Most Memorable Cruise

[skyking]

Out of all the cruises we have been on, I am thinking without question the one we just did was the most memorable.   June 17th sailing of the Anthem out of Southampton, what an experience it was!!!!  

 

Here it is, would love to share it with you all. 

 

 

 

[sowhat]

A memorable  cruise  was on the
Serenade  of the Seas with  Captain  Karin and Hotel Director Sanjay  to celebrate  a birthday  and anniversary
Checking in at San Juan, told to wait for ships financial officer.
All sorts  going through our minds, we have paid  for the cruise?
The financial officer arrived and were informed  us that he is our dedicated  officer and escorted to our deck 9  balcony  cabin.
Came back from one trip  a shore, cabin decorated  with birthday  decorations  which we did not  organise
Next day same again but for 25th wedding anniversary, again we did not organise
On the night of the C&A  event, one of the officers  asked to meet her beforehand  to have a cocktail with her, no thank you as we  were  not attending the C&A event
She insisted so we agreed, we were  taken though a  crew area to a room next to the C&A event
All the high ranking crew were there wishing  happy birthday and anniversary
A big cake and a champagne toast , photos with Captain, Hotel Director, Guest Services Manager and lots of officers
Also invited to Captain's  table  plus dinner  at chops with the financial officer
Dinner in giovanni's with the guest service manager.
So much for being low key  and trying  to be invisible with no fuss

[John&LaLa]

33 minutes ago, sowhat said:

A memorable  cruise  was on the
Serenade  of the Seas with  Captain  Karin and Hotel Director Sanjay  to celebrate  a birthday  and anniversary

 

What year? Not sure I've ever heard of Karin

[sowhat]

38 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

What year? Not sure I've ever heard of Karin

Captain Karin  was  in a documentary  set in  LA port  with the Monarch  of rhe Seas
Also the first female captain before  Captain  Liz and Staff  Captain  Kate , who became  a captain  on Celebrity

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, sowhat said:

Captain Karin  was  in a documentary  set in  LA port  with the Monarch  of rhe Seas
Also the first female captain before  Captain  Liz and Staff  Captain  Kate , who became  a captain  on Celebrity

 

So the late 90's🤔

[sowhat]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So the late 90's🤔

No 2011 ish

[John&LaLa]

10 minutes ago, sowhat said:

No 2011 ish

 

Don't recognize anyone😇

 

Lots of D+ pins. Obviously pre Pinnacle time frame

Edited July 27, 2022 by John&LaLa

[sowhat]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Don't recognize anyone😇

 

Lots of D+ pins. Obviously pre Pinnacle time frame

You must only started cruising With RCG  recently

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, sowhat said:

You must only started cruising With RCG  recently

 

 

Sure, that's it🤣🤣

[footzz]

I can relate the most memorable cruise on RCL, but it was certainly not the best. It was in 2007 aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas. Practically the whole ship was under renovations during the cruise and it was a disaster.

 

First off, the Windjammer was closed because it was being renovated while under way with workers chipping away at the Travertine flooring with hammers and chisels for hours on end. The racket was truly obnoxious. This subsequently caused a major fuster cluck in the MDR because they set up a makeshift buffet down the entire center of the dining room during all meal service times creating a sea of humanity clamoring to get fed. It was the only cruise I've been on where the dining service was truly atrocious and a substantial numbers of tables went un-bussed the entire time.

 

During the cruise they were also replacing flooring and had huge bolts of materials lashed down all over the ship. The stench of whatever adhesive they were using to glue down the flooring was unbearable.

 

The pools were also closed because they were  refinishing metal stanchions and wooden railings in the pool area and on the open decks during the day while underway. The crew was using some highly volatile and odoriferous paints in very close proximity to the passengers. Unbelievably, one of the crew was painting the railings in the smoking section right next to people who were smoking. Fumes be damned.

 

Boxes of materials, bolts of carpet and paint buckets were to be found all over the ship, and the work continued both day and night. They weren't even trying to be inconspicuous. We decided then and there to rechristen her the Rehab Her on the Seas. We made the best of it, but that ship should have been in dry dock with the amount of work being done. After about 2 months of dealing with CS they finally issued a 50% off coupon for a future sailing. I'm sure I've forgotten some details, but is was one 'memorable' cruise.

Edited July 27, 2022 by footzz

[sowhat]

1 hour ago, footzz said:

I can relate the most memorable cruise on RCL, but it was certainly not the best. It was in 2007 aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas. 

