Favorite Moments on Cruise Vacations

[Hlitner]

In these trying times it can be fun to reminisce so I started thinking about our favorite cruise moments.  Given that we have spent more then 1200 days (we do not know the actual number) on many cruises over 40+ years there have been many wonderful moments....but two stand out in our memory.

 

1.  Many decades ago, while on a Med cruise on the original Star Princess we were in Santorini on a gorgeous day.   When DW and I returned to the ship late in the day we quickly changed into swim suits and hopped (we were young enough to hop) into a hot tub located on one of the top decks.  As we sat in that hot tub the sun was getting very low in the sky and reflected off the buildings and cliffs of the nearby island.  For a few minutes the island had a wonderful golden hue that was truly magical.

 

2.  On one of our cruises to Istanbul DW and I were walking back to the port (from the Golden Horn area) in late afternoon.  As we neared the center of the Galata Bridge the Muslim call to prayer started to echo throughout the city just as the sun was setting and bathing the entire city in a myriad of colors.  The Call to Prayer was haunting and the view absolutely stunning.  To this day Istanbul remains one of our 2 or 3 favorite ports in the world.

 

Hank

[ldubs]

Sunny day.  Wine & bruschetta.  Sitting at a table under a big tree overlooking rolling hills full of olive orchards.  

[cruisemom42]

Hank, I bet you have so many more than just two!  I know I do. But I'll start with a few and then if this thread takes off maybe add a few more.

 

1.  Sailing into Venice. I know everyone talks about the sail-out, but I actually find the arrival much more moving -- no silly fanfare or commotion. Just standing at the bow in the early morning mist, the ship quietly approaching the flat land mass -- is it land or just a cloud bank? Gradually you get closer and the indistinct shapes begin to solidify into buildings, and then resolve into beautiful churches, bell towers, palaces with gothic arched columns and windows as you glide through the basin and into the Giudecca canal.... Never gets old.

 

2.  On a cruise where we had an overnight in Haifa, Israel, I booked a private tour with a guide who was highly recommended (he is an archaeologist AND specializes in Roman sites in Israel). It was just the two of us -- everyone else was interested in the various religious sites. We had a wonderful day seeing some off-the-beaten track sites but what I remember vividly is walking along the sandy beach at Caesarea with the ruins of the Roman aqueduct on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, and it was nearly sunset. We were looking for inscriptions left by the Roman legions who built the aqueduct.  The sun came slanting across the water and gave the stones of the aqueduct an unearthly golden glow. It was just one of those happy moments where you're doing what you most like to do in a beautiful setting, with someone who is as keen on ruins as you are.

 

[Hangman115]

One of My favorite times. 

Around 1995. The movie Casino had been released. I had my own weekly TV show in Las Vegas. I had my 50th cruise. this one sailed out of CA.  My cabin mate at the last minute backed out. I went on by myself.

As I began to unpack on embarkation day. I got a phone call in my cabin. It was the Captain.  He called me by my stage name. Invited me to come on the bridge after the Muster Drill and help him set sail.  He saw me on his TV while in CA. I spent the trip in his cabin. Dined at the Captains table. And his officers would welcome me aboard, using my stage name whenever they saw me. 

That was one of my favorite times on a cruise ship. Unexpectedly being treated like royalty by the ship captain  and his crew. 

I have been on 108 total sailings so far. My first was in the late 70's.  Overall I cannot recall ever having a bad cruise. Always seem to find something special about  cruise vacations.

[bonsai3s]

Hank, thanks for starting this thread.

 

Sigh...fond memories of our wonderful day in Yokohama and Tokyo.

 

First, we were welcomed by thousands of locals waving international flags with the song "Somewhere over the Rainbow"...sailing slowly into one of the most architecturally stunning cruise terminals in the world.  Our plan was to DIY from Yokohama to Tokyo.

 

We had a bucket list of things to do and visit........experienced being slowly pushed into a crammed train (check), wear kimonos (check), walked our way around the busiest Shinjuku train station (check), visited the Imperial Palace (check), eat sushi (check), visited the Meiji Shrine (check)...what a day!

 

But that wasn't even the best of part of that day. 

 

We were on a shuttle from the Yokohama train station back to the cruise terminal.  I said to my wife "I wished there was someone that could tell us where the triathlon was being held". (I knew the ITU triathlon was being held somewhere in Yokohama that day...I'm a triathlete and a huge fan.)  Lo and behold, an elderly Japanese lady politely responded to me "I can tell you...I'm a volunteer for the triathlon".  Incredible!

