Friends

[BonesDoc]

Has anyone ever meet strangers, and kept in touch? We meet a couple that are from Hilton Head, SC they have become such good and close friends, even part of our family. I never hear or read of this kind of friendships. It happened to us.

[Bonnie J.]

Yes! On Princess, Nov.'06 we met a couple at our table. In January, on Tuesday, we found a $299, 7 day Costa cruise leaving that week end. We live in NC and drive to FL. Our new firends live in Flint, Michigan. Called them Wednesday, they didn't think they could make it but I got a call Thursday. They met us on the ship. Then we booked a December cruise ('07), called them about it and they booked it too. And they drove to our house IN NC before the cruise! We both booked the night before in same hotel. They followed us to port, we had dinner and breakfast together before getting on the ship. We have a ball together.

Also cruised with couple from state of WA. We were going back on same ship so called them. We picked them up in a Costco parking lot in West Palm Beach FL on our way to the ship after they flew there.

My inlaws met a couple from England in early 80's. and cruised a few times with them. Both ladies are now widows but still keep in touch.

Also, we have seen cruise friends in Clearwater FL, Lancaster, PA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada and we stay in touch with couple from NJ too!

So, yes you can make good friends on a cruise.

[Robb]

We have friends that we have met on almost every cruise that we still keep in touch with. Some have visited us in our home, some we have met for a meal when they have passed thru town, some we have visited in their hometown. And there are many that we keep in touch with thru email and snail mail. We have seen children grow up, go to college and get married.

 

I love my cruise critic family. They are the greatest.:D

[ondeckatsea]

Absolutely! We have met several couples over the years on cruises and had such a great time that we have met again and again and cruised several times with them. Right off the bat you have something nice in common with them. You all like to cruise. So, it's not like you have to persuade them to cruise again, they are more than willing. Thanks to the internet we keep in touch regularly. It our relatives that are reluctant to give it a try and that is so frustrating to us. We know if they tried it once they would be hooked but we hear the same old lame excuses so have finally given up. It is their loss, not ours.

[paul929207]

We have friends from around the country that we have met during our travels. A group of 8 of us, have a re-union every fall. We rotate it amoung our homes.

[Spikesgirl]

We have friends that we met on our '04 Tahitian Princess cruise and we stay in close contact with them. We have also exchanged cards and letters with other tablemates. This is one of the fun parts about cruising!

 

Charlie

[katgar]

We met a couple at the elevator after muster in March '05. (Both guys are disabled.) It turned out they had the two seater table behind us and our mothers! We hung out quite a bit on that cruise, it was as if we'd known each other for years!

They live in VA and we're in MA, so in 2006, they drove to NC and picked us up when we flew in. The following day we left for San Diego for a few days pre-cruise and enjoyed so much laghter that our cheeks were sore!

Last year there were too many medical issues, so we just cried on the phone, wishing we were at sea. We keep in touch throughout the year, and hope we can get together again. I'm limited in time, as I am the only one still working!!

[SeattleCruiselover]

I still keep in touch with a Canadian family that I met on Sun Viking on my first cruise in 1992. Of course, it helps that I am in Seattle and they are in Vancouver (though I lived in SoCal at the time we first met), so we have more opportunities to see/run into each other than some might.

[ger_77]

We've been fortunate to have made new friends on almost every cruise. We still cruise with friends made on the millennium cruise 1999-2000, in fact 2 of the 3 couples have been up here to visit us in the "frozen tundra" and we've been to their homes as well. We've cruised together twice more since then and have more planned for the future. We met another couple on our first Mediterranean cruise, stayed in touch and they joined us for the second go at the Med., and are interested in joining us again for the 3rd time.

 

The internet has made such a difference in staying in touch with those we meet; prior to that it was limited to writing letters (how often did you really do that?) and cards at Christmas time. Now we can get on the internet and email any time we want, and stay in touch for years after a cruise is over.

 

Conversley, friends of ours took their first cruise to Alaska 2 years ago and said people were cold, stand-offish, and they didn't get to know anybody. I found that v-e-r-y hard to imagine; I think it was because they weren't as outgoing as we are and found it difficult to talk to strangers. We've always come home with great memories of new friends and experiences shared.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :)

[stowaway2k]

Many of my best friends I met on board ships.

They come from continental Europe, the UK, Australia, and across the US.

 

Enjoy a tribute video slideshow for a group of them...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8266781298143594403&hl=en

[teedee]

I've met several people on cruises that I've stayed close to. A few that I make it a point to cruise with just about every cruise I take. Cruise Critic has been a wonderful resource for giving strangers something to chat about pre-cruise and that makes it easier to strike up friendships once onboard.

 

Terri