Picture from the first ship you ever sailed on

[Crown Vic]

Sailed in May 1963 from Southampton to New York on the ss United States on my way to University in Boston. The crossing took four and a half days sailing at 30 plus knots irrespective of the weather. Great experience. CV...

Edited August 26, 2020 by Crown Vic

[tdk1938]

Celebrity Century. January 2009.

[Luckynana]

21 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

We sailed on the Norway too. Yes, the cabins were really small!

It reminded us of this:
 

 

 

 

 

C-Dragons, this is hysterical!!    One of the couples with us were large people, and the configuration of their cabin was horrendous..their bathroom door was blocked if their cabin door was opened...great cruise, though.  What a beautiful ship she was!!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

20 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Happy Cruises I would love to hear you great stories about " your" ships- or the time your dad spent in service. Metting  Point: Martini Bar- no better Al Bacio - Martini Bar is to loud sometimes. Ship- well- we have to figure that out. When? Only time will tell. LOL!

 

You're on.  We just need Celebrity to start cruising again.  We were in Augsburg, Germany.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

9 hours ago, Texed said:

 

Nice that you could see so many different places at a young age.  😊

 

It was.  Think that was what contributed to my wanderlust.  

[Luckynana]

Question:  have any of you ever sailed on the SS Brazil, or SS Argentina?  My first job in NYC, I worked for Moore-McCormack Lines on 2 Broadway.  Those were our 2 cruise ships.  At that time, as an employee, you could cruise for practically nothing.  Unfortunately, none of us young workers took advantage of that opportunity since it seemed only the older (30 somethings) women we worked with sailed back in the 60's.

 

We had huge windows facing New York Harbor, and were fortunate to see so many beautiful ships sail by.

[wb3hyde]

Our first cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Song of America to the Mexican Riviera in 1993.  We had such an amazing time.  That was 74 cruises and definitely started my addiction.

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

First two ships:  USAT Henry Gibbons which took us from New York to Cuba and Puerto Rico.  MSTS Buckner which took us from New York to Bremerhaven.  Can't remember at the moment the name of the ship we took in the Med.

 

[MISTER 67]

1 hour ago, tdk1938 said:

Celebrity Century. January 2009.

Beautiful ship, sailed on her in 1996.

[Germancruiser]

@Happy Cruiser- wouw that is very very close to home- Augsburg I mean. Less than an hours drive to Ulm.

[Germancruiser]

They did a great job - adding those balcony´s on the Century. Some ships are refitet " to death"!

Edited August 27, 2020 by Germancruiser

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

You're on.  We just need Celebrity to start cruising again.  We were in Augsburg, Germany.

Lucky you, nice location! We were in Kaiserslautern.

[Brad1185]

APL SS President Wilson to Japan late 1950s

[norn iron]

My first cruise was June 1972. SS Canberra ex Southampton calling at Palma, Naples, Istanbul and Alicante.

 

 

[PENNST66]

 

First Cruise was on this fine ship. 1972

 Since then first cruise was 1985 aboard Dolphin  IV

 

[AC Stew]

"Helby" commented on the Fairsky:

 

There was a second "Fairsky" build, I believe in 1984? And yes indeed, she became the Sky Princess. Sitmar employees were then absorbed by P&O Princess Cruise Lines.

 

My original old Fairsky was built in 1941 as a C3 Class cargo ship. I've since learned that before being transformed into a passenger cruise ship (first) in 1957, she experienced quite a life! As a convoy escort aircraft carrier, then loaned to the British navy, and a "notable wartime career"  in the North Atlantic, France, and the South Pacific. She also had the contract to shuttle British migrants to Australia. That was from 1958 to 1970. In 1974, the SS Fairsky received a facelift and began operating out of Sydney as a full time cruise ship. That's when I was on her ... I was young and utterly oblivious to her rich history!

 

My old bucket ultimately, suffered an unfortunate demise. In 1977, she struck a sunken shipwreck when departing Djakarta. Repairs allowed her to limp back to Singapore. She was sold and renamed "Philippine Tourist," operating as a floating hotel and casino in Manila. Then there was a really bad fire. The gutted SS Fairsky (1) was sold for scrap. Bye-Bye Fairsky!

 

Hope I haven't bored you, but I know that there are a lot of ex navy guys and girls on these boards that might find this a bit interesting. Apologies to the rest!

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by AC Stew
added a word

[Orator]

You bring back many happy memories. I believe that Sitmar had three ships: Fairsea, Fairsky and Farwind. Also had e best pizza at sea.

[AC Stew]

Italian chefs, Italian waiters, Italian officers ... you bet the pizza was good!

[fsdorado]

On 8/26/2020 at 12:41 PM, helby said:

 

I think Fairsky became Sky Princess.  My first cruise was on Sky Princess from Miami in 1989.  

 

It did become the Sky Princess.  It was a very nice ship at the time, not that I had anything to compare it to.  There were over 100 of us in a group from our church that sailed on her.  We took over a corner of the main dining room.  Good times!!

[fsdorado]

2 hours ago, AC Stew said:

Italian chefs, Italian waiters, Italian officers ... you bet the pizza was good!

 

My older sister "became friends" with one of the Italian officers and he "showed her" his cabin...  I remember the food being truly excellent and the service superb.

[BigRedFan]

On 8/25/2020 at 3:31 PM, ecslady said:

First cruise was on the original Pacific Princess, aka The Love Boat, round trip from NY to all 3 ports in Bermuda.

 

Her sister ship the Sun Princess was eventually sold to Premier Cruises and rechristened as one of the Big Red Boats.  We sailed on 3 of the when our children were small.  They were great vacations.

[osborne66]

My very first sailing took place on the UK Mail Ship - The Windsor Castle from Southampton to Cape Town in Feb 1965. My first sailing on a Celebrity ship was the Zenith in 1992 

 

Scouser 

[Germancruiser]

What beauty this Windsor Castle was- i have book with some pictures of her interiour rooms. Wonderful.

[AC Stew]

21 hours ago, fsdorado said:

My older sister "became friends" with one of the Italian officers and he "showed her" his cabin...  I remember the food being truly excellent and the service superb.

 

Uh ... yeah. The Fairsky's handsome, nattily uniformed ship's officers always seemed to acquire lots of youngish, pretty, female "friends." Seems that their marriage certificates only applied when they were on their home Italian turf!

[Steve H]

On 8/25/2020 at 12:32 PM, Mike981 said:

Great thread, thank you for starting this @German Cruiser.

 

2000 on the Celebrity Mercury, it was our honeymoon ten years late.

 

 

Our first cruise was also on the Mercury to Alaska with the family in 2003 . We had a great time,  we met our waiter Joseph years later as the Maitre’d on the Reflection.