So she gave us directions and we made our way to the start/finish line of the triathlon course...it just so happened to be walking distance from the cruise terminal. Incredible again!

We get there...and all the triathletes were there practicing...just simply unbelievable.  We walked around and saw a gentleman wearing a polo shirt with a USA flag and introduced myself.  He just happened to be the coach/trainer for the USA triathlon team.  He invited us "inside the rope" and had my picture taken with Gwen Jorgensen...the best and No. 1 triathlete in the world.  Gwen Jorgensen won the gold medal in the Rio Olympics!  Yup, what a perfect day! 😊

 

[tropicalkerry2002]

Sailing from Stockholm in the fall, we had a deep rear facing balcony. We asked my brother and his wife to join us there and enjoyed champagne and other drinks.The late afternoon sun was shining directly on our balcony as we sailed through that breathtaking archipelago. The colours, the quiet, the beauty! We had music playing, and I got a little tipsy, and was dancing all over the balcony. After the sun set, we had a fabulous meal at one of the specialities. What a perfect start!

[whogo]

Fun topic, Hank.

 

We enjoyed many great moments cruising with our kids, can't choose just one. Our son first cruised at 11 months, our daughter at ten months. I think back to beach visits, snorkeling, a limo ride, Tivoli Gardens, the Ferris Wheel at Prater in Vienna (as featured in the movie The Third Man), and buying a Harry Potter book in Scotland before it was available in the US, lots more.

 

  I will repost this, I think I had a silly grin on my face most of the day:

On 11/6/2020 at 12:47 PM, whogo said:

Cartagena, Spain, November 6, 2016. We stumbled into a street fair. The streets were lined with booths  and crammed with people, lots of families with kids.This was fun, it was locals instead of tourists. I saw places selling salt lamps, soaps, handmade jewelry, incense, lavender pillows, bibs, wooden toys, pastries, New Age stuff, and candy, it went on and on, up one street and down another. We hung out at Plaza San Francisco where there was a bit more breathing room. A big tent was doing good business serving paella, ribs, sausage and drinks, looked good:

There was a little train giving rides around the square and a nifty four seat kiddie Ferris wheel that was powered by a hand crank. The operator balanced out the load by adding sandbags where needed:

 

Nearby a line had formed for the woman making potato chips and I was inspired to join the queue. She was great fun, chatting with the customers while she turned a crank to slice peeled potatoes into boiling oil. The operation was mesmerizing as she scooped the chips out to drain and then spread them out before piling them into a paper cone.

 

The crowd had a lot of fun with my lack of Spanish and her lack of English. I finally understood to hold up one thumb to place my order and did not understand the cost beyond the two euros. How much more? A fellow patron held up 50 cents and I paid to the cheers and applause of the crowd. The chips were delicious.

 

I am smiling as I post these memories.

 

[Aquahound]

Wow, this is a tough one to narrow down.  Whether is was my Godfather tour in Sicily to Savoca and Castelmola, Venice sailaway, glacier calving and brown bear sighting in Glacier Bay, eating lunch in a quaint cliffside bistro in Oia (Santorini), getting married in St Thomas, or many other great memories that come to mind, its' hard to say which is my favorite.  I'd just say the whole journey has been great.  🙂 

[electro]

Lots of great memories of places but this is one of my favorite personal moments.

In March 2018 I did the Baatan Memorial Death March in New Mexico.

https://bataanmarch.com

In April 2018 I was on a transatlantic cruise. I was walking down the hallway from my cabin one morning, wearing my t-shirt from the event with Baatan written across the front. A room stewart stopped me and asked if I had been to Baatan. I told him no and explained about the Memorial march that I had done the month before.

He told me his grandfather had been a POW in the Philippines and had survived the death march, but would never talk about it.

He then hugged me and thanked me for honoring his grandfather. It was very touching.

[ontheweb]

The one that immediately comes to mind is standing in front of the Acropolis, just a totally awesome experience.

 

Another is actually our very first port. I forget the name, but it was a tender port. There were various places you could go, and we chose Nice. We went to two museums (DW is an art teacher) Matisse and Chagall. Then DW wanted to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. She had me watch our stuff, and placed us immediately behind several topless French women. Just a wonderful start to cruising.

