Cruising Moments That Take Your Breath Away: What Floats YOUR Boat?

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

11 minutes ago, DENIE said:

C-Dragons...we will experience this in about 3 weeks.  Thanks for your comments...wondering what Venice would look like on an evening sail away!  Can't wait to see it.

 

We had some nice sailaways on our Caribbean cruises.  Especially enjoyed an afternoon departure from Bonaire - beautiful late afternoon sunlight, and the ships wake. 

 

On our Mediterranean cruise in 3 weeks, we have a 3:30 p.m. sailaway from Kotor, Montenegro.  Hope to have some beautiful pictures of the fjord as we leave!

 

The sail in and out of Kotor is spectacular!

[cachouonacruise]

Thank you very much Op, this thread is both inspiring and comforting.

 

I am very impressed by all the other « wow » moments mentioned so far by fellow passengers and these keep me cruising.

 

For us, our « awe » inspiring moment include: 

 

On Sovereign of the Seas in 1992, the midnight buffets.

 

On Enchantment of the Seas: Helmut Dive in St-Thomas U.S Virgin Islands. I was so impressed, that having forgotten to bring my credit card, after returning to the ship, I returned to the site to buy the video of our experience.

 

On HAL’s Rotterdam, besides the ship’s unique museum decor, while docked in Flam, we were able to visit Undredal and taste unique homemade brown goat cheese.

 

On Maasdam, in Sydney, N.S., sailing on the Bras d’Or Lake as well as our excursion to Peggy’s cove while docked in Halifax.

 

On Solstice: Our visit to the Haleakala Volcano. It was my first experience on foot above the clouds and the volcanic scenery really offered a Martian experience. In addition, the 360 degree turn the ship made in front of th Kileaua Volcano eruption at night, where lava met the ocean. Fabulous! Unique! Impressive and memorable!

 

On Infiniti, the humpback whales welcome at Icy Straight Point as well as the view of the Spirit Bear and the pacific Coastal Bear.

 

On Constellation, our excursions in Rhodes and Katacolon, including greek dances and mezze.

 

In short, cruising allowed us to discover worlds unknown to us and we enjoyed every moments. From a simple sunrise or sunset on the ocean, to the viewing of wildlife and meeting people from foreign lands. 

 

We’re hooked on cruising! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DENIE]

31 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

The sail in and out of Kotor is spectacular!

I have heard that, and I cannot wait to see it!  🙂

[vtcruising]

10 minutes ago, cachouonacruise said:

Thank you very much Op, this thread is both inspiring and comforting.

 

I am very impressed by all the other « wow » moments mentioned so far by fellow passengers and these keep me cruising.

 

For us, our « awe » inspiring moment include: 

 

On Sovereign of the Seas in 1992, the midnight buffets.

 

On Enchantment of the Seas: Helmut Dive in St-Thomas U.S Virgin Islands. I was so impressed, that having forgotten to bring my credit card, after returning to the ship, I returned to the site to buy the video of our experience.

 

On HAL’s Rotterdam, besides the ship’s unique museum decor, while docked in Flam, we were able to visit Undredal and taste unique homemade brown goat cheese.

 

On Maasdam, in Sydney, N.S., sailing on the Bras d’Or Lake as well as our excursion to Peggy’s cove while docked in Halifax.

 

On Solstice: Our visit to the Haleakala Volcano. It was my first experience on foot above the clouds and the volcanic scenery really offered a Martian experience. In addition, the 360 degree turn the ship made in front of th Kileaua Volcano eruption at night, where lava met the ocean. Fabulous! Unique! Impressive and memorable!

 

On Infiniti, the humpback whales welcome at Icy Straight Point as well as the view of the Spirit Bear and the pacific Coastal Bear.

 

On Constellation, our excursions in Rhodes and Katacolon, including greek dances and mezze.

 

In short, cruising allowed us to discover worlds unknown to us and we enjoyed every moments. From a simple sunrise or sunset on the ocean, to the viewing of wildlife and meeting people from foreign lands. 

 

We’re hooked on cruising! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a wide variety of amazing experiences!  My bucket list is growing....

