What I miss from when I first started cruising

[vacationlover_mn]

I miss being surprised by random

cool things, like chocolate on pillow.  But I can get over that 🙂

[lenquixote66]

4 hours ago, boscobeans said:

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.

 

When we took our first cruise in 1973 there was only a MDR ,no buffets,no specialty restaurants.There was a much larger choice of foods and the quality of the food was much better.They changed menus every day even for breakfast .They allowed passengers to take menus home with them as souvenirs if they wished. We kept ours till we moved from Brooklyn to LI.I wish I still had one .No inside cabins,no balcony and no suites.

[ONECRUISER]

12 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

My first cruise was in 1973 .I miss the First Class entertainment

 

Agree, even going into 90's on Royal the Main Show was well known Entertainers. Cruises I was on had Temptations, Four Tops, even had The Monkees on one...  Wasn't that long ago even in WindJammer for Dinner was Semi-Formal, there was Menu's and Waiters. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by ONECRUISER

[lenquixote66]

4 hours ago, orville99 said:

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

 

Exactly the same as our Cunard cruise in 1973.Nobody was selling jewelry or tee shirts.No works of art to sell.The majority of the passengers were elderly .My wife and I may have been the youngest passengers on the cruise.

[lenquixote66]

4 hours ago, davekathy said:

Receiving cruise documents in the mail. 

For our very first cruise we went to a travel agency that we booked land trips with previously.All the cruise documents were given to us in the store,

While there may have been individuals who were TA’s I never heard of any.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, ONECRUISER said:

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. 

Yes,on our 1973 cruise a list of all passengers and where they were from.

I totally forgot that.

[lenquixote66]

11 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree, even going into 90's on Royal the Main Show was well known Entertainers. Cruises I was on had Temptations, Four Tops, even had The Monkees on one...  Wasn't that long ago even in WindJammer for Dinner was Semi-Formal, there was Menu's and Waiters. 

We saw Rodney Dangerfield .

[lenquixote66]

22 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree, even going into 90's on Royal the Main Show was well known Entertainers. Cruises I was on had Temptations, Four Tops, even had The Monkees on one...  Wasn't that long ago even in WindJammer for Dinner was Semi-Formal, there was Menu's and Waiters. 

My father came to the US from Liverpool in 1913.If you saw the dinner menu you would think you were looking at a 2019 menu .I recall him saying that the food was very good.

[orville99]

51 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Exactly the same as our Cunard cruise in 1973.Nobody was selling jewelry or tee shirts. No works of art to sell. The majority of the passengers were elderly .My wife and I may have been the youngest passengers on the cruise.

Also a very minimal number of on board shops. I bought a Seiko analog/digital watch on our first cruise, and it still keeps perfect time. 

[DaniDanielle]

16 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

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

I always ordered that 

[Hogbay]

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

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

 

Radiance was still doing BBQ. 

I miss the bon voyarge party were friends and family could come on-board for awhile then went shore side and everyone throwing streamers and confetti. 

The Chinese on deck lunch buffet with the dancing Dragon , drums and then lighting the fireworks.

Not a single person would wear yard work clothes to the MDR.🙂

[Nado44]

2 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree, even going into 90's on Royal the Main Show was well known Entertainers. Cruises I was on had Temptations, Four Tops, even had The Monkees on one...  Wasn't that long ago even in WindJammer for Dinner was Semi-Formal, there was Menu's and Waiters. 

 

We had Patti LaBelle, Chita Rivera, Charo, Patti Lupone and Nikki Blonsky on RCL Navigator of the Seas out of Barcelona. July 2008. Memorable!

[Giantfan13]

We started cruising in 1999 and our first cruise was an NCL ship out of my hometown, NYC. When we boarded the ship, we were greeted by violins, a glass of champagne and a crew member showed us to our room. We thought, WOW, if this is cruising, we're in. We did out next cruise in 2000 again on NCL and that all was gone and has never come back.

