How did we manage to cruise when...

[simplelife]

Kathy Lee singing "Ain't we got fun"

[SPacificbound]

You are an interesting person. :)

[pris993]

There were no web sites, no on line booking, no "price drops" to chase. Cell phones were in their infancy if existing at all. Windows were something we looked out of. Not to mention online forums like CC?

 

We used a travel agent who would get us a printed brochure, while still giving us benefits for booking through them. Often we met them in person.

 

How did we cruise when the average ship was maybe 25-30,000 tons, and a "mega" ship was QE2 or Norway.

 

There were no $$$ specialty restaurants, and aside from the buffet, it was early or late seating.

 

No TV in the cabin. But a deck lounge and a good book sufficed.

 

We could visit the bridge, the galley, even the engine room, and it would not cost us $$$ to do so.

 

How did me manage this while still having a great, memorable cruise?

 

I guess time marches on- eh? :rolleyes:

 

We had the "love boat" on tv, that said all!! It got many of us cruising.... actually today, we have too much information in many ways. The newer ships in some cases have lost a lot of the charm that we came to love long ago. I experienced this on the newer Celebrity ships especially... no reall library for example. I hear the new Royal is the same, way too bad... have enjoyed many days at sea enjoying travel books in the library on board many ships.

[GUT2407]

Glad I am not alone in my thoughts!

 

Let's add some posts that ask: "Does anyone have the daily programs for Monstrosity of the Seas for the western Caribbean cruise?"

 

Why?

 

I preferred being surprised, same as with not having to know the menus in advance! :cool:

 

I remember so well not knowing what was happening or going to happen.

 

Not sure why people want so much information.

[GUT2407]

I'm also old enough to recall when a pleb like me couldn't afford to cruise the first people I knew who went on cruises were millionaires.

[tip]

I'm also old enough to recall when a pleb like me couldn't afford to cruise the first people I knew who went on cruises were millionaires.

 

Exactly! And sometimes regular folks might cruise, but it was a once in a lifetime experience for them. Now some of us regular folks even cruise more than once a year. If this is the "democratization" of cruising, it is not such a bad thing in my opinion.

[CapeCodCruiser]

You got a paper brochure...glossy paper!, and called on the phone! It was so simple and easy! Aside from booking your cabin..there was nothing else to book in advance. Shore excursion were available to be booked when you boarded the ship. There were no other things TO book...everything else was included! I miss that.

 

Our first cruise in 1995 was at the tail end of the glory days - real formal nights, glorious midnight buffets, not knowing what to expect, I remember Carnival had a different set of china for every night, the parades through the MDR with dessert on fire. My kids & I read that glossy brochure thin!

 

Funny you should mention about shore excursions. I called and asked about a brochure or something for the shore excursions - they had nothing - no one had even asked for one in advance before! Finally one young man came up with a listing of all the excursions he faxed me - we poured over that for months before we cruised too!

[marco]

Some of the most memorable cruises for me were those back in the 60's and 70's when they were not on "cruise lines' but rather the transAtlantic ships that did some cruising. Cunard, Italian Line, Swedish America Line, Hamburg America Line, French Line.......very grand, very different than the cruise ships of today.

[Warm Breezes]

Exactly! And sometimes regular folks might cruise, but it was a once in a lifetime experience for them. Now some of us regular folks even cruise more than once a year. If this is the "democratization" of cruising, it is not such a bad thing in my opinion.

 

Me too. I keep reading these posts and thinking I'm glad I a was born in an era that saw significant changes in the cruising industry. I appreciate having the information on-line because I like doing research on where I am going and what I am doing. It is all part of the fun of planning a vacation to me. I used to have to do that in the library with old and outdated books. Now I can find newer and updated information on line much more quickly and accessible. I prefer the more casual dress codes. It is more our style. I like the bigger rooms with our own bathroom. I don't mind not having midnight buffets...I didn't go to them when I was on ships that had them when we started sailing. I like that there are more activities for my kids on the newer ships. I like the food I am served just fine. I like being cooked for and cleaned up after. Most of all I like the affordability so I can take my family and have some great vacation fun. Over all, just from what I am reading here, I'd say I'm glad I missed those golden old days....I much prefer what cruising has become today.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Warm Breezes

[babyher]

Another thing that's changed.....Fairwind St. Thomas, 1986:

 

 

No one cared how much booze you brought onboard, though I have no recollection how we got it home on the plane. We probably just carried it on in the boxes you see and stashed it under the seat.

