Why/When did you start cruising?

OK Let me start off by saying...

Hi I am Dan and I am a cruiseaholic (all say Hi Dan!)

I am a soon to be 50 year old who discovered cruising later in life.

My fiance and I were talking last night about this late in life revelation last night. She discovered cruising in her 30's aand is the reason I am addicted.

Which got me thinking: Why did others start cruising when they did and I am the only idiot who discovered this so late in life...

For my part I disbelieved what I was told watching the Love Boat..There really couldn't be non-geriatric people cruising...could there?

Another thought in my head was: Cruising is too expensive, I can't afford that. (Yet I now know that I would spend twice the cost of a cruise with a short 4 day trip to Vegas).

So I ask you all when did you start cruising and if later in life like me..what reasons did you have for not jumping on a ship?

Wife and I (in our late 30's) went on our first cruise last November. We just never thought we would like it. Boy howdy were we wrong! We are totally addicted to cruising now. ;)

LOL @ the Vegas reference. On a 3-night trip to Vegas, between flight, hotel, food, drinking, sometimes shopping...I rarely spend less than $1000. Which is a bit more than the cost of the per person cost for the balcony room on my next cruise! I'd say it's at least a BIT of a deal ;) Especially as I live in the southeast and can comfortably drive to a bunch of cruise ports.

My first cruise was in 2000. My parents took me for my high school graduation. At the time I want to say I begged to go to, I don't know, probably Disney World? But I'm SO glad we did a cruise. I wouldn't say I'm *super* addicted, but I definitely enjoy it. And I got my husband a bit "hooked" as well :)

We started cruising 9 years ago for our 35th Anniversary. I had been on a few cruises as a teen but DH had never been. We waited so long because we were busy raising 3 kids, paying for college and weddings. Back "in the day" we never thought of taking all 5 of us on a cruise. We usually took the kids to the beach for a week and an occasional trip to Disney. I think things are different now, our 4yo grandson has been on 3 cruises already.:eek:

LOL @ the Vegas reference. On a 3-night trip to Vegas, between flight, hotel, food, drinking, sometimes shopping...I rarely spend less than $1000. Which is a bit more than the cost of the per person cost for the balcony room on my next cruise! I'd say it's at least a BIT of a deal ;) Especially as I live in the southeast and can comfortably drive to a bunch of cruise ports.

 

My first cruise was in 2000. My parents took me for my high school graduation. At the time I want to say I begged to go to, I don't know, probably Disney World? But I'm SO glad we did a cruise. I wouldn't say I'm *super* addicted, but I definitely enjoy it. And I got my husband a bit "hooked" as well :)

Yeah, the wife and I need at least $3k to enjoy our 4-day Vegas trips, NOT including hotel, gas/airfare. :eek:

I've always wanted to cruise... my husband - not so much:o

I finally talked him into a cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary:)

It ended up me, him, our 2 kids (11&16), my brother/his wife/their 2 boys (6&9) and my dad.:p We had a blast!!!

My husband loved it and our kids loved it!:D

Cruises were so mysterious when I was a kid. I only knew one person who had ever been on one (except the every four years band trip), and it sounded SO cool. Plus, there was a babysitters club book about it- and also SO cool. I always wanted to go on one.

So when I was an adult, I convinced my husband we should go. (He didn't want to- I guess his childhood vision of a cruise didn't include ports, so he thought the idea sounded boring.)

We chose Carnival because my parents had just gone on a Carnival cruise, along with some friends of theirs. They are the country-club set, so we figured if it was good enough for them, it would be good enough for us.

We like the value for the price! We are expanding into some more upscale offerings, but since we cruise for ports- in the Carribean, we will likely stick to Carnival.

Yeah, the wife and I need at least $3k to enjoy our 4-day Vegas trips, NOT including hotel, gas/airfare. :eek:

Ditto for us LOL

We only started cruising about 4 years ago. My hubby thought it would be an economical alternative to our trips to Jamaica. I was totally against it and thought I would hate it. Was I ever wrong! Now I'm the one who LOVES cruising and surprisingly, he didn't care all that much for it. so now I cruise with my adult daughter who has inherited my love of it. We will be going again the end of this month and leaving hubby at home-again;)

We started in the mid- late 80's. We were in our late 30's. My wife was in the insurance business, a customer who cruised a lot, told her how great it was. Before that we went to the beach every year, primarily Panama City Beach. We booked a 3 nighter to be sure we would like it. Needless to say , we were hooked. At first we went once every year or two. Then after the three kids got out of college, we went 2-3 times a year. Now that we are retired,4-5 times a year.It does help that our daughter and her family live in New Orleans, a 4 hour drive from home, so we can combine a visit with a cruise. Now, 70+ cruises later, we have loved every one of them. The only problem I have is scheduling them around my college sports, especially football season. Love my Southern Mississippi football.

