What I miss from when I first started cruising

[mojomanny]

I've been cruising for a little while.  Here are a few things I miss:

 

"exotic" fruits - we used to get mango, starfruit and other fruits.  Now the most exotic I see are kiwi.

"Midnight" Buffet ... it was fun and I enjoyed it .. but it was also like the running of the bulls.  They spend hours on it and in 20 minutes people went throug in a whirlwind and were gone.  There also weren't so many food options back then, now there are so many options they don't need the midnight buffet.

What do you miss?

[ReneeFLL]

I miss it when they weren’t constantly trying to sell you something on the ships.

[Missusdubbya]

1 hour ago, mojomanny said:

I've been cruising for a little while.  Here are a few things I miss:

 

"exotic" fruits - we used to get mango, starfruit and other fruits.  Now the most exotic I see are kiwi.
 

Exotic fruits are still found on cruises out of Asia 😁.

 

I do miss some of the extra service in the dining room, like the assistant waiter separating butterfly shrimp from their shells (made me feel so so spoilt 😁😁).

 

However lots of improvements since then like an improved buffet (yay stir fries!) so I am ok 😁.

[dswallow]

Midnight Buffets were fun, especially the more-than-usual-decorative displays accompanied by huge sculptures in butter, chocolate and ice; and all the various vegetable and fruit cuttings.

 

I don't get why they can't at least do one per sailing as a themed party night of sorts. This conversation comes up a lot when I'm sailing, especially among the more seasoned crowd who's sailed for quite a long time, and often does the longer sailings themselves.

 

I also miss varieties of chilled soups. Royal Caribbean seems to think creamed fruit is all that's required in this category. Oh, and menus that change more often than every 5 or 8 years. Some of us do go on a cruise ship slightly more often than that. 🙂

[RFerrington]

6 minutes ago, dswallow said:

huge sculptures in butter, chocolate and ice; and all the various vegetable and fruit cuttings.

I realize that there was probably a lot of waste with the beautiful fruit and ice sculptures, but I miss those, too.  It was always so festive to see all of those beautiful sculptures.

[Missusdubbya]

The old room service menu had hot spinach and cheese dip - I miss that too.

[dswallow]

1 hour ago, RFerrington said:

I realize that there was probably a lot of waste with the beautiful fruit and ice sculptures, but I miss those, too.  It was always so festive to see all of those beautiful sculptures.

 

Usually the ice sculptures were also created somewhere on the ship where they let you watch and learn as they were made.

[JamesEM]

Started cruising in 1987, on Carnival, I miss the fact everything was new, the food was better and the waiters were not rushed, also you got to know the room guy. 

[AF-1]

I spoke with the Head Chef on Freedom of the Seas about the midnight buffet.  He said it was a cost issue.  He said the amount of manhours, food provided, ice carvings, etc did not equal a benefit for the amount of people who showed up.  If Freedom of the Seas was at max passengers,  he said they may get 200-300 people out of the 4,000

[Eddie Wilson]

Skeet shooting

 

Higher quality in the MDR, as there were no specialties.

 

Ship Shape swag....(not really)

 

Eddie

[torpeedo]

I miss the Baked Alaska parade with sparklers  and waiters marching around the dining room on formal night.  That was such an extravaganza.  I miss table side preparations of Bananas Foster or Crepes by the head waiter for desert.  I miss lemonade or iced tea served to you at your lounge chair on the pool deck..  So many things that so many young people have no idea about.  

[Big_G]

11 hours ago, dswallow said:

Midnight Buffets were fun, especially the more-than-usual-decorative displays accompanied by huge sculptures in butter, chocolate and ice; and all the various vegetable and fruit cuttings.

 

I don't get why they can't at least do one per sailing as a themed party night of sorts. This conversation comes up a lot when I'm sailing, especially among the more seasoned crowd who's sailed for quite a long time, and often does the longer sailings themselves.

 

 

Royal did scale it back to one per cruise for a while. I think they called it the Grand Buffet. We went to one or two and it was too much like a cattle call and stopped going.

[pstone1]

We miss the waiters coming around with the after dinner “Shot of the Night”!  Usually, our entire table would order a shot every night and we all had so much fun with it!  I also miss better quality food in the MDR, bigger, roomier tables that were not squished together, and a more relaxed dining experience for the guests AND waitstaff.   We rarely go to the MDR anymore as we now find it rushed and chaotic. 

