List Your All-Time Favourite Cruises.

I am quite sure a few of us have had taken more than one cruise in our lifetime. Anyone who cares to share their top five cruise ships based on ship's food,port of call,ships entertainment,cabin, courtesy and efficiency of the ships staff, and whatever other category I may have omitted.

I guess I will offer my picks. I have only been on Five cruises in my life-time, so by no means do I consider myself a well-seasoned lassie of the sea.

1.Costa Carla C (August 1983) - my very first cruise. As the saying goes "the first is usually the best. Great Cuisine . Midnight buffet was the main event. Six ports of call. San Juan,Curacuo, Grenada,Caracas Venezuela,Martinique,US Virgin Islands and back to San Juan. Flight back to England. Great staff, excellent food, cabin was clean and well attended to, passengers were OK, people are people. Entertainment was good. Fate: Ship caught on fire In Greece ,scrapped 1994.

2.Cunard Countess (June 1988)- My fourth Cruise. I always refer to this cruise as England on the sea. Those who are from England as is I, felt right at home. English cuisine, nearly all the crew were from The UK.Very quaint atmosphere. I did enjoy this cruise very much and as like the Carla C, It had a similar rating, however the one drawback being bad weather which seemed to plague us, and a mirror image of the Carla C port of calls. with the exception being Santo Domingo. Oh yes and single men to meet, for a single girl as I being then. Fate: Exactly as the Carla C. Fire,Greece Scrapped in 2014.

3.The Carnival (July 1984) - My second cruise. Formally known as Empress Of Britain . Another English staffed ship. Although not quiet as majestic as Cunard Countess. But as they say " Carnival The Fun Ships". Indeed it was just that. The cuisine was tolerable. Entertainment adequate. The port of calls were "quickies". It seemed this cruise went rather quick. Nassau,Bahamas . We flew from Heathrow to Miami to embark. The people aboard were really friendly and quit sociable. Very cooperative weather. My one gripe was the severe sunburn i had developed from using the wrong sun screen, the later part of the cruise I spent with cold face cloth's all over to cool my irritated skin. Fate: Collided with another ship. Scrapped in 2008.

4. The Carnival Festival (December 1987) My Third Cruise. Similar to the Carnival, A decent experience. The food was very good, the ports is where this cruise excelled, Jamaica, St.Maarten,Barbados,Martinique,San Juan .Some of the passengers on the ship urrrrgh! A few rude ones. Kept us up all night with noise on more than one occasion. Fate:It was decided the ship had seen it's better days. It was scrapped in India about 2003

5.The Big Red Boat (June 1994?) Actually this was my very last cruise.And the least remembered one at that. The only thing I do remember was having my Birthday Cake delivered to my table. The funny thing is "It really was not my birthday. It was in July. I believe From England to Miami (US). A very short cruise. Fate: Scrapped in 2012.

In Conclusion : It is rather sad that all Five of these ships I once sailed on no longer exist. It also tells me I am getting old. And it tells me that maybe it's time I start sailing the sea's again. It has been 21 years since my last cruise. I just cannot seem to find the free time any more.Thank You, for taking time out to read my lengthy post.

Rotterdam 1977- 1st 7 day cruise out of NYC, great ship, this cruise made me a addict have cruised every year since, stops were Bermuda and Nassau

Renaissance 2001- my 1st Europe cruise from Athens to Rome, great ship less than a year old, non smoking , adults only

Norway 1985- 1995- loved this ship cruised her 7 times , including my honeymoon in 1991

Sovereign of the seas- another of my favorite all time ships , again cruised several times and got engaged on her in 1990

Marconi- 1979- my 1st 10 day cruise also 1st time to St Thomas and St John another great Italian ship, Very hard to pick favorites out of my 58 cruises so far