How much did you pay for your FIRST cruise and when?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Carnival Victory, 7 Night Southern Caribbean, 2011.  Veranda for $779 each.  I don't think the price has changed much, but the quality definitely has.

[LargeTexan]

$125 for a 3 night Bahamas Costa cruise in 1972. 
 

[BarbinMich]

22 hours ago, BJzink said:

December, 1990.  Chandris cruise line (to become Celebrity) Fantasy ship.  5 day Caribbean, $499.00 I think.

Our first was also on a Chandris Fantasy ship--the Amerikanis!  My DH's professional assn. offered a group cruise on this ship out of Puerto Rico in Feb 1994.  Itinerary was 7-days and stopped at St. Thomas, Antigua, Guadeloupe (shaped liked a butterfly), Barbados, and St. Lucia.  Truly a wonderful itinerary for a first cruise, but I don't remember the cost (probably nominal given the ship and it being a group deal).  I don't think major cruise lines have gone to Guadeloupe for some time; it's French-speaking and that's off-putting to some.  As is Martinique, but it's still on many itineraries.  But we still get to visit Guadeloupe via the TV (PBS) show, "Death in Paradise."  They call the island Saint-Marie and I can't say I recognize where they shoot it.  We had a wonderful tour there with a local guide.  The ship had been on the UK-South Africa run in its early life, as was American Hawaii's "Independence" which we sailed on a few years later.  We got hooked and now, 51 cruises later we were still at it until 2017 when my DH's health started to decline.

Edited October 13, 2019 by BarbinMich

[BJzink]

1 hour ago, BarbinMich said:

Our first was also on a Chandris Fantasy ship--the Amerikanis!  My DH's professional assn. offered a group cruise on this ship out of Puerto Rico in Feb 1994.  Itinerary was 7-days and stopped at St. Thomas, Antigua, Guadeloupe (shaped liked a butterfly), Barbados, and St. Lucia.  Truly a wonderful itinerary for a first cruise, but I don't remember the cost (probably nominal given the ship and it being a group deal).  I don't think major cruise lines have gone to Guadeloupe for some time; it's French-speaking and that's off-putting to some.  As is Martinique, but it's still on many itineraries.  But we still get to visit Guadeloupe via the TV (PBS) show, "Death in Paradise."  They call the island Saint-Marie and I can't say I recognize where they shoot it.  We had a wonderful tour there with a local guide.  The ship had been on the UK-South Africa run in its early life, as was American Hawaii's "Independence" which we sailed on a few years later.  We got hooked and now, 51 cruises later we were still at it until 2017 when my DH's health started to decline.

Our ship was the Britannis - inside cabin below water line.  But it was very big, lots of closets.  

[GeorgeCharlie]

Our first cruise was a 7-day Fijian Islands cruise in 1982 with Blue Lagoon Cruises.

 

When we got there we found out it was the final cruise for the ship - which was actually an inter-island freighter.

 

The ship and cruise were a disaster. Understand the ship was condemned at the end of our cruise - which was understandable, as several times during the cruise, it was announced that the ship may not make it back to the home port.

 

🤬After that cruise, we said we'd never take a cruise again!

 

Finally relented in the mid-90's and took a B2B Caribbean cruise, which was much better. 

 

Not sure what the cruise cost, as it was part of a package - which included 7 days at the Regent of Fiji resort, plus 3 & 4 day stopovers in Hawaii coming and going from Canada.

 

[Shih-tzu]

19 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Interesting vessel! Nevasa (she took her name from a city in India) was built as a British troopship in 1955 and was owned by the British India Steam Navigation Company. She actually came out with stabilizers. Post 1965, she became an educational ship with accommodation for 1,100 pupils and teachers plus 230 private cabins for "regular" passengers. She met her end at the breakers in Taiwan in 1975

 

 

 

 

Copper 10-8...…...Yes - that's it!!!!  (there was another that looked similar called the Uganda).   It may have had stabilizers but that November storm in the Adriatic was a stomach churner.....

[Copper10-8]

7 minutes ago, Shih-tzu said:

 

Copper 10-8...…...Yes - that's it!!!!  (there was another that looked similar called the Uganda).   It may have had stabilizers but that November storm in the Adriatic was a stomach churner.....