[CaroleC]

Definitely the little touches like chocolates on your pillow. I always ended up with two as DH used to give me his (‘cos he loves me! 😁)

[time4u2go]

Higher quality food.

[mek]

IMO it's certainly a trade off - yes the food quality used to be better in the MDR, but I also enjoy all of the options that weren't around back when I started cruising with my husband in 1982.  I love the mega ships and all of the entertainment options onboard.

Honesty, I like cruising better today than I did back then - I wouldn't go back - I can do w/o a piece of chocolate on my pillow or a bowl of fruit that I never ate, so I can say I really don't miss anything.

[boscobeans]

We started on Celebrity  just over 21 years ago and there wasn't any need for specialty restaurants.

The MDR menus and meals were much better.

From inside to suites the only real difference was the stateroom.

 

[orville99]

We started cruising in 1981, so the list of things that we miss would fill a book, but here are our top ten:

 

1) Passenger Manifest (there were only 600 or so of us on board, and there was a "scavenger hunt" of sorts where you tried to find the "mystery couple" to win a bottle of champagne.

2) Dining - really attractive menus (we still have them), and high quality food - for every meal (from breakfast to the midnight buffets every night). Especially liked when the head waiter prepared pasta dishes to order tableside

3) Flaming Baked Alaska parade and Cherries Jubilee flambeed at the table

4) Afternoon high tea

5) Real barbeque on charcoal grills on the pool deck

6) Shooting skeet of the fantail

7) Long drive contests (also off the fantail)

8 ) No mixed drink was more than $2, and beer was $1 a bottle

9) Visiting little ports and spending full days exploring

10) Everyone dressed to the nines every night

 

[davekathy]

Receiving cruise documents in the mail. 

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Midnight buffets, adhesive luggage tags, pillow chocolates & towel animals, dishes prepared tableside, but most of all ... complimentary room service. 😔

[RFerrington]

2 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We miss the waiters coming around with the after dinner “Shot of the Night”!  Usually, our entire table would order a shot every night and we all had so much fun with it!  I also miss better quality food in the MDR, bigger, roomier tables that were not squished together, and a more relaxed dining experience for the guests AND waitstaff.   We rarely go to the MDR anymore as we now find it rushed and chaotic. 

I had forgotten about that !  Come to think of it, they have all but eliminated the bar waiter in the MDR altogether.  Now, the regular wait staff pretty much gets all of your drinks, which further congests their process.

[RFerrington]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

Receiving cruise documents in the mail. 

AND LUGGAGE TAGS !  I still miss those !

[ONECRUISER]

Skeet Shooting and hitting Golf Balls off side of the Ship. Did this on Sovereign in 1980's and Majesty in the 90's. Free Soda Pop with Meals! Tea Time. Once tried eat all 14 Meals served during the day. The then new Labadee, Rustic, nobody selling anything, no Amusement Park. One Room Attendant to 8 Cabins, would Clean it dozen times a day, clean sheets every day. In Cabin Stationary, list all shipmates names and where they are from. 

[pstone1]

3 hours ago, davekathy said:

Receiving cruise documents in the mail. 

 

1 hour ago, RFerrington said:

AND LUGGAGE TAGS !  I still miss those !

Definitely miss our Docs with luggage tags arriving in the mail!  That day always made our upcoming cruise seem right around the corner, and heightened our anticipation!  Sigh!

[lenquixote66]

18 hours ago, mojomanny said:

I've been cruising for a little while.  Here are a few things I miss:

 

"exotic" fruits - we used to get mango, starfruit and other fruits.  Now the most exotic I see are kiwi.

"Midnight" Buffet ... it was fun and I enjoyed it .. but it was also like the running of the bulls.  They spend hours on it and in 20 minutes people went throug in a whirlwind and were gone.  There also weren't so many food options back then, now there are so many options they don't need the midnight 

What do you miss?

My first cruise was in 1973 .I miss the First Class entertainment .Everyone was polite on the ship,no shoving,no arguments.Everyone had porthole cabins.There were no balcony or inside cabins. No chair hogs surrounding the pool.There were Bon Voyage parties on the ship where your family and or friends could spend up to an hour.Food was great and there were so many food options in the one dining room.

This was a Cunard ship.