What is your favorite part of a cruise ?

[Negrilgirl]

Room service breakfast on our balcony as we pull into a new port!

[AZ Ocean Lover]

My favorite part is when we are well underway, city life is getting smaller and our first cocktail on our balcony. Nothing better than looking out at the ocean as you move through it.

 

Of course, every cocktail on the balcony after that is a close second.

[PoppyandNana]

My favorite part is when we are well underway, city life is getting smaller and our first cocktail on our balcony. Nothing better than looking out at the ocean as you move through it.

 

Of course, every cocktail on the balcony after that is a close second.

 

Do you drink from the mini bar or bring cocktails to your cabin from a bar?

[KruseWay]

Night #1 after all is done (Dinner, Show, etc.) Sitting on the balcony with my Sweetie and a glass of Pinot Noir, feet up, smiling gently and thinking to myself "Ahhh, (fill in the blank) number of more days of this." :)

[JoePDX]

As we drive up - seeing the ship for the first time all festooned with the signal flags..... Next - stepping on board for the first time and feeling the stress literally melt away....

 

Joe

[PoppyandNana]

As we drive up - seeing the ship for the first time all festooned with the signal flags..... Next - stepping on board for the first time and feeling the stress literally melt away....

 

Joe

Close your eyes and have a loved one read this to you.

 

 

Youre stressed from travel, particularly if traveling by air. Finally you get your bags, then to the pier. A little more stress as you go through the check in.

 

Finally you get your card. You proceed around and around to the gangway. Then the magic moment - you step off the gangway onto the ship itself. The sounds - bong, bong. The smells- a combination of carpet, people and iron.

 

Then, then you get your card bonged. As you proceed to the elevator the stress starts to fade as other emotions come rushing to the forefront:

 

Finding your way to your cabin

Entering for the first time

Running to your balcony, looking out at the waterfront, the ships and the smells.

Then you leave to head topside. People in the pool already.

Then to the buffet for your first meal. Ah, the smells, the selection, the crowds.

You sit down with a mound of deserts, hey you're on vacation

You exit the buffet and for a moment you don't know what to do.

Finally, you go out to the upper deck, sit in a lounge, order a piña Coloda. You take your first sip. it's sweet and crunchy and oh so refreshing.

 

At that exact moment it hits you: you are on a cruise, the one you have been planning and anticipating for oh so long. You take your sweety's hand. You smile at each other in abject contentment. Other emotions then flood your psychic: dinner tonight, sea day tomorrow and all the good things that entails.

You realize you have five, seven, ten days more of the feeling of well being.

 

Life is sweet.

Edited July 7, 2015 by PoppyandNana

[AZ Ocean Lover]

Do you drink from the mini bar or bring cocktails to your cabin from a bar?

 

We order a bottle from room service along with some mixers. Love the happy hour.

[RickT]

Too many things come to mind but I'd have to say the first sighting of the ship... whether it's from the air flying in, your hotel window the day of departure or perhaps from the cab taking you to it.

 

Once onboard sailaway is our favourite part. It reminds us how lucky we are to have our health and to be able to do another cruise.

[suite dreams]

I agree with several other posters that the recurring favorite moment is stepping onto the ship and having your sea pass card scanned for the first time and receiving the welcome "Champaign".

 

But, one of my all time favorite moments was on a transatlantic. I was in our lounge chair on the balcony in that half conscious half asleep state with a book in my lap and snuggled into a comfy throw. I gently came awake when I heard our butler whispering "Madame, are you ready for your tea?" Loved it. (And before anyone comments that they would not have liked to be disturbed, I knew afternoon tea would be coming and if I had not wanted him to come and find me I would have put the do not disturb sign on the door.)

[cl.klink]

The best is the ride to the pier with others you've never met before, but are sharing a van or cab or bus, and meeting up to go to the ship. No one is unhappy. Everyone is expectant. Life is good. The trip to be is still perfect, unspent.

 

The next best is the moment you leave the pier and walk along the ramp that is taking you to the ship entrance beckoning ahead. Nothing to get in the way of meeting your new home away from home.

 

The next best is the moment you cross the threshold into the ship for the first time. It was the most thrilling moment of all the first time I did it, and though still good thereafter, never again quite as magical.

 

The next best is the whole first 24 hours getting to know the ship and experiencing being at sea in a floating hotel resort.

