Was cruising better in the 90’s

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Kite flying was no worse an idea than skeet shooting, IMHO.  Don't forget that Benjamin Franklin once flew a kite, intentionally, into a thunderstorm.  He survived. 🙂

 

 

So long as the guys with the shotguns didn't mistake the kite for a clay target!  😀

[ldubs]

For mass market lines, I think it is also fair to say in general that the cost of taking a cruise is less than it was 20+ years ago.   After a few Mexican Riviera cruises, our very first "big cruise" was Grand Princess in the Med.   It cost over double what we would need to pay for a similar ship/itinerary  today.   Considering that, I think the cruise lines have done a fairly decent job of keeping passengers happy.  

 

Kind of funny.  Back so many years ago I thought the Grand, at 2600 passengers, was a behemoth of the seas. Twice the physical size of what we were used to.   I was astonished it had four swimming pools!   And it was almost 190' high with less than 30' of draft (thank God for ballast).   

[dolittle]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Actually, it was an option on the largest Ocean Liners and a daily activity on sea days...weather permitting.  In those days nobody was very concerned about the targets or some shot going into the sea as ships used to dump a lot more then these days when there are all kinds of environmental rules (not always followed).   I imagine that for those who had never been skeet shooting it was a lot of fun and a challenge (it is not that easy to hit those targets...especially when you are using a strange gun).

 

Now if you want a real laugh imagine a group of gown-ups playing "animal toss" where they toss stuffed animals at a target.  That was a popular activity on one of our longer HAL cruises!

 

Hank

Were you around for hobby horse races.

 

[Hlitner]

8 minutes ago, dolittle said:

Were you around for hobby horse races.

 

I do not remember anything called "hobby horse" but there were certainly "horse races."  These were on deck (on a nice day) with dice determining which horses got to move.  Passengers could bet on the horses and it was kind of a lame pari-mutual system.  But I recall those horse races on nearly all the mass market lines back in the 70s and 80s.  On some lines, early in the cruise, there would be an auction for passengers to buy horses.  Sometimes passengers would form small groups to bid.  It was common for the horse owners to decorate their horses (some were very funny) and it was all good fun.  

 

Hank

[dolittle]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I do not remember anything called "hobby horse" but there were certainly "horse races."  These were on deck (on a nice day) with dice determining which horses got to move.  Passengers could bet on the horses and it was kind of a lame pari-mutual system.  But I recall those horse races on nearly all the mass market lines back in the 70s and 80s.  On some lines, early in the cruise, there would be an auction for passengers to buy horses.  Sometimes passengers would form small groups to bid.  It was common for the horse owners to decorate their horses (some were very funny) and it was all good fun.  

 

Hank

Saw it in a few old movies. Thanks

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, dolittle said:

Saw it in a few old movies. Thanks

Geez!  Now you are making me feel "old as dirt!"   The truth is that we saw those horse races on Princess, RCI, and Celebrity.  They might have had them on some other lines we cruised, but being old as dirt I do not remember.  I imagine that a few cruise lines still do those horse races.  While not a big activity fan, I always thought the horse races were a lot of fun.  Since DW and I spend most nice days outside in deck chairs we always enjoyed the fun around those races.   Some of the cruise directors were very good at "calling the races" and just about everyone seemed to enjoy the event.  The betting was small stuff ($2 ) but I can still remember buying some betting tickets.   If anyone reading this has cruised. recently on RCI or Carnival I hope they will let us know of those lines still continue that tradition.

 

Over the years things have certainly changed.  I recall one HAL cruise where the CD really did his best to get folks into various pool games (like passengers vs crew volleyball).  They would try to sign up passenger volunteers and get no takers!  These days, most CDs on HAL do a decent job with Trivia but not much else.  Even on Princess, the main pool deck is dominated by Movies Under the Stars (and now Sun) with perhaps an hour a day of some kind of pool activity such as a volleyball game.

 

We spend most of cruise time on longer more exotic cruises that tend to attract an older crowd who is not into games (other than Trivia....which can become vicious).  But sometimes we do a shorter cruise and it is fun to watch all the antics.  We have an upcoming MSC cruise (back to back 7 day cruises) where we might see some of this stuff.  But we are in their Yacht Club where you are insulated from all the deck antics unless a person decides to escape the Yacht Club and go out with the "masses."

 

Hank

[dolittle]

Thanks

[George C]

30 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I do not remember anything called "hobby horse" but there were certainly "horse races."  These were on deck (on a nice day) with dice determining which horses got to move.  Passengers could bet on the horses and it was kind of a lame pari-mutual system.  But I recall those horse races on nearly all the mass market lines back in the 70s and 80s.  On some lines, early in the cruise, there would be an auction for passengers to buy horses.  Sometimes passengers would form small groups to bid.  It was common for the horse owners to decorate their horses (some were very funny) and it was all good fun.  

