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Cruising Experience Comparison


TerReuv
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Good morning. I spent yesterday laying around with a cold watching the first season of Love Boat! Got me thinking of a fun Monday morning thread.

 

For a lot of us, The Love Boat was what we thought all cruising was like. Large cabins, food all the time, a friendly staff that was always mingling with the crew (including the Captain), love around every corner!

 

For those of you who cruised back in the late 70's around the time The Love Boat started airing (1977), tell those of us who weren't cruising then how The Love Boat compared with what actual crusing was like. I am not talking about just Carnival, but any cruiseline. What was the same as depicted on TV and what was different.

 

I, unfortunately, was not cruising then and thought this would be a fun Monday morning thread.

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Cruising back then was totally different. Ships were much smaller, passenger count from 100 to 500 was normal. Casinos were card games only with no "slot machines", smoking was everywhere, the only exercise was the promenade or shuffle board or an exercise class, you ate breakfast lunch and dinner at assigned times in the dining room, buffets were at midnight (maybe one a cruise). Room service was available and they served exactly what you would get in the dining room. Staff to passenger ratio was close to 1 on 1. Pools were tiny, tiny. No TV. Entertainment was in the lounge...a singer and a piano player. Dancing at night (ball room) was the norm. Cruises were a week at the shortest and there were lots more sea days than port days. You tendered at most ports. The average age on board was retirement age, and kids were pretty non-existant and babies or toddlers, never ever. Alcohol was free. And the cost of a cruise could set you back a couple of months wages.

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I cruised with a friend in a porthole room on the Festivale in 1979 at the age of 20 when you didn't have to have someone 25 in the cabin. I believe the cost of the cruise which went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and San Juan was $555.00 but I cannot remember if that included airfare. I too watch the Love Boat and cannot believe how small it was compared to the ships of today. The older ships didn't seem to have stablizers (sp?) like the new ships so there was a lot of rocking and it could be difficult to dance and drink in the disco. The midnight buffets were over the top with so much food! Baked Alaska served in the dining room was brought out by the servers with sparklers in each one - what a sight - still makes me smile.

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I remember going with my parents on one of the original Carnival ships (Carnivale) in 1976 and I truly remember it being a "fun ship". It was an old WWII troup ship I think made into a cruise ship. There was a real steel band up on deck during the day and big band type music at night. There was also a disco. The crew were really involved with the passengers. Even the officers would dance at night with the single women. We actually met and shook hands with the captain and saw him around the ship. On a seven day, we stopped in Nassau, Haiti, and St. Thomas.

 

The ship itself was around 75,000 ton and we thought it was huge. It was beautiful and I believe they paid around $500 for a window cabin which is about the same today so cruising is much more of a value now, although less inclusive.

 

It definitely sold me on cruising and I have been crusing as much as possible ever since.

Edited by tdogcruiser
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Thanks to those that answered. RWolver I never thought about the fact that cruising was not as much for the everyday folks as it is now. I was just lying around getting sucked into the Love Boat world and started wondering if it was a true (more or less) depiction of the way cruising was back then. It sure made it seem like more personalized attention and the Lido on Love Boat is so very small.

 

But, you have to smile at how everyone got all spiffed up for each dinner. There was always a small band for dancing, and the cabins seemed huge! I guess cruising back then really was more of an event than it is now. Especially since the Love Boat did short cruises and yet people brought all sorts of luggage! LOL

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I remember going with my parents on one of the original Carnival ships (Carnivale) in 1976 and I truly remember it being a "fun ship". It was an old WWII troup ship I think made into a cruise ship. There was a real steel band up on deck during the day and big band type music at night. There was also a disco. The crew were really involved with the passengers. Even the officers would dance at night with the single women. We actually met and shook hands with the captain and saw him around the ship. On a seven day, we stopped in Nassau, Haiti, and St. Thomas.

 

The ship itself was around 75,000 ton and we thought it was huge. It was beautiful and I believe they paid around $500 for a window cabin which is about the same today so cruising is much more of a value now, although less inclusive.

 

It definitely sold me on cruising and I have been crusing as much as possible ever since.

 

the Carnivale was actually only 32,000 tons.

 

To address the original question...Certainly it was different. Ships were not built for cruising...They were converted from transAtlantic runs, or more far flung routes. They didn't have balconies, many did not have private bathrooms. My first cruises were on Home Lines original Homeric, built in 1931, 18,000 tons. I had a single cabin, two portholes, one bunk, sink, and the bathroom and showers were down the hall. I did a 10 day cruise from NYC, San Juan, St. Thomas, Martinique, St. Maarten. It cost $350.

There was only one place to eat, the MDR with traditional, two seating dining. Breakfast was open seating, but lunch was also two seatings. I believe there was late night pizza. The pool was tiny, you paid $5 to reserve a wooden deck chair that had your name on it, and was set out each day.

There were a lot of young people onboard...probably not many in 20's but a lot of 30-somethings. I never considered until onboard, that lots of single women went on cruises to meet/find boyfriends in the crew.

