Why/When did you start cruising?

[okwriter]

I started cruising because my mom died rather unexpectedly in late 2008. A few months later, my two best friends and I (all newbies) decided to book a cruise a year out, and I swear it saved my life. For that year of waiting, I had a reason to get up every day...something to look forward to...something to live for.

 

I'm better now, but that was a tough year. Thank God I had that first cruise to look forward to.

[bluehenfan]

Right before a long planned trip to WDW in 1995, my 24 y.o. son suddenly passed away. For a year I was in sort of a tailspin, but finally decided to replan our trip with my DD and DGrD. I think planning that trip helped me regain interest in the world around me. I ended up taking my DD and DGrD on several trips to WDW and by the late 1990's I kept hearing about Disney new cruise line. I had to try it. We went on about 5 or 6 Disney cruises, but my DGrD was never wild about the clubs, the cost kept climbing and Grandmom wanted a casino. We tried NCL and RCCL and they were okay, but when Carnival brought the Pride to Baltimore, which is 30 mins. from my house, I had to give Carnival a shot. We loved the ship, the food and the people. Getting ready for Carnival cruise #7 in Sept. on my all time favorite, the Pride.What can I say? - I'm addicted !!!: My son loved to travel and everytime I go to a new port I try to imagine what would have been Jeff's favorite part of our day.

[PunkinsDad]

In 2000 my wife took a new job in the ICU of a university hospital. As a signing bonus, she received a 3- day Carnival cruise. After booking and delaying and re-booking we were finally at the point that we had to either take the cruise or loose it.So we added and extra day, upgraded from an inside to an OV and booked on the Jubilee, the sailing date was Sept 13th 2001.

 

Needless to say, it was quite an adventure getting from KY, where we lived at the time, to Tampa. With all the airlines grounded, we had to make the 14 hour drive. In fact, when we left, we weren't even sure the ship would be sailing.

 

It all worked out and we had a wonderful time.

 

With young kids, our vacations for the next several years were mainly WDW (which we also love). By 2007 the kids were ready for something different. We had moved from KY to the AL Gulf Coast. That year we booked a 5 day on the Holiday, sailing out of Mobile (less than 20min from our front door) and we talked my wife's parents into coming with us. We were all instantly hooked, and it's been cruises ever since. I can't imagine a better way to vacation!!

[crusinfamof4]

We began cruising in 2009. We went to WDW in 2008 and I met a family from CA. The mother was worried they were going to miss the ship as their son had to ride Dumbo one more time. She told me about the land and sea package Disney offered. When we got home from vacay, I looked into it. Since we were a year out, my DH said we should go for it (you know cause Disney is $$$, especially for 4). We had such a good time, we came home and started planning for vacation. So as of now, we have sailed twice, we have 2 more planned (one booked) 11/12 and 08/13.

 

Its funny, we were actually talking to our youngest DS last night, told him he was entering into cruiseraolic annonymous. He played along, he is 12 1/2 and loves to cruise as much as we do, our oldest, isn't a fan, but goes along. Told the youngest, we would get him to platinum by the time he turns 18.

 

:D

[crusinfamof4]

Right before a long planned trip to WDW in 1995, my 24 y.o. son suddenly passed away. For a year I was in sort of a tailspin, but finally decided to replan our trip with my DD and DGrD. I think planning that trip helped me regain interest in the world around me. I ended up taking my DD and DGrD on several trips to WDW and by the late 1990's I kept hearing about Disney new cruise line. I had to try it. We went on about 5 or 6 Disney cruises, but my DGrD was never wild about the clubs, the cost kept climbing and Grandmom wanted a casino. We tried NCL and RCCL and they were okay, but when Carnival brought the Pride to Baltimore, which is 30 mins. from my house, I had to give Carnival a shot. We loved the ship, the food and the people. Getting ready for Carnival cruise #7 in Sept. on my all time favorite, the Pride.What can I say? - I'm addicted !!!: My son loved to travel and everytime I go to a new port I try to imagine what would have been Jeff's favorite part of our day.

 

Such a touching story! Made my cry. I love how you bring your son onto the cruise with you!

[douglinc@msn.com]

Our 1st. cruise was in 97 on the Carnival Celebration. My wife had wanted to cruise for several years, but I really wasn't interested. Then she won a free cruise and.........well, we've been on a few since.