 

Hank

I always thought the horse races were fun, surprised they stopped .agree all the lines had them.

[cruisemom42]

46 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

The truth is that we saw those horse races on Princess, RCI, and Celebrity.  They might have had them on some other lines we cruised, but being old as dirt I do not remember.

 

I remember them vividly on Sitmar cruise line. The horse racing was held most days but the "mane" event was the owners' derby. They auctioned off the horses a few days before and as you say, owners got to name their horse and decorate him with their colors. 🐴

 

On one cruise when I was a young teen, the family of another teen who hung out with me bought one of the horses, and the horse won the event. It was great fun, and the first time that I ever had a glass of champagne. 🥂

[Hlitner]

So here is a piece of 90s cruise ship trivia not well known.  When Princess brought out their wonderful Grand Princess ship in 1998, she was a real wonder.  The ship actually had a full sized pool table that was built on gimbals so that the table top would stay absolutely level even if the ship moved.  But that ship had one very interesting design flaw.  In that same room with the pool table was full size working fireplace!  But the authorities (I am not so sure which authority) quickly told Princess that they could never, ever, use that fireplace since it was a major safety issue and a violation of the SOLAS rules about open flames.  How a Marine Architect would come up with such an idea is a mystery but it did happen.  Princess quickly modified that room and covered up the fireplace.

 

Hank

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, dolittle said:

Were you around for hobby horse races.

 

 

OMG! I had completely forgot about those!!  They used to have something similar at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  Might still have it, IDK.  

[Ilovesailaway]

yes

[navybankerteacher]

This is a genuine slippery slope.  When you get right down to it many things were better in past years. Does anyone think airline flights are more enjoyable than they were several years ago?  Does anyone who travelled on old sleeping cars think Amtrak sleepers are more comfortable - or the food in railroad dining cars better?

 

Of course many things now are far better than in the past - but when it comes to non-essentials, as in the case of leisure travel, things do seem to have gone in the other direction.  Yes: more affordable - but only at the cost of diluting the experience.

[wcook]

6 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Does anyone think airline flights are more enjoyable than they were several years ago?

I’ll take a 787 over a DC-4 any day. A bit extreme maybe. But entertainment systems with thousands of choices vs the days of having one movie you could sort of watch. Power plug for my seat. The internet! Yeah, I’m good with today’s flights. 

[navybankerteacher]

2 minutes ago, wcook said:

I’ll take a 787 over a DC-4 any day. A bit extreme maybe. But entertainment systems with thousands of choices vs the days of having one movie you could sort of watch. Power plug for my seat. The internet! Yeah, I’m good with today’s flights. 

Some of us are easily pleased.    Have you flown in the past few months?

[wcook]

1 minute ago, navybankerteacher said:

Some of us are easily pleased.    Have you flown in the past few months?

Yes. I know there have been lots of cancellations that have screwed people. But I didn’t have a cancelled flight and the experience was as good as ever. 

[symui]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The ship actually had a full sized pool table that was built on gimbals so that the table top would stay absolutely level even if the ship moved

 Great trivia. 

 

Anyone know what happened to the pool table?   I have been on the Grand several times but never saw one.  Maybe I missed it but I'm guessing is must have been removed?

[symui]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I hope they will let us know of those lines still continue that tradition.

Princess had the horse races in the Piazza before covid. 

 

I've been on 4 Princess cruises since the restart and no horse races.   Since this was an indoor activity that attracted large crowds I assume it was discontinued due to covid.  Hopefully they will restart the races in the future. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, symui said:

 Great trivia. 

 

Anyone know what happened to the pool table?   I have been on the Grand several times but never saw one.  Maybe I missed it but I'm guessing is must have been removed?

I have no clue, but both the pool table and fireplace were on the ship when we cruised on her during its maiden year.   They were both in one of the public lounges (it was probably Explorers Lounge).  I believe the pool table had some kind of fee but we never played.  It was a full size table so it did take up a lot of space and I assume that is why it eventually disappeared.   Perhaps somebody reading this thread who goes on a Princess cruise in the next few weeks can try asking the question onboard.  

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

I did some online research and the only reference I could find about a pool table is for one on RCI's Radiance of the Seas.  So now I am wondering if my memory is wrong about one being on the Grand Princess (we also cruised on the Radiance of the Seas a few times).