 

We hosted a cocktail party onboard in a private room for about 20 newfound friends, complete with an open bar and munchies - total cost $24. People have correctly noted that cruising was more expensive then, in today's dollars, but drinks cost $2-3 and you didn't pay for extras except for shore excursions.

 

On the negative side - beds were hard, lumpy, and tiny; walls were paper thin, you really felt the rough seas before stabilizers, you didn't have the number of food choices you have today, balconies were few and limited to the very wealthy.

 

Maybe the biggest advantage to cruising in the early days is that we were so much younger! Climbing those stairs, handling late nights and early next morning tours, shedding those extra pounds gained onboard - all so much easier then.

 

 

 

 

That picture made me laugh.

 

 

My first cruise was on the Song of America , also 1986 . My honeymoon with my first wife . I remember going to the port and buying all tis booze . At first we thought "Hmmmmm we have all day in port, we don't want to lug those heavy cardboard boxes all over " Then the clerk told us "No worries , we pack it up for you and deliver it to the ship. It will be there when you get back to your cabin." GREAT Until the last day you have to lug all this stuff off the ship and onto the plane. *LOL* What a nightmare *LOL*

 

But we still has a wonderful time

[Magnum60]

While we're all having fun in the 'way back machine' let's see the responses to traveling on ocean liners - a time way before the word cruising would become a household word. I remember my first 'boat ride' in detail and always smile as I remember those incredible ships. Boy has the word elegant changed over time. I was lucky enough to sail aboard the Queen Mary in the 50's when I was a kid. The stateroom my family had booked is now part of the Queen Mary museum tour. The grand liners back then didn't have stabilizers, verandas (only operable port holes), indoor or outdoor movies, outdoor pools with hot dog stands or casinos. What they did have was incredible food and service almost to the level of that shown on the Downton Abby TV series if you were traveling first class. 'Steerage' class passengers (always the largest group of travelers on ocean liners) obviously received a lesser degree of pampering but what they did get was certainly not a Mayflower experience. For the gamblers there was the ships log (guess the distance traveled in one day and win some pretty serious cash (needless to say - there was no GPS back then) and 'horse racing' in the main ball room. While many of the cruise lines today do an outstanding job serving their customers few if any can match the attention to detail that was "the way it used to be".

Edited April 20, 2016 by Magnum60

[John&LaLa]

The last Titanic survivor died in 2009

[myjillian]

My first cruises were in the 60's. The rooms had a large pole in the middle with bunk beds and you had to scoot around the pole to get to the bathroom. At one time we lived in Puerto Rico and our neighbor was a travel agent and everytime a large group didn't use all of the cabins she would call us and offer a cruise . According to her if she offered the remaining cabins in an ad the companies wern't responsible...but she could call people and fill the spaces with just the port charges and taxes being paid. We once circled the Caribbean for only $40. We would go to Barbados when women couldn't expose their arms and men actually wore while Linen suites. Sometimes our porthole window would be underwater during lightly rough weather. The fun we would have "visiting" the other ships at dock!!!! It helped us decide which ship to book next !!;) That is something I really miss.

 

My college roomate spent the summer after graduation on a freighter and went all over the world. I had a weddding to plan...but I picked her up in Montreal at the end of her "World Cruise" and always missed not going with her. It would have been a better choice than the wedding to my first husband :D

 

In Norfolk Virginia the state of the art cruise port Half Moon has a museum of memoberlia(sp) donated by a family in Norfolk. There you can see all of the tickets, passengers list etc of all the cruises this family made from the 1800's and on. All hand written etc. It's a wonderful display ( all behind glass) that is actually in the room that all passengers wait for their boarding. This is an outstanding cruise port...the best one on the East coast...trouble is hardly any ships dock there now since it was built. :(

Edited April 20, 2016 by myjillian

[babyher]

Funny thing about any kind of travel back when I was a kid .Like others have said a cruise or even a trip to Europe was either for the very rich or it was the trip of a lifetime. I remember a big Bon Voyage party we had for my aunt and uncle and grandmother when they went to Italy . And then a bunch of us went to the airport to see them off . They were going for like 3 weeks . Its not like they were never coming back. And all the luggage they brought with them.

