Best Thing You Have Ever Seen or Witnessed on a Cruise

[Junkhouse]

Most of the time we see negative things associated with the cruise line or cruisers. What is the best thing you have ever witnessed on a cruise?

 

For me it was a cruise where there was an emergency call for blood donations for one of the passengers. By the time my DW and I made it to medical, over 80 passengers had volunteered to donate blood. Most people are good and yet we fall into the trap of only reporting the negative things. Enjoy life!

[Cruise or Lose!]

The hard work and relentless good humour of the crew never cease to inspire me.

 

 

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[Pellaz]

The hard work and relentless good humour of the crew never cease to inspire me.

 

Absolutely. Having done more behind-the-scenes tours than I can count on one hand, I've gotten a real appreciation of the challenges a ship's crew faces. That they do so (usually) with good humor and a smile is nothing short of amazing.

 

I can think of a few personal "best things" from cruises....

 

-- On the Majesty....I was returning to the ship on the last tender from CocoCay. I had met the Captain the night before and chatted about an upcoming full-ship charter, so maybe he remembered me, but as we were approaching Majesty on the tender I saw the Captain standing on the bridge wing getting ready to fire up the thrusters (the anchor chain was already being winched in). I stood up and fired off a jaunty salute, and the Captain turned to someone behind him. Couple of seconds later the ship's horn blew...just for a second, but it was cool that he blew it for me. :)

 

-- On Carnival Imagination we were returning to Miami from Cozumel, past Cuba. It was very late, about 2 am, and I was hanging out on the otherwise-empty pool deck with some friends. The ship had sailed only 70% full and there didn't seem to be anyone else awake but us. Suddenly we saw something bright approaching and we ran across the deck to see...another Carnival ship, Conquest-class, passing right by us (no more than a few hundred feet away), clearly an intentional close pass. It was as if they had devised a special event, just for us, as the only pax still awake. It was the kind of moment that helps "make" a cruise.

[CruiseAir747]

Marrying my wife.

 

Will I get brownie points if she reads this??

[larka]

Hundreds of crew members from many many many countries all working together to make the passengers vacation the best ever. And the thousands of happy vacationers sailing with them. Why can't the people of all nations live and work and interact together in peace and harmony like all of these wonderful people on cruise ships. It's a beautiful sight to behold and experience.

[bradsnana]

The most heartwarming thing I have ever seen on a cruise was a single father cruising with his down syndrome daughter. She looked to be in her late teens. . It made my day to see them having breakfast together every morning, walking the jogging track, but the best waswhen they were at the Zumba classes on the pool deck every morning!

She would do her best to keep up and Dad was right there next to her. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning coffee watching them work out together. The joy on her face was contagious. Formal night was another treat. She was all dressed up and Dad wore his tux. Seeing them every day made my vacation twice as enjoyable.

[vacationlover_mn]

My husband wasn't feeling well (which I didn't know at the time, and it was before we knew much about Norovirus), and he didn't want to disappoint me, so we got off the ship for our horseback riding excursion. All of a sudden he starts running over to the water (I didn't know why at the time, turns out he felt sick to his stomach and didn't want to get sick on the pier), and collapses and passes out. Tons of people come over to help us, including 2 passengers that were very helpful- a doctor who didn't speak English and an EMT. They helped get DH into a good position, helped as he woke up, gave him sips of water, and kept me calm, until help from the ship arrived.

 

Onboard the ship the doctors were fantastic! It turns out that he had pretty bad norovirus, and was dehydrated. They gave us free meds (including an anti-nausea shot that I needed to, because by this time I was starting to feel sick too), and were just great. Granted, we were then quarantined for a couple of days, which was not fun. But, the help we received was just amazing :)

 

This happened when we were onboard the NCL Dream in 2004. Back when we were still pretty new to the cruising thing :)

[The sea calls my name]

Most of the time we see negative things associated with the cruise line or cruisers. What is the best thing you have ever witnessed on a cruise?

 

For me it was a cruise where there was an emergency call for blood donations for one of the passengers. By the time my DW and I made it to medical, over 80 passengers had volunteered to donate blood. Most people are good and yet we fall into the trap of only reporting the negative things. Enjoy life!

 

Very nice thread . There are so many more positive moments than negative, yet as in life and the news, it is the negative that people senselessly focus on. Thank you for this. Truly in my 28 years of cruising, I would have to search hard to find a truly " negative" event. It has all been good, or maybe I am just blessed to see life as a half full glass.

[pink845]

Best thing I have seen and experienced. My medical student son coming to the aid of a woman who had tripped and fallen off her very high heels after a little too much bubbly. In happened in front of the bar, she had fallen forward and ended up with a huge goose egg on her forehead. Luckily, he got some ice from the bar and tended to her until the medics on board arrived, which took forever. No more pictures for her.

[celebrity]

Keep em coming! Best thread ever!

