When was your first cruise you took?

[marco]

It was a LOOOOONG time ago! I think the late 60's. It was with my parents and it was the "Carnival in Rio" cruise on the Italian liner "Michelangelo". What a trip!!!!!!! But even prior to that, TA's back to Europe to visit family. Have been cruising at least twice a year ever since...boy...have there been a LOT of changes over the years!!!!!!!!

[CruiseGal999]

Small world...we're only 15 minutes (non-rush hour) from Dulles, to the south (were near Manassas). We're actually close to 28 and right under the flight patterns into and out of Dulles.

 

I love what you are saying about getting the ferry to St. Lucia as well, definitely a bonus. We love St. Lucia, have been there twice on cruises, but so much more to see. I really appreciate all of this valuable information. I've actually copied and pasted to a Word document to refer to for future reference. We have a milestone anniversary next year and we're kicking some ideas around and a trip like this is sounding very appealing to me. From the way you described Guadeloupe, I'd LOVE it. I remember Martinique and Dominica as being gorgeous, but we only got a short "preview". For some reason, I'm fascinated with volcanoes, and would love to see St. Pierre and Mt. Pele. We were actually able to see Montserrat on our cruise last year on the morning we sailed into St. Kitts. There was still some steam venting from their volcano and I took a lot of pictures. Not the best in quality but I'm happy to have those. I'm also now officially starved after your description of the foods. Dulles is our "go to" but for a trip like this, we would not mind flying out of Baltimore. The $$$ we'd save could be spent on the islands.

 

Thank you again, very much. :)

 

***Sorry to anyone for the "hijack"...this originated from our very first cruise in which we got a preview to some very beautiful islands that just aren't popular cruise stops. :D***

 

Don't mean to 'butt in', thought you'd find this funny. 2013 we were on a tour bus with headsets listening to the guide. Outside of the window was Mt. Vesuvius. Guide was running down itinerary, lunch, times back on the bus, etc. I raised my hand, I said excuse me (SO many times). I finally stood up and said "Excuse me, but isn't that Mt. Vesuvius outside? Can we hear/learn something about that"? She literally rolled her eyes, did a heavy exhale and said "Yes, I'll GET to that in a minute". ??? Why not now while we're looking at it?

[CruiseGal999]

Carnival cruise to Bermuda in 1982. I was 19 years old and with a group of women from work. We boarded in Boston. SO much fun. I still laugh over the pictures. It was $500 for the week. I lived in NH so it was an easy drive to the port. I just finished my 7th cruise, destination Cuba, 5/29th - 6/2nd. I KNOW ... still a baby in cruise land.

[Strophic]

Disney Magic, 1998. I was five, haha. Second cruise was 2005, Carnival Triumph. Another long gap and I did my first cruise as an adult (and my first vacation planned, executed, and paid for by myself) in 2016 on Carnival Magic :) We're finally picking up the pace doing two in two years!

[navybankerteacher]

Not not counting the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyerd and Nantucket Steamship Authority's Nantucket from Woods Hole to Oak Bluffs, MA or my midshipmens training cruises or Navy deployments, it would have been Orient Lines Marco Polo from Istanbul to Athens - calling at ports in Turkey and the Aegean islands in 1996.

[DirtyDawg]

Not not counting the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyerd and Nantucket Steamship Authority's Nantucket from Woods Hole to Oak Bluffs, MA or my midshipmens training cruises or Navy deployments, it would have been Orient Lines Marco Polo from Istanbul to Athens - calling at ports in Turkey and the Aegean islands in 1996.

I wish I had never opened up this thread.:mad: My first cruise was in the Aegean in the mid-seventies,'76 or '77. It was while we were on a high school trip to Greece. It was really bad weather and that ship and all of us got tossed around for hours and hours. Everybody was sick as a dog. It was aweful. I swore I'd never put one foot on a cruise ship ever again!

Mrs. Dawg begged me for years to go on a cruise after we got married but I always refused. She had gone on her first cruise in the early '80's and loved it! So she cruised with her girlfriends at least once a year. After about 10+ years of hounding me :D I finally said OK and we did a weekend cruise on the old Monarch of theSeas. It took a few more short, 'stop pestering me' cruises before the addiction finally took hold.

[MedicKenK]

I won our first cruise in 1987 on the Costa Riviera. Seven nights from Miami to St. Thomas, St. Croix and Nassau. Jacket and tie every night for the single seating dinner. Three bars onboard and one TV. Now 18 cruises later, with; 19, 20,& 21 on the books.

[MJSailors]

First cruise for my DH and me ,in 1985 ,was the Big Red Boat from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. I think it was a three day cruise. We had a porthole cabin which was quite roomy. DH had a twin bed on one side of the room, my bed was across the room. No putting them together to make a queen bed !

There was no TV in the cabin and if there was room service,none that we were aware of ( first time cruisers !).

Now, we mainly sail with Princess,but have also sailed with NCL and Celebrity. We always book a balcony or a mini suite-no more portholes.

We enjoy cruising,although we have seen many changes over the past 30+ years. Some of these changes are positive,some are negative,but that is the way things are in life!