 

The next best is remembering the whole thing in the years to come. As one travel writer put it, the trip itself is for the "sights," but the "insights" come in the time after that, using a life context to transform the experiences. I've taken to making a collage of tickets, receipts, maps, brochures, wine labels, stateroom cards, and the like, and hanging it in a frame on a wall so that I can recall the trip each time I pass.

 

- Joel

[suite dreams]

Your collage sounds like such a great idea!

[Kartgv]

Several...

 

- When you see the ship pull away from the dock on that first evening - that's when you're REALLY underway. A glass of wine, sharing the company of one you love, what could possibly be better?

 

- The first sunset at sea. There's just nothing else as moving.

 

- That first sunrise at sea....OK, I said there's nothing as moving as the first sunset, UNLESS it's the first sunrise. It's usually so peaceful and so personal...just you and nature.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Kartgv

[bwaz]

My favorite cruise moments are meandering down some little street in a new port with my DH, idly looking in the shops, finding nice things for each other, no particular place to go. We could do this at home, but we never do. A cruise just carves out that special family and couples time.

 

Sent from my LG-D801 using Forums mobile app

[GordonJasmine]

I just recalled one of my happiest memories - along with all the ones already mentioned in this thread. Has anyone here sailed on the Norway? I loved that ship and was aboard her for 14 cruises, including 2 glorious transatlantics. She had the most awesome fragrance as you stepped onto her that I wish I could describe. That heavenly smell told me for sure that our vacation was really starting and that it would be so good. If only I could have captured it in a bottle to take home.

[Beth 2001]

My first enjoyable moment is when I book the cruise. Then I love to spend hours researching the ship and ports and planning out my days and nights.

 

A week before my cruise I like to go online and watch my ship do its last sailaway without me and think, "next week that will be me!"

 

We always fly in a day ahead and stay in a hotel that has a view of the port. I always wake up around 5 am and quietly watch my ship sail in as my family sleeps (though sometimes one so my sons gets up with me). So exciting!

 

The next thrilling moment is when we drive up to pier and see our ship towering over us. Then after checking in, it's glorious anticipation until the moment we zig zag up the gangway and step onto our amazing home for the next 7 or 10 days (no back to backs yet - still just a fantasy). When the ship is quiet and almost empty, I like to go on "photo safari" and take pictures all over the ship (especially if it's a new build or a new class of ship for me).

 

After savoring a quiet first lunch away from the hustle and bustle of the buffet, we make our way to our stateroom and explore every nook and cranny. Then we're off to the muster drill and back to our stateroom for a private balcony sailaway party. Bon voyage!

 

At the end of that first day, after a delicious dinner, fabulous cocktails and engaging entertainment, we return to our room and are amazed we've only been on the ship about 12 hours. That's my absolute favorite thing about cruising - feeling so far removed from the stresses of everyday life and knowing that each day is an opportunity to see new places and meet new people!

[ERIN123]

Seeing our room for the first time and enjoying a glass of wine while we sail away to new adventures.

 

Also, the joy in realizing the biggest decisions I have to make are what to wear, what to eat and what to drink.

[bluebeard39]

When the Horn blasts as you are leaving the port

[Redtravel]

I love not cooking. I love being served. I love not having to clean dishes. I especially enjoy eating a great breakfast while watching the ocean.

[Orch at Sea]

My wife tells me that as soon as we embark she can see the stress begin to melt from me. It's a time that we reconnect and refresh. Our next cruise will find our cabin on the stern. I look forward to feeling the wake pull everyday life out of me.

 

The last thing I want or need on a cruise is the Internet or a phone. It's the walks at sunset and watching the sunrise. I'm not a beach person but I like the taste of salt air.

 

In cruising we get to go to places we may otherwise not have the opportunity to visit. We get to eat foods we not be able to afford downtown. We can watch performers that have worked hard to try and entertain us.

 

It's a big wonderful world and we have so little time to explore and experience. That's what cruising does for me.

 

Brilliant quote - Thanks RNRCRUZIN, I have printed this out & taped it to my computer to remind me WHY I work !

[WEGL81]

For me it's after muster is done. That's the last place and time you have to be somewhere. Everything after that is totally up to you until the end of the cruise. Then sailaway completes the disconnection from stress process.