[grest]

We were on the Veendam out of Tampa. As we left Honduras, then a new port, certainly not fancy or built up, we learned that it was the last cruise of the season. There were few ships that went there, and the locals were so grateful for the tourism in this poor country. So, just before we took off, people started to appear near the ship....hundreds of vendors, transportation people, children...they were singing, saying thank you in all the ways they could think of, seeing us off. What a wonderful sendoff!

[OC PAT]

It is so hard to nail down only one positive experience since we have had so many. My top 3;

 

1. We travel with a group of friends every three years. Sadly, on the next to last night, one of the men had a massive heart attack and died. He was barely in his 50's. We were all devastated. Why is this a highlight....? Because the ship and crew came together for us and his widow and sister from including our tribute and prayer in the Sunday morning service, to guiding the family as to what will be expected and arranging for a family member to fly from Washington, DC to be with the widow. RCCL response made me a life long fan of their company.

 

2. I am sentimental and proud of our country so I was deeply impressed when we were on our Alaskan cruise that they had a Memorial Day service on the deck early morning in Glacier Bay (which I call God's Cathedral). They had a vet ( a Seabee) who was a passenger speak and one of the crew singing Patriotic songs. My dad was a Seabee in WWII and wow, talk about tears.

 

3. Finally, I just love the Parade of Flags when crew members carry their flag from their whole country. The joy in their faces is very touching and understandable.

[Keith1010]

The dedication of the crew who work so very hard to make each cruise special.

 

Keith

[Dcoy]

I was traveling solo on a Queen Victoria world cruise. About two weeks into the trip, I didn’t feel well one day and did not go down to dinner. About 20 minutes after dinner started, my cabin phone rang.

 

It was my head waiter checking on me. He wanted to make sure I was ok (not dead) :eek: and offered to have my dinner delivered to my cabin. It was nice to know that even traveling solo, someone was making sure I was OK.

 

Don

[capriccio]

This was on a river cruise of the Seine with Uniworld in May 2016. The highlight for us (and DH and I had been there before) was the visit to the Normandy Beaches. All 3 tour groups met up at the American cemetery for a 2:30 special service arranged (and I presume, paid for) by Uniworld. Veterans on our cruise laid a wreath, the Star Spangled Banner was played over the public address system (and loud enough to be heard throughout the cemetery - every visitor, regardless of nationality, stopped and faced the American flag), then a jet (we think it was French but we were so surprised no one was quite sure) did a fly over, followed by Taps over the public address system. I can truthfully say there wasn't a dry eye among all the Uniworld cruisers (and many others I would guess). It was one of the most touching experiences I've ever had.

[The sea calls my name]

This was on a river cruise of the Seine with Uniworld in May 2016. The highlight for us (and DH and I had been there before) was the visit to the Normandy Beaches. All 3 tour groups met up at the American cemetery for a 2:30 special service arranged (and I presume, paid for) by Uniworld. Veterans on our cruise laid a wreath, the Star Spangled Banner was played over the public address system (and loud enough to be heard throughout the cemetery - every visitor, regardless of nationality, stopped and faced the American flag), then a jet (we think it was French but we were so surprised no one was quite sure) did a fly over, followed by Taps over the public address system. I can truthfully say there wasn't a dry eye among all the Uniworld cruisers (and many others I would guess). It was one of the most touching experiences I've ever had.

 

Just reading this brings me tears. I have not been to the Normandy Beaches ( a bucket list item for sure) but I have been to The Luxembourg Cemetery with Patton's grave and the brave men from the Battle of the Bulge . I can only imagine what sense of national pride and gratitude was felt by all of you. That would definite be at the top of my cruise list. Thank you for sharing.

[celebrity]

This was on a river cruise of the Seine with Uniworld in May 2016. The highlight for us (and DH and I had been there before) was the visit to the Normandy Beaches. All 3 tour groups met up at the American cemetery for a 2:30 special service arranged (and I presume, paid for) by Uniworld. Veterans on our cruise laid a wreath, the Star Spangled Banner was played over the public address system (and loud enough to be heard throughout the cemetery - every visitor, regardless of nationality, stopped and faced the American flag), then a jet (we think it was French but we were so surprised no one was quite sure) did a fly over, followed by Taps over the public address system. I can truthfully say there wasn't a dry eye among all the Uniworld cruisers (and many others I would guess). It was one of the most touching experiences I've ever had.

 

My husband and I were privileged this past October to take a cruise and took a private tour of the Normandy Beaches. It was a huge bucket list item for me as my Uncle, was killed there. When we arrived at the American Cemetery, we too had a beautiful ceremony with the National Anthem played as we stood at the entrance looking at all the graves.

We were then asked to make an about face to look at the beautiful sculpture dedicated to all the brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. It was then that they played Taps and I can assure you there were many tears shed and no one took a knee. Sorry if that remark offends some.

It was one of the most moving days of my life and I truly wish everyone could visit there at least once.

To stand on Omaha beach and see the 100 ft cliffs that the Army Rangers scaled, is truly humbling. Think about it, to me they were still babies at 18 or 19 and their heroics changed the course of the war.

By the way, it was truly heartwarming to see the French have never forgotten as you see the American flag flown throughout the region.