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, musik07 said:

Cruising with my grandmothers over Thanksgiving when we were in high school. One of my grandmothers has since passed away and one is 90 and not doing so well. The memories of that trip are some of my fondest (even when we couldn't find one grandmother on CoCo Cay for 45 minutes). I wish I had digital pictures, I am going to have to dig them up at my parents on one of my next visits.  It was just awesome family time that I didn't quite appreciate enough as a teenager.

 

My first cruise as an adult with my best friend (on Carnival we were broke!). We went mid-May and went through the first two named storms of the season. I remember laying in our cabin one night and her going "Why are you slamming the drawers" and I thought it had been her, but it was the ship rocking. We played more cards and drank our fare share on that trip! Also got to swim with dolphins in Nassau which was a first and super cool.

 

Alaska on the Millennium this summer. It was just my mom and I and we made so many memories, like seeing bears in the wild eating salmon out of a stream, beautiful sunsets from Cosmos lounge most nights with a drink in hand, and seeing the northern lights (just a minor show). The most unexpected was when we went to the dining room on our last day after Hubbard Glacier and just as we were finishing the waiter came and told us to come to the window and there was a group of Orca out the window. One breached about 50 yards from the ship. I didn't get a great picture but it was magnificent! 

Sometimes it isn't where you cruise, but with whom you cruise. It sounds like you have made some wonderful memories over the years.🙂

[C-Dragons]

55 minutes ago, DENIE said:

C-Dragons...we will experience this in about 3 weeks.  Thanks for your comments...wondering what Venice would look like on an evening sail away!  Can't wait to see it.

 

We had some nice sailaways on our Caribbean cruises.  Especially enjoyed an afternoon departure from Bonaire - beautiful late afternoon sunlight, and the ships wake. 

 

On our Mediterranean cruise in 3 weeks, we have a 3:30 p.m. sailaway from Kotor, Montenegro.  Hope to have some beautiful pictures of the fjord as we leave!

I hope that your experience in Venice will be as memorable as ours. 😊

Kotor is another location with wonderful vistas. I took a picture on arrival that was so pretty it became my screen saver for many years. 

[SeahawkSiren]

Too many to post, but these are some of my most memorable:

 

Sailing out of Venice, Italy in 2007.

 

 

Amazing weather in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska in 2014.

 

 

 

An 11 day Mexican Riviera cruise in 2016 was cancelled and turned into a 14 day Panama Canal cruise from Miami to San Diego.  I had upgraded from a side balcony to an aft balcony prior to the cancellation to surprise DH.  He didn't want to go on the PC cruise as he was worried about taking more time off work.  I had to spill the beans about the aft balcony and told him we were not cancelling having an aft balcony (and getting price protection and 3 extra nights) going through the PC (a bucket list cruise which fell into our laps).  Needless to say, it's one of our favorite cruises to date.

 

 

 

Sailing into Valletta, Malta on a 2017 Mediterranean cruise.

 

 

The Acropolis/Parthenon in Athens, Greece on that same cruise.

 

 

Santorini, Greece on that same cruise.

 

 

Pompeii on that same cruise, followed by an amazing sunset as we were leaving Naples, Italy.

 

 

 

Spent 2 days in Rome, Italy after that same cruise.  Toured the Colosseum one day.

 

 

Toured The Vatican on our last day before heading home.

 

 

Cruising is awesome, to say the least!

 

[dani negreanu]

"Show me your bag", on THE Galapagos cruise --

 

[aml3679]

Sitting on our private balcony watching the waves go by together.

[dani negreanu]

On 10/17/2019 at 5:12 AM, vtcruising said:

 

 

 

I'm also a great fan of Lee Child, red all his books😁

[vtcruising]

 

 

31 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

I'm also a great fan of Lee Child, red all his books😁

LOL! Maybe the bird is also a fan!

Edited October 19, 2019 by vtcruising

[shipgeeks]

We've seen some spectacular sunsets, departures from ports, storms, wildlife; I don't do photos, so they are lodged in my mind's eye.  My journal helps sharpen them from time to time.

However, the moment I most cherish will happen unexpectedly, on most cruises, as I walk on an upper deck, see the vastness of the sea and sky, and feel pure Bliss.  