[biker@sea]

:) 9 years and 25 cruises ago :D

[XBGuy]

October 1976--MS Southward (NCL)--Western Caribbean Cruise--Honeymoon

[luvs2beachit]

First cruise was in 1989 on the old HAL Westerdam. 44 cruises later and I still get as excited about cruising as I did for that first one! Guess I am addicted.

[CruiseGal999]

I wish I had never opened up this thread.:mad: My first cruise was in the Aegean in the mid-seventies,'76 or '77. It was while we were on a high school trip to Greece. It was really bad weather and that ship and all of us got tossed around for hours and hours. Everybody was sick as a dog. It was aweful. I swore I'd never put one foot on a cruise ship ever again!

Mrs. Dawg begged me for years to go on a cruise after we got married but I always refused. She had gone on her first cruise in the early '80's and loved it! So she cruised with her girlfriends at least once a year. After about 10+ years of hounding me :D I finally said OK and we did a weekend cruise on the old Monarch of theSeas. It took a few more short, 'stop pestering me' cruises before the addiction finally took hold.

 

Dang .... my HS never took trips like that! I don't remember EVER going on a school trip while in HS. :(

[davekathy]

1991...American Hawaii Cruise Lines...SS Constitution

[Kartgv]

Another "Starward" alum...1978! :cool:

[pris993]

DH and I took our first cruise together in l983, on RCCL Song of America... my DH had been cruising piror... don't know what years... he did cruises in the Mediterranean... did one on the old SS France... before it became the Norway. We cruised on the Norway, in the late l980s... we had a junior suite ... which use to be part of the main dining room on the SS France... we had 3 large picture windows... it was amazing... that was long before mini suites as we know them today.

[DirtyDawg]

Dang .... my HS never took trips like that! I don't remember EVER going on a school trip while in HS. :(

 

Other than the cruise we had a great time. My history teacher was in charge of the whole group and he was a Roman/Greek history enthusiast. So we learned a lot on that trip besides just how to drink ouzo.:D

[sf49erfreak]

2008 carnival to mexico

[crystalspin]

My first and second cruises almost made a non-cruiser out of me! Sometime in the '90s, DH and I took my MIL and a platonic friend of hers from Cape Town to Buenos Aires on the Orient Lines' Marco Polo, a very small ship with almost no distractions. The MIL was a strict tea-totaller and expected us to be as well. Also my lower back/hips went out and most of the rest of them were seasick. I made fast friends with the albatross that circled the rear of the ship for days. BTW there are no shore excursions between Cape Town and Buenos Aires!

 

About 2000, I was somehow talked into taking MIL (no friend), three in a room, to and around Hawaii on the Statendam. Replay the seasickness routine and dry-county scene. At least the Statendam had enhancement lectures and movies! and a cappuccino bar! PS there are no ports between SanDiego/Ensenada and Hawaii, either.

 

1995 Marco Polo, Cape Town to Buenos Aires

2000? Statendam, Ensenada to Hawaii and back

June 2009 Statendam, Vancouver to Seward, Alaska

June 2011 MS Russ, St.Peterburg to Moscow

Sept/Oct 2012 MS Russ, Astrakhan to Moscow

Nov/Dec 2013 Norwegian Star, Florida/Panama Canal/LA

Nov/Dec 2014 Zaandam, Valparaiso to Buenos Aires

April 2015 Nieuw Amsterdam, FLL to Venice

June 2016 Volendam, Vancouver RT Alaska

[hapster85]

The MIL was a strict tea-totaller and expected us to be as well.

 

I feel you there. My wife and I aren't really drinkers ourselves, but do enjoy an occasional frozen concoction while on a cruise. We've taken 2 cruises with my parents, who paid for the trip, and insisted on the onboard accounts all being on them as well. We were fine with that, but not even having the option of an alcoholic drink made you feel like you were back in high school. Lol

 

My parents are again paying for a family cruise next year, and one of our sons recently had the revelation that he would be 21 then. The look on my parents' faces when he told them that, was priceless.

[Reina del Mar]

Union Castle Line.

 

TSS Reina del Mar 1969

[goldenrod]

SS Bahama Star 1971 4 days 3 nights $69 per person.

 

 

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[cruiserking]

I traveled transatlantic on the Cunard Queen Elizabeth around 1968.

 

But, my most vivid memories are from the Caribbean Christmas cruises my family took on the QE2 in the early 1970's.

 

Jonathan

[Sky616]

2000 on Monarch of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We went to Sandals in Jamaica for our honeymoon in 1996 and we fell in love with the water, the palm trees and just the vibe. We've done cruises and AI almost every year since. (Have to sneak Disney in there every three or four years with the kids}. Our family and friends think we're nuts but I say I think they're nuts for wasting 3 to 4 grand a year to go to a mid atlantic crowded beach where the water is 70 degrees.

[springfire]

I went to work on the Starward back in 1977. The crew was all Norwegian at that time. I worked as a deckhand for 3 months in relief of another deckhand who went home to Norway for the summer. It was a great learning experience for me as a teenager. The first cruise I paid for was on the Emerald Seas, that was sometime in the early 80's.

[reerun25]

Carnival Fascination, May 2012. My Dad passed away the previous year, my Mom took my family and my brother's family on our first cruise. We went to Half Moon Cay, and that set the bar pretty high. Fell in love with cruising, and have our 5 cruise booked for 2018.