and I don't remember and didn't mention a Windstar ship being in port that day. My visit was right after the drydock where the Winter Garden/Canaletto was installed and I paid a lot of attention to the ship.

 

Sorry, Jacqui, it seems like I'm almost hijacking your thread.

 

Roy

Edited December 23, 2014 by rafinmd

[albingirl]

I grew up by the seashore and had a little sailfish. My little dog and I sailed most days,weather permitting. When the boat overturned,we both went over. He was rescued by me many times. Needless to say,as I got older, I always had a lot of boating,whether it was with my dad,my brother,or eventually my husband. Our first cruise was with the Norwegian majesty out of boston. We knew we wouldn't be seasick. Little did we know that we'd be encountering hurricane bonnie out by bermuda. It was a hairy sail but we survived it. I've been hooked on cruising ever since. Strange, but we felt if we were fine with that,we'd be fine on any sailing.

[Saphire]

My husband and I loved taking occasional weekend trips away as we were raising our three kids back in the 90's. I thought a weekend cruise would be a great way to sample cruising, if we didn't like it, it was only for a weekend. We both fell in love!

 

Our next cruise was a family one, we took the three kids on a trip to Bermuda. They loved it too!

 

We have only been on nine cruises, but have found our favorite line in HAL! Looking forward to many more.

[kazu]

wonderful stories.

 

As I digest the sad news I have received over the last day, I am so grateful to have this thread to revel in all of the stories.

 

Peace to all in this holiday season :)

[scopewest]

In 1995 DH attended a seminar in San Diego. I was looking at the hotel's TV channel and saw a one-day cruise to Ensenada and back (aka gambling cruise which they did in CA on a daily basis back then). I talked him into going, and it was great until we left the harbor and I got seasick. To make a long seasick story short, when we got back home I insisted on taking a "real" cruise but making sure to bring medication this time. He balked at the idea until his mother!!! told him to take me on that cruise.

 

We've taken a cruise once a year (that's all the vacation time we can get) ever since. And now he's proud to be a 3 star mariner (we tried other lines in between our HAL cruises)!

[CowPrincess]

Every mention of "Love Boat" in this thread has made me smile. My TA for my first HAL cruise kept telling me "Don't expect Holland America to be like the Love Boat" and she'd roll her eyes. Even on the phone I could tell she was rolling her eyes :D

[ger_77]

wonderful stories.

 

As I digest the sad news I have received over the last day, I am so grateful to have this thread to revel in all of the stories.

 

Peace to all in this holiday season :)

 

Oh dear Jacqui, that does not sound good; is there anything we can do for you? I'm sorry you are saddened at such a beautiful time of year.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[boaterette]

IN 1971 I was 11 and we lived in Hawaii. My grandparents sailed over to visit us from California. I was enthralled by the ship. Then in 1979 I was back living in Cali and some friends I knew won a cruise out of Miami. We were all dirt poor at the time so they sold all of their furniture to buy bus tickets to Miami. Being young we all thought it was a once in a life time event. :D

When they got back they slept on the floor of their apartment for months. But they loved the cruise. In 1994 I finally went on my first cruise for my honeymoon. It was on Rcl Viking Serenade. I got so seasick I thought I was going to never stop being sick. But I loved cruising. My husband didn't.

So in 1999 with a new husband:D went cruising again. He loved it...He still cruises with his new wife.:D

So in 2004 I started cruising with my kids and my sister and my niece. I still have all of them. lol I have been on close to thirty cruises now and look forward to many more. Just not with husbands. That doesn't seem to work out for me. lol

[VnR]

For years I could not convince my DH to try cruising. He imagined that a cruise would be like being trapped with thousands of people in a small space and not have any peace and quiet. Then the year our daughter graduated from college, we decided to take her on a trip to celebrate. She loved Greek mythology and ancient history. So I finally convinced DH that she would be thrilled to see the Greek Isles and the best way to do that was to do a Mediterranean cruise. Needless to say it was a huge success. Everyone had a wonderful time and we had gone on many cruises together. Now though my DH is gone, I am still planning on going on more cruises.

[Don't spammy]

We heard Bermuda was filled with beautiful beaches and cruising was filled with beautiful buffets. It was true then and still is. Now we look forward to new destinations.

[Rhonbru]

our first cruise was on the PO Dawn in 2012....I decided to book the cruise as my husband and I really needed something special to look forward to as our youngest son died the previous year, we have been on 3 cruises and have managed to light a candle in catholic churches for our son on each cruise we went onto.

[Lizzie68]

our first cruise was on the PO Dawn in 2012....I decided to book the cruise as my husband and I really needed something special to look forward to as our youngest son died the previous year, we have been on 3 cruises and have managed to light a candle in catholic churches for our son on each cruise we went onto.

 

My heart goes out to you - but how beautiful that you have lit a candle in so many churches for him.

[kazu]

My heart goes out to you - but how beautiful that you have lit a candle in so many churches for him.

 

our first cruise was on the PO Dawn in 2012....I decided to book the cruise as my husband and I really needed something special to look forward to as our youngest son died the previous year, we have been on 3 cruises and have managed to light a candle in catholic churches for our son on each cruise we went onto.

 

What a touching story. Sad, like Lizzie I think it is wonderful that you have lit a candle for him in the churches.