In the 80's many local High Schools used the day cruises on Discovery Cruise Lines and Sea Escape for grad parties and such so we went on a few.

Back then once the ship was out far enough the bars and casinos opened and age didn't matter. For a bunch of 17-19 yr olds, it was awesome. We probably did 30 of them. For $35 it was a hell of a night at that age. We just slept in our cars after the cruise as we were so drunk.

After that we moved up and took a 7 day on Commodores MS Caribe1 (great boat)to the Western during spring break. It was awesome and have done 5-7 days ever since. It took me 9 yrs to talk my current girlfriend into taking one but we did last year on the Liberty and she had a blast and it was my first Carnival cruise.

38 days until our next cruise.

We're just starting this upcoming September ( I was one a cruise when Iwas 13 or 14 for a 3 day with school, but I would consider myself a newbie at this point).

I started in 1998.

Hubby started in 1982.

We started in 2006 for our 25th Anniversary. We wanted something we'd never done and something extra special. We realized that in all likelihood this would be our last "family" vacation as our kids were leaving the nest. We hadn't done it before due to kids activities, jobs and all that other stuff. So we picked our first cruise. Since we were celebrating we wanted to fly, thus California.

Then we discovered that cruises left from Galveston only 8 hours away. We were hooked!!! And still are. Looking forward to #5 this fall.

Cruises were so mysterious when I was a kid. I only knew one person who had ever been on one, and it sounded SO cool. Plus, there was a babysitters club book about it- and also SO cool. I always wanted to go on one.

 

So when I was an adult, I convinced my husband we should go. (He didn't want to- I guess his childhood vision of a cruise didn't include ports, so he thought the idea sounded boring.)

 

We chose Carnival because my parents had just gone on a Carnival cruise, along with some friends of theirs. They are the country-club set, so we figured if it was good enough for them, it would be good enough for us.

We like the value for the price! We are expanding into some more upscale offerings, but since we cruise for ports- in the Carribean, we will likely stick to Carnival.

I agree with you 100%. I would love to try some other cruise lines but based on itineraries we have thus far gone with CCL. I am really glad when looking into my first cruise I hadn't known about CC as I bet I would have stayed away from CCL because of all the bashing.

I have always wanted to cuise, husband likes to fly drive and have his independence. I'm 39 husband 43.

My brother won a competition 8 years ago, however it clashed with his stag weekend. The prize was a weeks cruise, Jewel of the seas all tips included sailing from Southampton......! (we live in southampton, what luck.....!)

Because it was a competition, there were no names on the tickets and he was allowed to hand the prize over....and now we are hooked....the only downside is we have to pay for them now....!....LOL.

We went on our first cruise in 2005 and were hooked! Not sure why we didn't go before then. Kind of bummed that we didn't do it while our kids were young. We spent all our vacations at Theme Parks, Beaches, Road Trips etc. Our son(now 24)and his girlfriend joined us a couple years ago. Daughter and SIL are waiting until their youngest is a bit older and then we will all go together. In the meantime we have tried to go once a year, hopefully twice this year;) Totally love the Vegas reference:)

OK Let me start off by saying...

 

Hi I am Dan and I am a cruiseaholic (all say Hi Dan!)

 

I am a soon to be 50 year old who discovered cruising later in life.

 

My fiance and I were talking last night about this late in life revelation last night. She discovered cruising in her 30's aand is the reason I am addicted.

 

Which got me thinking: Why did others start cruising when they did and I am the only idiot who discovered this so late in life...

 

For my part I disbelieved what I was told watching the Love Boat..There really couldn't be non-geriatric people cruising...could there?

 

Another thought in my head was: Cruising is too expensive, I can't afford that. (Yet I now know that I would spend twice the cost of a cruise with a short 4 day trip to Vegas).

 

So I ask you all when did you start cruising and if later in life like me..what reasons did you have for not jumping on a ship?

Carol & I are both over 60, our first cruise was in 2004 when we were both 53ish. We had always gone to the shore (Ocean City MD) for our vacations and saw no need to chage.