 

Uganda

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

On 10/12/2019 at 1:03 PM, Copper10-8 said:

November 1991 - three day cruise Los Angeles (San Pedro), Catalina Island (Avalon) and Ensenada, Mexico on RCCL's Viking Serenade, a converted car ferry. Inside cabin, not one balcony to be found on the entire ship! Green Astro turf on the upper decks. Didn't matter, we were hooked! - Friday departure; Monday morning return - $746 for two

 

We sailed on Viking Serenade's final voyage under the Royal Caribbean International flag in 2002. It was a 2-week cruise from LA, through the Panama Canal, and on the Aruba. They were dismantling some areas of the ship (such as the casino) while we were underway.

 

At dock in Cartagena, Columbia.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by GeorgeCharlie

[Copper10-8]

3 minutes ago, GeorgeCharlie said:

 

We sailed on Viking Serenade's final voyage under the Royal Caribbean International flag in 2002. It was a 2-week cruise from LA, through the Panama Canal, and on the Aruba. They were dismantling some areas of the ship (such as the casino) while we were underway.

 

At dock in Cartagena, Columbia.

 

 

 

After her RCCL/RCI career, she was Island Escape for several years until finally being scrapped at Alang, India last year as Ocean Gala, starting in April. She was not a beautiful ship but they say you never forget your first one!

 

[FlaMariner]

Carnival's Mardi Gras in 1989.....4 night from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport and Nassau.  Don't remember the price.  

 

We had a blast and have been hooked ever since....

[cate54]

My first cruise was in 1986  on the SS Galileo. It went from Boston to Bermuda. I don't know the price as it was a wedding gift from my parents. It was lovely, and got me hooked on cruising.

[Tantsee]

11 hours ago, Homosassa said:

We were on the Starward in 1978 during the onboard renovation of the ship. The ship had already been renovated to delete the car decks (it was a ferry at first) to include passenger cabins and a two story movie theater.  

 

At the time of our cruise, the ship carried about 800 passengers.  The onboard construction while we were on our cruise was to again work on those former car decks to cram in more cabins and change the movie theater to additional cabins. Your cabin was probably down in those old car decks.

Very interesting!  Thank you for sharing, as I didn’t know.  

[Eva 51]

Mine was 1998.  ROYALCARIBBEAN.    Mom took her 3 girls.  Inside tiny cabin for 4 of us.   We had a wonderful time. Great memories.     Mom talked about that cruise a lot before she died at age 95.   

[tonopah1kid]

April 1985, RCCL San Pedro 5 days inside cabin, $650 for 2, including RT Air Fare from Las Vegas.

Since then, 21 days on Princess FLL 7 days, FLL 14 days, and NOW, 500+days on HAL!

 

Point of Interest:  Isn't the Fairwinds now the Flag Ship for Sciencetology?  Home port Curasao, ABC islands.

 

[terrydtx]

My first cruise was on a very old and rusty gambling ship in Galveston Texas in  Summer of 1995. I can not remember the name but I think it was "The Pride of Texas," we have always called her the Rust Bucket. 

 

Every 30 days this gambling ship had do a cruise to a foreign port, Cozumel,  to keep her foreign registry. We did this 5 day cruise. The ship was built in the 1950s to be a trans Atlantic cruise ship from England to Montreal,  so it had terrible air conditioning and it was sweltering cruise. I think we paid about $400pp for a better class OV cabin with a porthole. A month after this cruise, this ship was repossessed by a finance company in Europe and I heard it became a interisland cruise ship in Greece.

 

As bad as this ship was we had a great time and we were hooked on cruising. A year later we did our first real cruise on the CCL Fascination out of San Juan, it was a great cruise and we paid about $1500pp for a junior suite with a balcony.

 

My DW's first cruise was on the Queen Mary from England to New York in 1965, she has no idea what it cost as she was only 16 years old.

Edited October 14, 2019 by terrydtx

[catl331]

Most people here seem to be quoting base fare prices. The numbers I gave back in my post #2 were grand totals, including all on-board spending ... and on first AK cruise and our Baltic cruise we took several pretty expensive excursions and did some splurging on board. After that we learned how to economize a bit!

