My 1957 Cruise Memories: Things have changed.

[billroddy]

The first cruise my wife and I ever took was on the SS President Hoover of APL.
The line had just bought the ship which used to sail from the Canal Zone to the mainland. She was put on a round trip run from San Francisco to Yokohama, Manila and Hong Kong.
We boarded in mid-December on her maiden voyage with just 214 passengers and headed for the Aleutian Islands; I didn't know this was the shortest route to the Orient, but one fraught with terrible weather in Winter.
Five days out of Japan we hit a typhoon heading in our direction, so we could never get out of it. The ship slowed to a crawl and pitched and rolled violently. Our cabin was above the galley with crashing dishes, pots and pans. Sleep?
The waiters poured water on the table cloths to keep dishes from sliding off; at a captain's party women were advised not to wear shoes. Windows were broken on the Promenade Deck. When walking you hung on from post to post, but people still fell and were hurt.
When we finally got to Yokohama we were met by ambulances for the injured.
The link has photos of the Hoover, which we forever called the Heaving Hoover.
Bill

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ChandrisReginaPrima.html

[Crusing Bob]

Bill, interesting post including pictures. You had posted about driving from CA to Arkansas last week and I asked you if you stayed in Little Rock or what was your visit pertaining to and where. We live in Hot Springs.

[billroddy]

My wife's cousin lives in Hot Springs Village and we stayed with her. Enjoyed Hot Springs, the historic bath houses and the Arlington Hotel and the gangster links.
Bill

Bill, interesting post including pictures. You had posted about driving from CA to Arkansas last week and I asked you if you stayed in Little Rock or what was your visit pertaining to and where. We live in Hot Springs.

[Crusing Bob]

Did you get to see Al Capone's car-I think it might have been in the Arlington lobby when you visited or maybe you missed it by a few days.

[CowPrincess]

Thanks for posting your first cruise experience. I'm VERY impressed that you continued to cruise!

[billroddy]

No we missed the car and did not get a chance to see the Gangster Museum in Hot Springs which had just opened. One of a kind.
Bill
http://www.tgmoa.com/

Did you get to see Al Capone's car-I think it might have been in the Arlington lobby when you visited or maybe you missed it by a few days.

[sapper1]

The first cruise my wife and I ever took was on the SS President Hoover of APL.
The line had just bought the ship which used to sail from the Canal Zone to the mainland. She was put on a round trip run from San Francisco to Yokohama, Manila and Hong Kong.
We boarded in mid-December on her maiden voyage with just 214 passengers and headed for the Aleutian Islands; I didn't know this was the shortest route to the Orient, but one fraught with terrible weather in Winter.
Five days out of Japan we hit a typhoon heading in our direction, so we could never get out of it. The ship slowed to a crawl and pitched and rolled violently. Our cabin was above the galley with crashing dishes, pots and pans. Sleep?
The waiters poured water on the table cloths to keep dishes from sliding off; at a captain's party women were advised not to wear shoes. Windows were broken on the Promenade Deck. When walking you hung on from post to post, but people still fell and were hurt.
When we finally got to Yokohama we were met by ambulances for the injured.
The link has photos of the Hoover, which we forever called the Heaving Hoover.
Bill

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ChandrisReginaPrima.html
That brings back memories of my crossing in December 1958 from Bremerhaven, Germany to Quebec City on the QSS Arkadia. Our family was returning from a two year posting in Germany and as a child of 13 I thought the storm we encountered was very exciting. I didn't know enough to be scared. The waves were as tall as the ship and everything flew everywhere. The crew tied all the furniture down in the public rooms and strung ropes everwhere for people to hang onto.
The crew also came into our staterooms and covered the windows with steel covers. The cargo shifted and some of the public rooms took on water. When it was all over we were listing. We were supposed to dock in Montreal but there was so much ice that winter that we could only get as far as Quebec City. We had our car unloaded---amazingly unscathed--and headed for home.
When I look at the large patio doors on today's cruiseships I think back to that trip and wonder how they would fare under such conditions. The Captain told my father that it was the worst storm he had encountered in all his years at sea.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for posting about your first cruise experience. Enjoyed it.

[PathfinderEss]

I think if that was my first experience with "cruising" it would have probably been my last. Your very brave to keep on cruising, guess you probably though it couldn't get worse, so why not. Thanks for posting......

[billroddy]

Appreciate your comments. At 86 I still want to take a few voyages before I take that final cruise.
And steamship companies are smarter today than APL was in 1957.
They don't head across the mid Pacific or Atlantic in the middle of winter!
Bill

[Eremita]

Appreciate your comments. At 86 I still want to take a few voyages before I take that final cruise.
And steamship companies are smarter today than APL was in 1957.
They don't head across the mid Pacific or Atlantic in the middle of winter!
Bill

But in 1965 APL was still sailing the Pacific in February/March when we took the SS President Roosevelt from Hong Kong to SF via Yokohama and Honolulu. Pretty rough from HK to Yokohama (where it snowed -- exciting as we were coming from Saigon) and for a number of days beyond. Over a week into the sailing we started seeing people we had never seen on board before and assumed they had boarded in Yokohama but they had been there all along holed up in their cabins. Those were nice ships.

Eremita

[popcruisers]

We took our first cruise on the Sitmar Fairsea in 1978 (probably the best food we've ever had). For a look at how ships, the amenities and some Mexican ports have changed over the years, check this out!!

http://www.haldolen.com/PANAMA%20TRIP/PANAMA%20TRIP/SITMAR%20CRUISE/page_01.html

[takemewithyou]

We took our first cruise on the Sitmar Fairsea in 1978 (probably the best food we've ever had). For a look at how ships, the amenities and some Mexican ports have changed over the years, check this out!!

http://www.haldolen.com/PANAMA%20TRIP/PANAMA%20TRIP/SITMAR%20CRUISE/page_01.html

Amazing pictures of Cabo and PV. I visited cabo in 1993 and 2003 and couldn't believe the changes in 2007. Thanks for posting those.

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your story and pics with us.

[jimgev]

Great story. Thanks for sharing it. Things surely have changed.
In 1957 I took a "cruise" on the Staten Island ferry. 5 cents!
LOL. Not quite the same experience but indicative of the changed world.

[geocruiser]

jimgev,

The 5 cents Staten Island ferry is now FREE! Things have changed.

Maria

[ANSalberg]

Our first cruise was 1978 on the "Island Princess" which was the sistership to "The LOVE Boat" on TV - the Pacific Princess. How romantic that seemed to me then. It was a wonderful cruise tour out of Seattle/VanCouver to Alaska -up AND back. We had twin beds that folded out of the wall -at right-angles to each other. We met SO MANY lovely people and saw such neat things and loved every minute; the "CRUISE-BUG" had certainly bitten us!
Anne

[themerle]

Thanks to everyone who shared their first cruise experiences and their photos. I'm really enjoying this thread!:)

[Eremita]

My first cruise was on the Del Sud of the Delta Lines from Rio to New Orleans in the spring of 1958. We had been stationed in Rio since 1955 and as an 11-year old, I was anxious to see the States again. My biggest memory is not of the actual cruising but that my sister and I planned to stand on the bow and recite "America for Me" (Henry Van Dyke) as we approached land. I guess we were expecting something more like the Statue of Liberty or Golden Gate Bridge. Instead the water became muddier and little clumps of green appeared here and there while we tried to decide the best time to launch into recitation:

So its home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Oh, and I do remember bingo. It was all free and we kept winning cigarette lighters!

Eremita