In 2004, my daughter who is a platinum Carnival cruiser decided to get us a "family" present that would celebrate our 35th anniversary and also allow us to celebrate between the period of finding out I had cancer and the doing something about it.

Well, I have now cruised 6 times and Carol 9 times and we loved every minute of every cruise. We are so sorry we didn't start earlier and we can't wait until our next one.

and by the way...I beat the cancer :D

I started cruising with my best friend and her husband in 2008. I have managed one almost every year. I am a great advocate for cruise vacations. I have convinced many of my friends to go on them. I am going on #4 in 24 days. There are 12 of us going and over half are 1st time cruisers. I LOVE LOVE CRUISES!!

My first cruise was in May 2001. I was in college and hubby's sister's senior trip got cancelled. Her mom got to looking at cruises and found one for us to go on. We were asked to go as additional supervision for the seniors (was a group of maybe 6 of them). We were able to go out and have fun with them but still make sure they were where they needed to be. It was a great time and I was HOOKED. My first cruise was originally supposed to be my senior trip in high school, but our ship was sold and our TA made no arrangements for us. She didn't even want to give our money back, but eventually did. This left a sour taste in my mouth for awhile and I thought I'd never give it a try again. So glad we did! I remember when we finally took our first cruise, my mama said "Are you SURE your meals are included?" She was so scared and wanted me to take extra cash on board. lol

Carol & I are both over 60, our first cruise was in 2004 when we were both 53ish. We had always gone to the shore (Ocean City MD) for our vacations and saw no need to chage.

 

In 2004, my daughter who is a platinum Carnival cruiser decided to get us a "family" present that would celebrate our 35th anniversary and also allow us to celebrate between the period of finding out I had cancer and the doing something about it.

 

Well, I have now cruised 6 times and Carol 9 times and we loved every minute of every cruise. We are so sorry we didn't start earlier and we can't wait until our next one.

 

and by the way...I beat the cancer :D

Yay! So glad you beat it :D It must also make you proud that you can learn things from your kids....

We cruised in 1992 on the Ecstasy on our Honeymoon.

I was seasick most of the week, (first and last time in a forward guaranteed cabin!)... but we loved the service, dining, and going to new places!!

Although we loved it, we did not return until 7 years later, on the Destiny.. which at the time was a brand new ship. That cruise was what got us HOOKED. We loved the Western Caribbean ports, and the larger size ship.

Once our boys were a bit older (4 and 8 in 2003), Cruising became a yearly event for us. It really is the PERFECT family vacation for everyone.

We are looking forward to our first cruise without the kids in 7 years in November, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary... Married AND with Carnival!

Catrin

a friend of mine convinced me to go on my first cruise around 10 years ago. I never thought I'd enjoy them as much as I do. Prior to that I was a backpacker and very into independant travel.

I like to do a combo now. Cruise with a stay for a week or two before/after the cruise.

Three weeks ago, the 4/14 sailing of the Ecstasy.

Part of me has wanted to try this for a while and another part hears my dad saying "Anyone who gets on a ship without drawing a paycheck needs to have their head examined". He didn't think too much of cruise ships, even less of "pleasure boaters". I guess some of that prejudice seeped into me over the years.

Well, you can put me down for a checkup from the neck up, cause I love it. My wife feels the same way. We're not ready to do all of our travel by ship just yet, but I am already planning our next cruise: Alaska!

But we might have to go see Paris first. Life is full of difficult choices.

We cruised in 1992 on the Ecstasy on our Honeymoon.

 

I was seasick most of the week, (first and last time in a forward guaranteed cabin!)... but we loved the service, dining, and going to new places!!

 

Although we loved it, we did not return until 7 years later, on the Destiny.. which at the time was a brand new ship. That cruise was what got us HOOKED. We loved the Western Caribbean ports, and the larger size ship.

 

Once our boys were a bit older (4 and 8 in 2003), Cruising became a yearly event for us. It really is the PERFECT family vacation for everyone.

 

We are looking forward to our first cruise without the kids in 7 years in November, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary... Married AND with Carnival!

 

Catrin

Congratulations on 20 years!

We were kinda the opposite... Our first cruise was just the two of us, the last cruise we went with a group of 5 other couples (again no kids) but for my next cruise we are taking all 3 kids (girls 13, 18 & 20) plus 2 BF's. This was to insure we didn't have a mutiny for cruising without them! You see they all (like their mom) have 4 or more cruises under their belts.