 

Doug

[MickCruiser]

Hi all. Newbie cruiser....I have three under my belt (Freedom Sept '11 and Glory '12....and probably Dream in '13). First cruise in '88 on senior high school cruise which should not count b/c I don't recall it. :-).

 

Wife went on Imagination with neighborhood girls in the fall of '10 and we as a family were looking for a different vacation other than Orlando or the Keys. We live in S FL. One of the downsides of living in S FL is you can get burned out on Orlando theme parks. :-(

 

Wife got a bit sea-sick on that Imagination cruise to Nassau. We considered the Glory cruise for a few months, I do not like parting with huge chunks of money. Wife finally told me we had to poop or get off the pot. Decided to price a family vacation as if we lived in Ohio and wanted to spend a week at Disney. After airfare, transportation, lodging, park Tix, food and everything else, the initial sunk cost of a cruise was much more palatable.

 

But we as a family were hooked after the first cruise....tho the kids really bought in during the Spring Break cruise this Mar only due to the sheer number of kids to enjoy.

[LandlockedCruiser01]

I just had my first cruise. Due to a combination of life circumstances, I was in a situation where I had to go on vacation by myself. Since it's exponentially more acceptable to go on a cruise solo than on a land vacation, I was willing to give cruising a try. Reading positive solo reviews on here clinched my decision. And now, I'm very glad I tried it. The ship was great, the ports were fun, and the fellow cruisers were friendly. Now I'm wondering when and where I'll go next.

 

I heard people say they don't like the ship rocking and hearing the sound of the thrusters. But those things actually made my cruise more fun. It's a great non-verbal reminder "hey, you're forgetting that on vacation!" for those moments when your mind drifts to work-related thoughts.

[scgamecock]

Took a family cruise in 2000. I was hooked then. It wasn't until 2008 until I was in good enough position financially to afford cruising. Well, that and the fact that I started getting 25 PTO days at work.

[PDXJAS]

Many moons ago I was at Disneyland with my then BF Now XH both of us being from the west coast he said we would go to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. He gets a job with AAA and a great travel benifit. We are planning our wedding and honeymoon and I remind him of Disneyworld. Disney Cruise line was only a few years old and I thought it would be great. We book the 3day land and 4 day sea package. thought we got a great deal. Loved the cruise part even more then DW. Maybe it was the relaxation from a wedding and 3 days at DW :eek:. Then After surviving cancer and a divorce, my father's death right after a family reunion on my mother's side I saw a 3 day cruise on the monarch of the seas out of LA going to Ensanada on St Paddy's day. Good price most of the family in so cal area, if I plan the family reunion MAMA has to go and it is easy for me and MAMA gets a new family reunion to forget about the other one:D. This was before I found CC and just kind of did e-mails you want to go this is when where book and let me know. Well, we had 35 of us on the ship from age 6 weeks to 67 (my Mom). I met family I had only heard of before.

Met new BF now DH and talk about a honeymoon great deat so the honeymoon will be a few months late but will also cover my 40th birthday. He says YES I book we go both have a great great time and now we just need to get past another family reunion and plan on taking his MAMA on a cruise. Funny my MAMA thought I was part of the planning group for our next family reunion and said I WANT TO GO ON A CRUISE. Make it happen:eek:.

[PDXJAS]

Forgot to add DH loved our cruise so much, that he now is working on our local river boat sight seeing dinner cruise. And he still wants to cruise;)

[gail811]

My FIL (now deceased) booked a cruise on the Victory out of Newport News for us in 2000. I had always wanted to cruise, but my DH was a Marine and his idea of cruising was based on being on a Navy ship anywhere from Norway to the Med; so the answer was always NO! Anyway, my dear FIL convinced his son to go and once I boarded the ship I was immediately addicted. I got off the Victory and booked a cruise on the Pride for myself, my mom and 2 sisters and got them hooked as well! My next cruise the following summer was on the Pride again, but this was the entire family to celebrate milestones for 3 of our 5 sons; a high school, college and law school graduation. FF to this July and we continue that tradition with our cruise to celebrate our youngest sons graduation from college! I now have managed to spread the addiction to the next generation :D

[Philly Steve]

My ship fascination was fueled by a 1969 tour aboard the Queen Elizabeth docked at Port Everglades, Florida but I would have to wait years until my first cruise.

