How old were you when you took your first cruise?

[Tess2mommies]

Thought it would be fun to poll you gals & guys on how old you were when you took your first cruise.

 

So how old or young where you?:rolleyes:

 

Feel free to describe your first cruising experience! :D

[cruiserforlife]

Will never forget my first cruising experience,especially sail away with my honey in my arms,a drink in my hand,and a tear in my eye!

 

My wife's first cruise was when she was 11!

[susancruzs]

I was 35 in 1982 and I thought the msSouthward was great (small but I didn't care) until we sailed by the ssNorway and I knew that was the ship for my next cruise! I was hooked - big time!!!

 

Susie

[LARGIN]

37.. Fairwind..

[lynwar]

52- Sun Princess. A Christmas gift for my husband and me from our former next door neighbors. They are from Uruguay. We became great friends, and they paid for EVERYTHING, as they were our hosts. It was to the Western Caribbean. I was hooked on cruising- simply fascinated by it.It helped that I didn't get seasick,too-a big fear beforehand. Lynne

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

17 - Eastern Steamship Lines - anyone remember them? I'm 57 now - WOW - 40 years ago. Cruising has changed a lot since then. I think a lot less formal - not a bad thing, just different!

 

Kaye

[NJfamily]

Yes Kaye, I remember them, my first cruise too. I think the ship was the SS Emerald Seas. I think I was around 10.

[calikak]

My first cruise was on the Regal, when I was 24 and my then-boyfriend-now-husband was 25. He proposed on our cruise, on the last formal night--not something you easily forget!

[mek]

I think my first one in 1972 was on Eastern also. Can't remember the name of the ship. It was a four night Bahamas cruise that I took with a girlfriend.

[Cruiseknut]

I will never forget my first cruise. I was 42 and the year was 1984.....on the MS Starward to the western Caribbean. We had a cabin with a double bed (not queen-not king) and there was barely room to walk on the two sides of the bed that were not against a wall. I won't even go into the size of the bathroom. The closet was a rod behind a curtain alongside the bed. My wife had to sit on the end of the bed to use the dressing table. No phone no TV...anywhere on the ship.....buffet at breakfast and lunch with no inside seating. Dinner at your assigned seating only. Two small pools. In the evening there was one count em one lounge besides the main show room. The casino had three black jack tables and a few slot machines. In the evening before dinner there was a ritual of all the men showing up about an hour before dinner in the lounge, have a drink while the ladies had the cabin to dress. About the only way it could be done. And...........I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was hooked from then on. BTW, We will be on the Sun Princess for ten days Dec 2nd in a balcony cabin..........for about what I paid for that seven day cruise in 1984. So I try never to complain about prices or an amenity that may be missing here or there.

 

Tony

[katisdale]

Our first cruise was back in 1991. The three of us (me, DH, and DD) had a tiny inside cabin on the independence going around the Hawaiian Islands. We only had one sea day. I worked a second job to afford the cruise. On our sea day DH and I were on deck and I was feeling so romantic. I said "Isn't this romantic" to him. He said "well yes but for what we spent on this cruise I could have gotten a used tractor." My reply was "no, I wouldn't have worked a second job for a tractor." We still laugh about this, especially since he's now hooked on cruising. (Selling the farm also helped)

[Dgius]

My first cruise was thru the Greek Isles in 1974 when I was just 12! I had my birthday on the boat at the captains table. We ended up in a bit of a mess. We were on a Greek ship and were scheduled to stop in Turkey but while on board, Greece went to war with Turkey! We were not welcome. We headed back to Athens because all the male crew got called to war. We arrived in Athens only to find out that our American passports had been invalidated for Safety reasons and were not allowed to leave Greece. The American Embassay arranged for us to be smuggled out of the country in the back of a watermelon truck!! We spent the rest of our vacation once out of the county in England.

 

You just never know what kind of adventure you will find on a cruise huh!!

[Tess2mommies]

Dgius,

 

Oh wow, what an adventure!