On that same first cruise, we boarded, went to eat in the MDR. After lunch we went to explore the ship. Right after she left, around 4PM, they brought out these huge grills and started grilling salmon, chicken and ribs, which, of course we indulged and after we finished that, gosh, it was time to get ready for dinner. Since NCL started that anytime dining, we waited till about 7 and enjoyed another delicious meal.

Again, we were sold on cruising. So much has changed and much of it because of 9/11. There were no pictures on ship cards and security was pretty lax. Everything changed after 9/11 and it sure seems as if we have been nickeled and dimed to death since then. 

 

Cheers

Len

[Baron Barracuda]

There used to be an elegance and civility to cruising that made it  something more than the average vacation.  Dressing for dinner, fine dining with sterling silverware, white gloved waiters.  Over time as costs rose cruise lines faced a choice between raising prices to maintain quality or moving down market.  They raised prices and cut service so now we have lower food quality and shorts and backward baseball caps on formal night.

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

Also a very minimal number of on board shops. I bought a Seiko analog/digital watch on our first cruise, and it still keeps perfect time. 

Zero on board shops on our first cruise.

[mets07]

2 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

Everything changed after 9/11

  

When an only child, 6th grader at your sons' school, loses his father ..... killed for doing nothing but working at the World Trade Center..... 😢

 

Sorry to take us away from our beloved cruising, but still so very painful.

[goldfish65]

Ordering liquor at the bar when I was 13 (1973) no questions asked. Felt so grown up.

[ONECRUISER]

8 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Radiance was still doing BBQ. 

I miss the bon voyarge party were friends and family could come on-board for awhile then went shore side and everyone throwing streamers and confetti. 

The Chinese on deck lunch buffet with the dancing Dragon , drums and then lighting the fireworks.

Not a single person would wear yard work clothes to the MDR.🙂

Kool, I remember decades ago every Sea Day and Day at Labadee was a Charcoal Barbecue. Back then had wear Clothing in WJ, no swimsuits allowed. With cooking out on the Pool Deck everyone there could eat at the Chairs. For every 2 Deck/Lounge Chars there was a table for Food/Drinks. The Table's are sorely missed...

[Junkhouse]

Being younger. First cruise was over 30 years ago and I told my DW back then I really liked the cruise but I can wait until we turn old to cruise again because it catered to very old cruisers.  There were not enough activities for active “youngsters”. Only a few high end cabins had balconies. The food is not as good (we also get accustomed to the wow food), but back then food was the main activity so it had to be off the charts.

[Eddyseaturtle]

How about the horse races on the last day!!!  Soo much fun!

[John&LaLa]

On 4/17/2021 at 1:37 AM, JamesEM said:

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. 

 

The ships/cabins are a lot nicer than our 1989 cruise on Carnivale.😉

[cruise wizard]

Our first cruise was in 1996 on the Nordic Empress - 4 night Nassau & Freeport. We had a fantastic table on the second tier that directly looked at the 2 story aft wall of windows. Our waiter would bring giant trays with an array of the dinner choices and he would tell us about each item. One tray each before ordering the starters - entrees - desserts and the presentations were great. Miss that!!!

 

Our next cruise was in 1998 on the Radiance for a 7 night Alaska itinerary. I went salmon fishing and caught a nice silver and had it cleaned dockside and was able to bring it on board to be prepared for our table of 6. The chefs prepared a full platter for us with all of the trimmings around the filets - it was fantastic. We couldn't eat it all and was supposed to be shared with the chef. Now you can't bring anything back - you have to FedEx your catch back home.

[cruise wizard]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

The ships/cabins are a lot nicer than our 1989 cruise on Carnivale.😉

 

We had a JS on the Nordic Empress...................pretty small cabin and balcony as compared to todays newer ships.

[LadyBerard]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I miss the smaller ships.

[LadyBerard]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I miss the smaller ships, l like the NCL Majesty.  I also miss the  horse racing on Royal Caribbean.