[G&G]

Ninadam, 1492, $4.99, Blue Light Special 

 

Actually, Carnaval Festavale, Nov 1978, $665 pp, still have carbon copy of AMEX receipt.

[Essiesmom]

8 hours ago, tonopah1kid said:

April 1985, RCCL San Pedro 5 days inside cabin, $650 for 2, including RT Air Fare from Las Vegas.

Since then, 21 days on Princess FLL 7 days, FLL 14 days, and NOW, 500+days on HAL!

 

Point of Interest:  Isn't the Fairwinds now the Flag Ship for Sciencetology?  Home port Curasao, ABC islands.

 

Freewinds is the Scientology ship, formerly Boheme.  EM

 

https://www.freewinds.org/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freewinds

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

My first cruise was on a very old and rusty gambling ship in Galveston Texas in  Summer of 1995. I can not remember the name but I think it was "The Pride of Texas," we have always called her the Rust Bucket. 

I should have Googled this before I posted. The ship was the Star of Texas which was previously the RMS Empress of Canada 1960 to 1972.  From 1972 to 1993 she was the Carnival Mardi Gras. After being repossessed  in 1995, she was the Greek Apollon and then sold for scarp in 2003.

[Randyk47]

My first pleasure cruise was a 4-day cruise on the Carnival Fantasy in 1993.   I had been bugging my then wife to try cruising but she was afraid of getting seasick.   That “try it you’ll like it” cruise cost around $600 in one of the few veranda cabins on the Fantasy.   That led to our first, and for the ex our last, cruise on Holland America in 1995 on what was then the pretty new now departed Ryndam.  We were in a Deluxe Suite, now called a Neptune Suite, for a 10-day Caribbean cruise.  Cost was around $6,000.   

[Copper10-8]

On 10/13/2019 at 7:27 AM, travelholics said:

My first cruise was on the Shaw Saville Northern Star in 1975 from Southampton to the Canary Islands,Madeira and Tangiers as a teenager. Despite the storm winds in the Bay of Biscay, we loved it so much that we returned the following year, but the ship was sold for scrap after that cruise. We all loved the bunk beds and porthole and made many lifelong friends. First cruise on my own was in 1980 on the Uganda, another 'educational' ship, but the dormitories were available for members of the National Trust for Scotland. We traveled the coast of Norway to the North Cape stopping at many small towns. This ship took on a new life in 1982 as a hospital ship during the Falklands war and afterwards reconversion was too costly, so it was scrapped. A cruise on the Maasdam is now my wish dream!

 

[Copper10-8]

On 10/12/2019 at 10:55 AM, catl331 said:

I don't remember how much I paid for my first two cruises before I was married, Queen of Bermuda in 1965 and Carnival Festivale in 1995. Our first HAL cruise as a couple was a 7-day AK on the Amsterdam in 2002 that cost about $4000 including air.  First cruise that I have an exact number on was a 10-day Baltic cruise on the Westerdam in 2005: $4212 not counting air or post-cruise hotel night. That was our first Veranda cabin!

 

[Copper10-8]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:12 AM, msmayor said:

$799 for a week on Carnival Tropicale to the Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles - included air from NJ to LAX.

 

I was a single and booked on a 'share guarantee' through Singleworld - they guaranteed that I would not have to pay the single supplement whether they found a roommate for me or not.  Ended up sharing with a very nice older woman (I was only 23 at the time) and had a wonderful time!

 

[Copper10-8]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:25 AM, rothbury said:

It would have been 1971, NY to Nassau/Freeport.  It was a charter cruise on the TSS Olympia.  Paid about $150 for a shared room.  Just recently transferred old 8mm film to DVD and had that cruise on it.  First cruise for DW and me was our honeymoon in 1975 on the Flavia from Miami to Nassau/Freeport.  Total for airfare and cruise was around $600.  Those were the days.  Still cruising but so many changes over the years.  Used to be every night was formal; long gowns for ladies and tux for men.  Definitely easier to pack now!

 

[Copper10-8]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:44 AM, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

I can’t remember the price, but it was our honeymoon cruise in the Eastern Caribbean aboard the SS Norway in May 1990 departing from Miami. That was when cruise fares included airfare and a free night in a hotel when flying from the west coast to the east coast. We flew from Seattle.