[cactusrose]

It was 1952 on a freighter called Excalibur. I was only three so don't have too many memories but I swear this is why I never get seasick. I fell head first into an empty swimming pool on board so they wouldn't let me off the ship in port until they were sure I was OK. My mother was seasick the whole time and couldn't wait to go ashore, so Billy Wilder (yes that Billy Wilder) baby sat me so she could go ashore. I love that story.

[Deloresgardella]

I took my first cruise on Sitmar's Fairsea with my 14 year old daughter in 81'. :) They met us on the gangway and escorted us to our room.:) I thought at the time the ship was so big we would get lost.:confused: I told my daughter that we have to go exploring we can't stay in our room for 7 days. It was one of my most memorable cruise, maybe because it was our first. Since then I have had some great cruises. We went from Los Angeles to Mexico.:cool:

 

Delores

[Julia’s Journey’s]

34 - Jubilee, but got DH and I hooked, late on starting but trying to make up for it!!!

[Flintstone]

44. Our first cruise was with 62 friends/family to celebrate DHs 50th birthday on Carnival's Tropicale (affectionally referred to as "The Top of H*ll!). We made it about 8 months keeping it a secret from him...and then someone blew it accidentally about 8 weeks away from sailing. Very few of those 62 had ever cruised before and they are ALL hooked now (including us) and we put the group back together every two years for another cruise. Naturally...DH and I go on our own in between cause I just can't wait 2 years for the next one!!!

 

Even tho we were well into our years before our first cruise...we have already introduced our children and a couple of our grandchildren to cruising.

 

Deb

[vette]

Norway was our first of many. I was hooked the instant I stepped on the ship!

 

Vette

[jhannah]

We were late bloomers! Didn't cruise until in our fifties. But that trip on the Sea Princess (yeah, she's coming back) hooked us forever.

[sue d. miller]

I was 40, and DH refused to cruise, so I took one of my daughters!! He didn't like it, so he went on the next one. We just booked #10. :D

[lostdart58]

My first cruise was in December 1970. I was 12 years old. It was on the SS France. (which became the Norway). The cruise was a 10 day cruise out of New York to the Caribbean. ..Curacao...Barbados...Martinique....St Thomas.....lots of sea days.......

 

We left NYC in a blizzard...(or a snowstorm anyway).

The times were such that you still had bon voyage parties on the boat during embarcation. I remember my grandparents who had driven us to the dock being on board and we having hors douvers in the stateroom. Then hearing a "ding dang dong" followed by an announcement saying ....all visitors please get off the ship now."

[Lisa63]

26 -- it was our honeymoon. :)

 

lostdart58, I loved your remembrances of SS France. It reminded me of my first shipboard experience way back when I was about 10 years old. We were visitors on SS Rotterdam and enjoyed a bon voyage party in my grandparents' stateroom. I, too, remember the "all ashore" announcement.

[anthk333]

My first cruise was thru the Greek Isles in 1974 when I was just 12! I had my birthday on the boat at the captains table. We ended up in a bit of a mess. We were on a Greek ship and were scheduled to stop in Turkey but while on board, Greece went to war with Turkey! We were not welcome. We headed back to Athens because all the male crew got called to war. We arrived in Athens only to find out that our American passports had been invalidated for Safety reasons and were not allowed to leave Greece. The American Embassay arranged for us to be smuggled out of the country in the back of a watermelon truck!! We spent the rest of our vacation once out of the county in England.

 

You just never know what kind of adventure you will find on a cruise huh!!

 

Dgius, you may have been on the same ship that I went on for my first in 1974, only we went a few weeks later.

 

I was 10 years old, and it was August 1974. We sailed the Stella Solaris around the Greek Isles. We didn't have to be smuggled out or anything like that, but we did have to tell people that we were Canadian.

[Druke I]

Way back in 64, on the (old) Oriana of P&O, down the Left Coast, Vancouver to San Francisco, in one of the unique "court" cabins in the 1st class section of that lovely ship. We were 26 at the time.

 

Great introduction to cruising. Oriana was about 40,000 GRT, and considered large in its day! How cruising has changed.

[MaryPoppinz]

I think I was around 9. I can't remember much....it's been awhile. :)