 

I finally got my big ship fix in 1994 aboard the Norway.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

My then BF, now DH, and I were watching the Travel Channel on a cold- bitter January Sunday, back in 2010. Samantha Brown came on with a cruise special aboard the Carnival Inspiration to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Until seeing that show, we had no idea what cruising had to offer. The show included a tour of her balcony stateroom, the ship and it's activities plus the ports. The next day we called Carnival to book the same 5 day that was on the program. We got hooked up with a really great PVP that told us for the same price as a balcony cabin on the Inspiration 5-day, we could get a balcony cabin on the Legend 7 day plus 2 more ports of call. We selected a sailing over Halloween because we thought it would be fun. It turned out that we had a wonderful time and even became engaged on our balcony during sail away from Belize. We finally got our chance to sail the Inspiration last Oct for our honeymoon. We just booked our 3rd cruise on the Liberty - Eastern for next year and are patiently counting the days off until then.

 

:):)

[rtw68]

We are newbie's at cruising but very addicted. :eek:

 

First cruise was out of Charleston on the Fantasy, our attorney cruises a lot and recommended we try Fantasy because we could drive to the port. I wanted to do something special for DW and I for our 10th anniversary so we went for it.

 

Didn't know if we would like it or it wouldn't be a favorite, but we had a great

time!

 

As soon as we got home we scheduled another on the Dream and brought our DS, DD, SIL, and our nephew. Had a great time on that cruise too!

 

Cruising is great!! :D

[SheriAZ]

My niece got married on a cruise ship. We were allowed to walk around the ship before the wedding. Awesome! I started saving and planning the next day. I was thrilled to find this board, and it fueled the obsession. We booked our cruise the minute we had the cash saved.

[Goodship_a_k]

Started cruising not long after moving to Florida in 2000. First cruise was a 3 day on the Disney Magic. My son was just turning 9 at the time. In September it will be his first "adult" cruise, he'll have been 21 for 2 months .:) Going on 3rd cruise on the Dream in September, will be my 17th total! YES, I am a cruise addict...and PROUD of it!!! :D

[OCruisers]

:rolleyes: 50 years of cruising here! Started rather young.

 

Gosh, things have really changed ... some for the worse and some for the better!

[flyawayca]

My DH's and my first cruise was in 2010. It was for our first wedding anniversary (both in our mid 20's). I wasn't to sure about cruising but my aunt who had been on many cruises (and also introduced me to CC) talked us into it. We picked New Orleans as our port just so we could spend some time there so if we hated the cruise we would at least have had a good time in a new city. Well we loved it and since 2010 have been on 4 cruises and have 3 more planned! :D

[herdcruiser]

My wife and I started our cruising on the Carnival Carnivale in 1990. We were in our early 20's before kids and decided to do something our families had never even thought about doing. We hit a dry spell when kids came along and didn't go on another until they got older. Now we've got back in the groove again and always tell people it's the best vacation for the money and the experience.

[cruiser12]

This was after my daughter took her second --- her first was in 1989 --- graduation --- trip on Carnival's Festival---

In 1990 she took her second on Carnival's Tropical ---- came home and said " ma you have got to do this" --- Carnival is coming out with a new ship The Estasy - made out the check and before you knew it we were off --- that started my now long run --- of 33 cruises and now working on 34 and 35 ---

We love cruising so much so --- we cruised from New York to Bermuda in 2009 on Dawn ---for our son's wedding - we got to party for seven days and seven nights -- he was married in Bermuda at The Nine Beaches Resort --- there were 40 guests --- and we had a reception dinner in Cagney's -

[Andoria]

1980-I was 9. Had the best time of my life and it's one of my fondest memories as a child and I had a great childhood.

 

As an adult, my parents kept on nagging me to go on another cruise and I was against it. I heard of people getting sick and really I'm a total homebody.

 

Last year my SO asked me to pick any trip I wanted to take. I chose going on a cruise from NYC so I wouldn't have to fly. He surprised me with a balcony and I had a fantastic time.

 

I couldn't wait to schedule my next cruise and now I'll be going with my parents so they can quit nagging me:) Oh and I'll be flying. Talk about going out of my comfort zone.

[cruiser12]

Sorry --- Ecstasy --

[ALLMYKIDS3]

I won my first cruise when I was 8 years old (1967):D on a kids show in Miami.....Skipper Chuck (for those might have known the show) My mom and dad and 2 siblings went on our first cruise!!!! 2nd was at age 11 with my mom and grandma.:):pTook time off to have a family and the rest is in my sig :)

[ClCB0911]

23 years ago! and became addicted!!