[vtcruising]

9 hours ago, SeahawkSiren said:

Cruising is awesome, to say the least!

Your gorgeous pictures reminded me of our travel in the Med. Great memories!

 

Sometimes it is the unexpected that gives you the breathtaking moments. We had visited the Colosseum on a previous trip to Rome - a few years later we were on our way to the port from our Rome hotel and I happened to glance out the window of the taxi. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so close that I could almost touch it. 😉

 

 

In Athens, when heading back from the Acropolis, I happened to look out the car window and saw the wonderful "The Runner" glass sculpture. I had never even heard of it and the tour guide didn't point it out. I couldn't believe that I saw such an amazing piece of art from the highway - totally unexpected and breathtaking!

 

[vtcruising]

51 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

We've seen some spectacular sunsets, departures from ports, storms, wildlife; I don't do photos, so they are lodged in my mind's eye.  My journal helps sharpen them from time to time.

However, the moment I most cherish will happen unexpectedly, on most cruises, as I walk on an upper deck, see the vastness of the sea and sky, and feel pure Bliss.  

Very poetic! You captured that feeling well.

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, aml3679 said:

Sitting on our private balcony watching the waves go by together.

I know - people who haven't cruise don't seem to understand how we can look at the ocean for hours. We have brought several friends and family members on their first cruises - they almost invariably have an epiphany some time on the cruise and say "now I get it."

[TeeRick]

Sydney at night and petting a koala bear!

 

 

[helen haywood]

3 hours ago, vtcruising said:

 

 

LOL! Maybe the bird is also a fan!

Good thing it wasn’t To Kill A Mockingbird.

[Loracpin2]

Don't remember the year but it was on the Silhouette sailing out of Messina, Italy at dark as we watched Mt. Etna erupt as we stood on our port side balcony . You could hear the excitement from all the adjacent cabins because we were all in absolute awe!!! Needless to say those who were in the starboard balconies were very disappointed.

[NMTraveller]

12 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Sydney at night and petting a koala bear!

 

 

Ok.  How did you get to pet a Koala?

 

Been to Sydney a couple of times.  Cruise. Port is right next to the Opera House,  Taking pictures from the lawn club grass while cruising into port in the morning is magical.  Visiting southern NZ is beyond scenic.

 

How did you get a night pic?

[TPCRUISER2]

My greatest memories involve people that I have cruised with or met on cruises! God willing will have many more!

Great Thread!

Edited October 20, 2019 by TPCRUISER2
add

[willma]

What a lovely idea for a thread. I have enjoyed everyone’s experiences.

there have been many standout moments for me through cruising, but I fondly remember being dragged out of bed by my DH at 4.a.m on our cruise from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires on Infinity. We were passing through Glacier Alley. It was freezing cold, and no one was about, but as the sun came up and hit the tops of the mountains, lighting them in gold, it was unforgettable.

the joy of cruising is that it takes you to places you have only ever dreamt of going to. 

Cruising Ha Long Bay in Vietnam was also memorable. 

So many wonderful sights in the world. 

[willma]

Ooooh my first ever Caribbean beach. Deserted. Everything I dreamt it would be!

Morne Rouge, Grenada.

[vtcruising]

4 hours ago, willma said:

So many wonderful sights in the world.

Great shots!

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Ok.  How did you get to pet a Koala?

 

Been to Sydney a couple of times.  Cruise. Port is right next to the Opera House,  Taking pictures from the lawn club grass while cruising into port in the morning is magical.  Visiting southern NZ is beyond scenic.

 

How did you get a night pic?

We went to Cleland Wildlife Park near Adelaide and they had a meet & greet with the Koalas where we could pet one and take a picture.  We had to pay of course ($25??) but it was sure worth it to my dw as it was one of the reasons she wanted to go to Australia.   The other was hand feeding a kangaroo which she also accomplished.

 

The Opera House picture was very early morning when the ship (Solstice) arrived in Sydney on departure day after a 16 night cruise.  Started in Perth, went across southern Aus to NZ (yes scenic and magical!) and then back to Sydney.  We stayed in Sydney 4 more nights.