[cruisemom42]

I have some memories of cruising the Caribbean in the 1970s when pleasure cruising was in its infancy. 

 

I remember anchoring in some ports and young teens and kids would come out to the ship on small boats and would dive for coins tossed in by the passengers on deck. How very noblesse oblige -- makes me cringe a little now.

 

I also recall when shore excursions were a very inexpensive and laid back thing. I was cruising with my parents and we stopped in St. Lucia -- we wanted to go see the "drive in volcano". The ship arranged a tour for us which turned out to be in the back of a beat-up pickup truck (bench seats along the sides). It was just the three of us until one of the ship's headliners, an Italian opera singer, decided to join us. We saw the volcano, but driving back -- not sure whether the driver was just out of gas or whether there was some other problem -- the truck kept stalling out when driving down the steep narrow road. The driver somehow figured out that if we went backward down the hilly road (no guard rails) the truck would work. Luckily we didn't plunge to our deaths. When we got to flat land once again, the truck stopped for good. We had wasted a lot of time and were worried the ship might leave us, but the singer kept assuring us that the ship would not leave without him. Again -- this was well before the days of "if you take our shore excursion we won't leave without you."  And no cruise cards swiping you on the off the ship, so we weren't sure they knew we were missing. However when we made it back to the ship (maybe 45 minutes late), it was indeed waiting for us.

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by cruisemom42

[Heidi13]

My best memory is the TAR departures back in the 70's, when most pax had friends and family aboard. The ship was alive with an amazing buzz. As departure approached the herd moved ashore, with bands playing and thousands of streamers between the ship and shore.

[Ashland]

Many many great moments but most eventful was onboard Harmony March 2017 sailing with extended family and friends and our youngest son got engaged....He was so prepared...we were all so surprised and elated !!! That entire cruise was a celebration !!!!!

[shipgeeks]

Middle of the night, middle of the Atlantic.  I was slumbering blissfully in the cradle of the deep.

Husband wakes me, "You have to see this".  We take in the enormous bowl of black sky and its millions of brilliant stars.

Best wakeup call ever.

[bonsai3s]

Won the first 3 on 3 basketball tournament on the inaugural sailing of the Allure of the Seas...more amazing if you can see how much bigger and taller our opponents were.

[George C]

So many, my last cruise in February was special, we had a royal suite on Celebrity, fantastic suite, it was a rock and romance charter featuring some great music like America, Todd Rundgren, Rita Coolidge, Jefferson starship ,and many others , had a chance to talk to many of them , we see the artist in suite lounge and restaurant , interviews were super interesting on how they started etc , Don Felder of eagles was saying how he gave music lessons to a teenage Tom Petty etc .
 

seeing trunk bay beach for first time in late 1970’s was also very special.

 

Must add getting engaged on rccl some 3 years ago..

 

[jtwind]

OK.  I got this one!

 

We went on a Western Mediterranean cruise that had an overnight in Alexandria, which enabled us to go see the pyramids.  At the time we went, tourism in Egypt was insanely low.  My spouse and I were alone in the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid when an earthquake hit!

 

Here's the whole story.  We had arranged for 2 days with guides that we had hired.  They were to drive us from Alexandria to some lesser known pyramids south of Giza, then take us to our hotel, then a night show, and back to the hotel.  On the second day, we arranged for them to pick us up early to beat any potential crowds at the pyramids and Sphinx.

 

After breakfast on the ship the morning we arrived in Alexandria, we went back to the room to finish packing our overnight bags.  We had CNN international on the tv.  They announced that there had been a big earthquake in Turkey, which concerned us because Istanbul was also on the itinerary.

 

One of the pyramids we visited on the first day was the bent pyramid.  To get up to the entrance, you have to walk up a little way.  From that height, I could see other pyramids that were in ruins.  I asked the guide about them and he told us that there were fault lines in the area and that anything unfortunate enough to be built too close to one of those risked damage.

 

The next morning, we got started early enough that when we got to the Great Pyramid, me, my wife, our guide, and the driver were the only ones there.  My wife and I went in alone.  To get to the burial chamber, you have to walk on wooden ramps.  The way it is constructed, you can feel the foot falls of others on the same ramp.  It takes a little while to get to the chamber, but when we did, we were all alone.

 

After about a minute, I felt the ground shaking.  I had gotten used to this feeling because of the wooden ramps.  But, of course, when I looked down, we were on solid blocks.  What gave me a little comfort was knowing that this pyramid had never suffered any obvious earthquake damage.