 

My parents took us on a lot of driving vacations growing up. Cape Cod, Wildwood etc. The BIG trip was flying to Disney World :)

 

Today my kids have been to Disney like 10 times , they have been to Europe, Hawaii. My DD who travels for works has been places I never even heard of when I was a kid. Back then you would say "Wow!!!!you have been here and there ? " Today its more like "Who Hasn't been here or there? "

 

Also when was they last time someone sent you a post card from vacation? :) People would go away a week and send everyone a post card saying "Having a wonderful time. They were home a week and you already saw them by the time you got it.

 

Things do change.

[myjillian]

Funny thing about any kind of travel back when I was a kid .Like others have said a cruise or even a trip to Europe was either for the very rich or it was the trip of a lifetime. I remember a big Bon Voyage party we had for my aunt and uncle and grandmother when they went to Italy . And then a bunch of us went to the airport to see them off . They were going for like 3 weeks . Its not like they were never coming back. And all the luggage they brought with them.

 

My parents took us on a lot of driving vacations growing up. Cape Cod, Wildwood etc. The BIG trip was flying to Disney World :)

 

Today my kids have been to Disney like 10 times , they have been to Europe, Hawaii. My DD who travels for works has been places I never even heard of when I was a kid. Back then you would say "Wow!!!!you have been here and there ? " Today its more like "Who Hasn't been here or there? "

 

Also when was they last time someone sent you a post card from vacation? :) People would go away a week and send everyone a post card saying "Having a wonderful time. They were home a week and you already saw them by the time you got it.

 

Things do change.

 

My husband loves sending postcards, we doesn't care when they arrive:) He even sends cards to us telling us what we are doing...with our age we have a tendency to forget;)

[cruiseonthebrain]

I miss printed brochures! And I wish there was a no-TV-in-cabin option!

[KirkNC]

You can still get a printed brochure from most lines. You just need to request it. Worse case just download one in PDF and print it. As for the tv, just don't turn it on. We seldom do.

Edited April 21, 2016 by KirkNC

[cruznjan]

People didn't whine about dressing up.

[cruznjan]

People didn't whine about dressing up for dinner.

[Magnum60]

The last Titanic survivor died in 2009

 

I had the good pleasure and great luck of spending some time with, Minerva Dean, the last survivor of Titanic while traveling to Australia aboard QE2. Captain Robin Woodall, his wife, my wife and myself spent at least 45 minutes speaking with her on that trip. She was only a few months old back when ice met ship and survived only because she had been handed by her parents to passengers in a life boat that was about to be lowered. She didn't volunteer if her parents made it and we didn't press the issue. As a baby she would remember little if anything about that terrible night but as the years passed she would have access to other survivors which made her a fountain of factual information.

[KirkNC]

I had the good pleasure and great luck of spending some time with, Minerva Dean, the last survivor of Titanic while traveling to Australia aboard QE2. Captain Robin Woodall, his wife, my wife and myself spent at least 45 minutes speaking with her on that trip. She was only a few months old back when ice met ship and survived only because she had been handed by her parents to passengers in a life boat that was about to be lowered. She didn't volunteer if her parents made it and we didn't press the issue. As a baby she would remember little if anything about that terrible night but as the years passed she would have access to other survivors which made her a fountain of factual information.

 

That would be very interesting indeed. We one time cruised with a couple that was on the HAL Prinsendam when she caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Alaska in the 80's. Luckily there were no deaths but their story was fascinating and could change the way you approach the topic of musters.

[loubetti]

I had the good pleasure and great luck of spending some time with, Minerva Dean, the last survivor of Titanic

 

Just for the sake of her memory and others who may not know, her name is: "Millvina" Dean. :)

[Magnum60]

Good catch Lou. Wonder where 'Minerva' popped into my head from? A mind is a terrible thing and apparently - I got one. Millvina is correct.

[John&LaLa]

Just for the sake of her memory and others who may not know, her name is: "Millvina" Dean. :)

 

Actually her name was Elizabeth, she just went by Millvina. ;)

[geoherb]

My first cruise was in 1988 with my ex and a friend. Our friend did all the arrangement through a local travel agent. When I was ready to take another cruise with my now DH, I went to the same TA. She was great. But she saw the writing on the wall and got out of the business in the late '90s. After her agency botched our hotel reservations for our New Year's trip to Vegas, we stopped using it. (That was after she had left the agency.)

 

By then, I knew basically what cruise I wanted before calling an agent. I've used ones in various cities. I have one I use most frequently, but I've also booked directly with the cruise lines as well.