Everything was cash, shops, drinks, tips.

There was a midnight buffet nearly every night, on the promenade deck. Cold cuts and fruit, mostly. EM

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My parents used to go on cruises. They are no longer with us so I cannot ask them; but I do remember some things that my Mom told me. I do remember going with them once to the ship and I was allowed on. I remember the cabin was small and there were twin beds. My Mom used to love dressing up for dinner. She used to complain about how rocky the ship was around Cape Hateras.

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My parents went to bermuda for their 10th in 1959....my grandparents treated them and gave them the movie camera to record their fun....my grandfather took my brother and I to manhattan to see them off a Cunard ship with the streamers being thrown and music playing....my mother brought back fancy meus with little bows on them and I took them for show and tell...we were able to board and look around for some time before they sailed....I will never forget it,finally getting to bermuda 3 yrs ago myself...

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We began cruising in May 1974 on Sitmar's Fairwind (LA to Mexico, 10 days). The ship had about 600-650 pax, Inside & OV cabins (each w/a private bath). Our inside cabin had 2 twin beds & 2 upper bunks that folded back into the wall. We sometimes had 2 adults & 2 kids in the cabin -- yes, a bit crowded, but very do-able.

 

Sitmar had one of the first children's programs, the reason we cruised w/them for 15 years! Our DD was 2.5 on our first cruise; she & we had a ball! Many young families enjoyed the ships (twin, Fairwind, in the Caribbean). There were 3 pools, including a 2 ft. one for kids only.

 

The casino had a full slate of games, including slots. There was 1 large lounge/show room w/ a band & nightly shows, including some of the first "Broadway at Sea" shows, and 2-3 smaller bar/lounges.

 

The wonderful meals were in the MDR w/assigned tables, either 1st or 2nd seating, but there were 'cook-outs' on the deck on sea days. There was also a dedicated pizza parlor -- one of the first & a BIG hit! There were several midnight buffets each week. Formal nights were formal -- and very lovely. In fact, pax dressed nicely all day -- not fancy but not grubby.

 

In a 7-day cruise, there were 3 or 4 ports; some were docked, some tendered. Yes, there was a haze of cigarette smoke in the shows, but more to the back of the lounge. There were deck games, skeet shooting, movies (a theater on a lower deck) & a wonderful, friendly Italian crew.

 

Alcohol & soda weren't free;we signed for drinks & they were added to the room. Tipping was in cash in white envelopes on the last night.

 

From 1974-1989, we cruised w/Sitmar, RCCL, Commodore (smaller ship), American Hawaii & Princess (the former Fairwind) -- all had basically the same format (except for the pizza parlor). Yes, it was a good bit different from today, but I've greatly enjoyed both.

 

Our friends asked how it compared to the Love Boat show. We always said the cabins were much smaller than they appeared on TV & the staff (not crew) did not get so involved w/pax! :)

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I sailed back to the UK from South Africa in 1968/9 on the Windsor Castle. On my own as a teenager I was put in a cabin with 3 other girls (all strangers). I know there was no toilet in the cabin, but I can't remember about washing facilities.

 

My trunk (!) was put in the hold and the suitcase which had the day-to-day clothes, etc was held in a central point where you went to retrieve items as and when you needed them. There was a little hanging space so you could leave some stuff in the cabin.

 

We stopped at Madeira and took an organised ship excursion (included in the fare) which rather bizarrely finished in a night club!!!!!!!!! I remember a ballroom and the Officers mingling with the passengers - one even asked me to dance!!

 

Can't remember what entertainment there was available but I know we had a 'crossing the line' ceremony with the Captain dressing up as Neptune and willing victims being dunked in the pool.

 

Some good memories.

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WE started cruising in 1985 on the Dolphin. It was a converted freighter built in 1949, 1951 or 1952- depending on what the captains told us. The captain ate with passengers in the dining room, 2nd seating, every night. We had the privilege of eating with three different captains on the ship. The ship held 800 passengers, had no room service and no buffet at night. There was smoking everywhere on the ship including the dining room. There was an ashtray in all the cabins.

We also cruised on the Seabreeze (which sank off our coast (VA & NC) and the Oceanbreeze which Dolphin owned. They had 1200 passengers. When Dolphin went under Premier, the Big Red boat, bought the Seabeeze & Oceanbreeze, Cape Canaveral cruise lines bought the Dolphin and NCL bought the Royal Majesty. Those ships held 1200 passengers.

We spent New Year's Eve, for the Millennium, on the Dolphin. We booked it the day after Christmas, Sunday, and got on her the next day, Monday. We spent the night tied up at Mallory Square with fireworks on both sides of the ship. (A tug took us back by the Navy pier around 4:30 before sunset, and took us back around 7 pm.)

 

By the way, the Love Boat was Princess, not Carnival. Princess' Doc, Bernie Kapel (?) was on board with us, on the Ruby Princess, this past spring. He answered questions and they filmed ON the boat for 6 weeks each summer with all the passenger on board. I think he's about 82 now. It was fun listening to him talk about the Love Boat!

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