 

When we got out, I asked our guide if he had felt an earthquake.  His eyes got big and he replied with a big "yes".  We noted the time and were later able to verify that there had been a big aftershock from the earthquake in Turkey at that exact time.

[navybankerteacher]

In the aftermath of 9/11 people were still not traveling much.  Single at that time, I found traveling on cruise ships one of the better ways to get  away.  On my first HAL cruise - in June of 2002 when checking in for my inside cabin on Maasdam (the only affordable way for me to cruise then) the agent asked if it would be OK if they switched me to a verandah, as the shop wasn’t sailing full.   Pretty nice when things like that happen.

[Joebucks]

Too many to list

 

Reaching Trunk Bay and being one of less than 10 people anywhere near there. The views on the way there were spectacular

 

Being one of the first people in half moon cay on our ship. Empty beach. Ran into the water, fish all around me. Fish jumping out of the ocean

 

My first ever foreign port of call was Cozumel. Had no idea what we were doing. Explored the island. Had a blast.

 

Seeing Jay Leno perform live on the ship

 

 

[bonsai3s]

I'm just going to keep reminiscing...

 

Just got off the tender, Renaissance Cruises, and into Bora-Bora.

We decided on the spot to hire a gentleman to take us to a motu (a small deserted island) and spent a glorious day swimming with thousands of fish and a majestic view of Mt. Otemanu...absolutely clear turquoise water, sand like baby powder, and my wife still have that memorable knee scar from her run-in with a corral.

 

We do cringed when we think back...What if the guy with the boat never came back to pick us up? or forgot? or was late?.........simply scary thoughts now.

[getting older slowly]

Pretty Simply...... boarding....walking up the gang plank and stepping on board

 

Is always a favorite moment

 

Don

[Laurie S.]

I have so many, but one will always be very special to me.  My fiancée and I were on our pre-wedding cruise on Carnival Legend, which was doing a repositioning cruise to Australia.  He used to be a professional musician and we loved karaoke.  We had a special song and on the last night, I got up to sing it to him.  Halfway through the song, something went wrong with the screen and it stopped displaying the lyrics.  I knew the Spanish lyrics, but hadn't fully memorized the English portion.  Russ got up, grabbed the other microphone, and went down on one knee in front of me to sing them to me.  After the cruise, we flew to Fiji where we got married on the beach, and then did an underwater ring ceremony (both divers).  I lost him four years later, three days before our fourth wedding anniversary.

[PromenadeDeckWriter]

Mine is sitting on the Promenade Deck of a HAL ship, all cozy on one of their teak deck chairs, and reading books while gazing out to sea. 

 

One particular moment I do remember, is from the Panama Canal crossing where I dashed down to the Promenade Deck after watching the first lock open from the bow of the ship. There, the canal walls were still rather high and as the lock flooded with water, the canal wall came down and we could see over the top of the wall - and TOUCH the wall. Amazing to see that feat of engineering, and be able to touch it. (An older gentleman sitting a few feet away glared at me and muttered, "You do that, you gonna get your finger chopped right off!" He probably was making a reference to one of the mules pulling the ship along, as we *could* have touched the mule tracks if we reached out far enough. But then, why come all the way and not swipe your finger on the canal wall? A hundred years worth of dirt and thousands of ships that passed before you? That's enough to bring on the goose bumps. That and the Panama buns they passed out - delicious and an excellent snack to mark the day. 

[kimlovesfl]

May 12, 2019, on the Coral Princess, in Glacier Bay National Park. It was a spectacular, sunny, clear blue sky day. Cold. The scenery and the whales and other wildlife makes this one of the most memorable days of my life. 

 

Everything on our Mediterranean cruise, but especially the lunch we had in Ibiza. Found a place that only sold cheese, Iberico ham, and sausages. We had a delicious sandwich of cheese and ham, and a soda, for 5 euros. Sat on a brick wall to eat, on a beautiful day. The beautiful port of Villefranche Sur Mer also stands out in my mind. Bought a photo of it, which hangs in our living room.

[gooch47]

Our favorites were the "Most Travelled Passenger" luncheons on Princess.  The food was always wonderful but even more so I enjoyed being recognized as a valued customer.

 

We also were invited to a couple of them with NCL but they no where came close to the special occasion that Princess offered.

 

I must say, though, that when Princess had cocktail parties instead of luncheons it was no where near as nice.