Self-Leveling Pool Table On Cruise Ship — The Wonder of Science

 

Having cruised on more than 60 different ships (we truly lost count) I am not surprised I might have gotten this wrong.  But I am sure about the fireplace :).

 

Hank

[crystalspin]

To the OP @wcook. My first two cruises were in the 90's. The Marco Polo sailing for Orient Lines and the now-sold-off HAL Statendam. It's a wonder I ever took another cruise!

 

I have never been on a ship larger than the Nieuw Amsterdam (max.Passengers: 2500) although I'm booked x3 on the Koningsdam (max.Passengers: 3200). But those ships were so small that I was BORED TO DEATH. 

 

A factor in my boredom than no one has mentioned: the (smaller) ships in those days also were not high tech in their seaworthiness! My travelling companions (DH and MIL) were deathly ill with mal-de-mer most of the time, or sleeping off the meclizine.

 

That left me, a non-alcoholic-drinker at the time [cf: MIL], with almost nothing to do. On the Marco Polo I spent a lot of time watching the albatross that followed us from Cape Town to Buenos Aires! At that time, the only coffee station on the Statedam was a little cart somewhere. I did learn how to tie a pareo on the way to Hawaii... 

 

No not better in the 90's.

[Honolulu Blue]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I imagine that a few cruise lines still do those horse races.  While not a big activity fan, I always thought the horse races were a lot of fun.  Since DW and I spend most nice days outside in deck chairs we always enjoyed the fun around those races.   Some of the cruise directors were very good at "calling the races" and just about everyone seemed to enjoy the event.  The betting was small stuff ($2 ) but I can still remember buying some betting tickets.   If anyone reading this has cruised. recently on RCI or Carnival I hope they will let us know of those lines still continue that tradition.

I haven't cruised on Carnival since the restart, but just prior to the shutdown, they did have horse races on their longer Journeys cruises.  I agree it was a lot of fun.  The races I saw weren't held on the pool deck; instead they were held in either the main theater or the aft theater.  There was a fair amount of betting by the passengers at $2 a ticket.

 

My only RCCL cruise was a few months ago.  It was a charter, so there was no entertainment that was not related to the theme.  I don't know if regular Royal cruises have them.  I haven't heard about them from others.

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, crystalspin said:

To the OP @wcook. My first two cruises were in the 90's. The Marco Polo sailing for Orient Lines and the now-sold-off HAL Statendam. It's a wonder I ever took another cruise!

 

I have never been on a ship larger than the Nieuw Amsterdam (max.Passengers: 2500) although I'm booked x3 on the Koningsdam (max.Passengers: 3200). But those ships were so small that I was BORED TO DEATH. 

 

A factor in my boredom than no one has mentioned: the (smaller) ships in those days also were not high tech in their seaworthiness! My travelling companions (DH and MIL) were deathly ill with mal-de-mer most of the time, or sleeping off the meclizine.

 

That left me, a non-alcoholic-drinker at the time [cf: MIL], with almost nothing to do. On the Marco Polo I spent a lot of time watching the albatross that followed us from Cape Town to Buenos Aires! At that time, the only coffee station on the Statedam was a little cart somewhere. I did learn how to tie a pareo on the way to Hawaii... 

 

No not better in the 90's.

It is unrelated to the thread, but DW and cruised on the Marco Polo (Orient Lines) twice and really enjoyed that older ship.  Our first Marco Polo cruise was the first Western cruise ship to go all the way up the Saigon River and dock in downtown Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).  DW and I were the only Americans on that cruise (everyone else was from the UK or Europe) and it was my first return to Vietnam since my military time during the war,  To this day it remains among the two most memorable cruises (and we have been on more than 100).

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I did some online research and the only reference I could find about a pool table is for one on RCI's Radiance of the Seas.  So now I am wondering if my memory is wrong about one being on the Grand Princess (we also cruised on the Radiance of the Seas a few times).

Self-Leveling Pool Table On Cruise Ship — The Wonder of Science

 

Having cruised on more than 60 different ships (we truly lost count) I am not surprised I might have gotten this wrong.  But I am sure about the fireplace :).

 

Hank

When you stop to think about it, a self  leveling pool table might be something of a challenge for someone standing on a pitching or rolling deck to use.  Now, if there were a similarly self-leveling platform for one to stand on …

[wcook]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

It is unrelated to the thread, but DW and cruised on the Marco Polo (Orient Lines) twice and really enjoyed that older ship.

Now that’s one ship I could never sail on. Too tempting to get separated from my wife and go around yelling “Marco” and listening for her reply. 
 

But in any other ship, I’d love to do a SE Asia River cruise.