Of all the things you have seen on a cruise, what left you the most awe inspired?

OP, here, and I thought of one more. Our very first cruise was on the Splendour of the Seas out of Barcelona. And when we got to the port, there she was plus another ship, I believe a Princess ship. The sight of those two magnificent ships was awe inspiring. I wonder how many of you felt that way upon first seeing your first cruise ship.

. I wonder how many of you felt that way upon first seeing your first cruise ship.

First time? Sure. Not now. Now when I look at a ship (other than the one I'm on, of course), I see a floating hotel bringing crowds and pollution......but I'm willing to delude myself for my own relaxing vacation. Call it willful blindness! I love the experience if I don't think about it too deeply (that's true for road trips as well). Still, the last thing I want to see in port are other cruise ships.

In no particular order only counting things seen from the ship:

Stromboli, Straits of Messina; entering and leaving Istanbul; Bodrum, Turkey; rough waters on South China Sea; the volcano at Kagoshima; gorgeous karsts in bay off Halong Bay; Antarctica (very turbulent Drake Passage, iceburgs, whales, birds, penquins, including an Emperor, getting below Antarctic Circle and so much more); inner fjords in Chile.

The first cruise ship I ever saw would look like a tug boat compared to the ones you see today: The old Carnival Tropicale.

I think Alaska's scenery would be high on my list. And the Three Gorges in China plus the Snow Jade Cave in China.

Never thought I'd ever see Pompeii, the Galapagos Islands (twice), The Great Wall of China, Great Barrier Reef, Saigon, Berlin Wall. I'd never even been out of the state until after we were married.

At the top of my list would be sailing past the Statue of Liberty at sunset and thinking how some of my forbearers must have felt when they saw her greeting them to America. Others would be a full lunar eclipse, the Panama Canal, Glacier Bay, and a space shuttle launch.

Ephesus, Oia Santorini and Florence stand out for me.

OP, here, and I thought of one more. Our very first cruise was on the Splendour of the Seas out of Barcelona. And when we got to the port, there she was plus another ship, I believe a Princess ship. The sight of those two magnificent ships was awe inspiring. I wonder how many of you felt that way upon first seeing your first cruise ship.

Oh yes! I wanted to jump up and down or sing instead I cried.

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So here we all are, having seen sights we never in our wildest dreams thought we’d see. We can thank our lucky stars for the memories and hope our descendants have the same privilege.

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OP, here, and I thought of one more. Our very first cruise was on the Splendour of the Seas out of Barcelona. And when we got to the port, there she was plus another ship, I believe a Princess ship. The sight of those two magnificent ships was awe inspiring. I wonder how many of you felt that way upon first seeing your first cruise ship.

Oh, yes... we used ferries a lot to travel, and we thought that they were massive. When we saw Sea Princess, we just stared in amazement.

She's not even consider a large ship these days. ;)

Huge pod of dolphins off the coast of Catalina Island on my very first cruise!

Can you please explain why you did not like the Panama Canal?

I must say it was probably because I expected too much. I thought the canal was more then three locks. I couldn’t see the steps until we were out and looking at a ship behind us. It just wasn’t impressive to me. Also Colombia was terrible. Hounded constantly to buy stuff.

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I would vote for the Parthenon and Acropolis in Athens.

 

A few runner-ups would be Gaudi architecture in Barcelona and the Book of Kells in Dublin.

Wow, what a tough question and almost impossible to narrow down to 1 answer. Here is my short list:

• Panama Canal - been through at least a couple dozen times, but I am still out there at 05:00 well before the buoyed channel and first locks. The technology is simply amazing, considering it is over 100 year old. Probably will never see the new locks as we have no desire to board a mega ship.
  
• Sydney Harbour - probably one of the most spectacular harbours in the world.
  
• BC Inside Passages - In the 70's & 80's all Alaska bound ships navigated the 400+ miles of the BC Coast, which in my opinion is more impressive then Alaska. The arrival into Vancouver under 1st Narrows bridge
  
• Petra - It's hot and up hill to the exit, but truly spectacular. Bring lots of water
  
• Easter island - very few ships make an arrival, but the Maoi (Statues) are amazing, especially when you compare how similar they are to Stonehenge, with respect to .
  
• St Petersburg - simply amazing, 2-days was insufficient time. Definitely going back.
  
• Venice - Next to Sydney, probably one of the most spectacular arrivals
  

Glaciers calving at Hubbard and Glacier Bay, and a pod of whales bubble netting in Alaska. It’s a tie.

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Antarctica.

Sailing through the fog from the Adriatic Sea through the narrow fjord to Kotor, Montenegro. The sight is breathtaking;);););p;p

early morning through the Stockholm archipelago - gorgeous!

The most amazing for me

 

Alaska and the palaces of Russia. Russia because it was so different then I expected.

 

Places I would never tell anyone to go - Panama Canal

The sail away from Venice

Statue of David in Florence

Alaskan glaciers, and wilderness

Sailing into NewYork harbor after Hurricane Sandy, Statue of Liberty, surrounding areas without lights

Sistine Chapel

Seeing a river of red lava pour into the ocean and steam rising this was in Hawaii about 10pm

Statue David in Florence

Pompeii

Nature- I'd have to say that a glacier calving in Glacier Bay in Alaska and lava flowing at Kīlauea in Hawaii pretty well tie one another for awe-inspiring.

People- The cliff divers in Acapulco.

My wife, every morning.

Sailing past Gallipoli where the Anzac men were slaughtered. My other most memorable is sailing out of Venice. A much happier sight, but both touched my heart.

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Sailing into or out of Sydney Harbour always has a special place in my heart

Sailing into Milford Sound New Zealand in January with temperatures at low 80 degrees and clear. Wow!

My very first cruise, after my first year of college, on the Premier Cruise Lines SS Royale, which took us to what is now Blue Lagoon Island for our private beach day. Everything was different then. We were simpler folk in those days, if you will. The ship was an old, small, refurbished vessel marketing to the lower-middle clientele, and we thought it was beautiful.

Blue Lagoon Island was still called Salt Cay then, was not very developed yet, and there was really nothing there other than the beach and the barbecue serving area. We were able to walk some distance along the edge of the island, and find our own little empty beach area. There was no furniture but we had our beach towels to stretch out on. My mom and I enjoyed the peacefulness, solitude, and pure luxury of the turquoise water in this breathtaking setting that was really a dream come true.

I have travelled all over the world in the more than 30 years hence, I have reached middle age and my mom is an old lady now who would not be able to trek all over some sandy rock spit anymore. I have never forgotten sharing that beautiful day with her, nor have I enjoyed any port day more.

My wife, every morning.

Great answer!