We were  on Rhapsody  of the Seas  maiden  voyage  sailing from Miami sailing through Panama  canal
It was not completely  finished, still loading  beding ,  chairs, tables plants and equipment at every  port.

[ejnsb]

For us is has to be the Pride of America.   This was about 20 years ago, our son and future daughter-in-law were performers onthe ship.  Seventeen family members flew from Florida for a Thanksgiving week cruise.  At each port we rented two minivans and did as much as we could cram in.  We had a private audience with the Hawaiian ambassador on board.  The ladies got a private Lei building session.  We brought gifts and gave the kids an early Christmas party on our balcony.   Very special. 

[DiamondDiva23]

My cousin's 50th bday cruise on Oasis in 2012. 9 women 3 men. One of the women was my aunt who turned 83 while we were on the cruise. I never would've thought that I would be cruising with the oldest member of our family but she kept pace with us through all the dinners, nightclubs, excursions & CocoCay. She passed away a month after turning 90 in 2019. So glad we got to go on such a beautiful trip on a beautiful ship with a beautiful lady. Here she is with her 2 granddaughters.

[Ozzie26]

Oct 2005, we sailed Carnival Fantasy from Miami for a 2 day cruise with an overnight in Nassau. My brother was getting married at Sandals and it was the easiest way for us to attend the wedding. We were in Orlando and everyone else was SE PA. Everything was fabulous until the day after. Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida closing the Port of Miami for days. We were hit by a rogue wave so hard the slot machines pulled out of the floor and spilled coins everywhere. Fortunately no one hurt and out 3 day became a week long. 

[sowhat]

13 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Lots of D+ pins. Obviously pre Pinnacle time frame

I think the top cruiser had approximately 380 C&A  cruise points.
People sailed  for a vacation  and not for points like they seam to do nowadays

[sowhat]

14 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So the late 90's🤔

Serenade  of the Seas maiden  voyage was
August 2003

[UKWLDCruise]

For me I think it was the first cruise I took both my twenty something nieces away with me.  There was US immigration who suspected me of importing prostitutes,  I did complain by the way.  An upgrade to a junior suite on boarding, I had the previous occupants luggage for a few hours.  Winning over $3k in the casino and taking my nieces on a shopping spree in the Mall of America while waiting for our flight home.  

[ReneeFLL]

3 hours ago, sowhat said:

I think the top cruiser had approximately 380 C&A  cruise points.
People sailed  for a vacation  and not for points like they seam to do nowadays

Cruising for points is the same thing as being on vacation. You aren’t doing anything different and still having the same good time either way.

[sowhat]

16 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Cruising for points is the same thing as being on vacation. You aren’t doing anything different and still having the same good time either way.

On our last cruise , a  pinicale couple with their pinnacle  pins on, sat in a inside diamond  lounge  most of the day bragging  they had 24 cruises cancelled  and they booked more for double  points.

[John&LaLa]

4 hours ago, sowhat said:

I think the top cruiser had approximately 380 C&A  cruise points.
People sailed  for a vacation  and not for points like they seam to do nowadays


 

 

You do realize that in 2011, 380 pre conversion points was more like 2660 today. Depends on what time of year

[sowhat]

10 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

You do realize that in 2011, 380 pre conversion points was more like 2660 today. Depends on what time of year

Yes , that number was in today's terms or appropriate  44   sailng credits
 

Edited July 28, 2022 by sowhat

[Surfguyxxx]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

You do realize that in 2011, 380 pre conversion points was more like 2660 today. Depends on what time of year

Wow; I'll hit Pinnacle on my next cruise but 2660; that's impressive if you can do it.

[sowhat]

13 minutes ago, Surfguyxxx said:

Wow; I'll hit Pinnacle on my next cruise but 2660; that's impressive if you can do it.

It was not 2660 points,  it's approximately  44 cruise  points  on the old system, which is approximately  380 in the new point accounting  system
1 point per sailing on the old system  is 7 points on the new system

[watertraveler]

There's always something memorable about each and every cruise. Thank you for posing the question so I could go back and examine all of our past cruises!

 

Probably number one would be our 2005 cruise to the Sea of Cortez on the Spirit of Endeavor. We experienced the BEST whale watch EVER!!!, coming eye to eye with a humpback whale. We swam with sea lions and watched pods of dolphins swim alongside our ship. 

 

A close second, for another reason, was the cruise we took in 2007 on the Radiance of the Seas. We were excited because it was supposed to be an 8 day cruise but Jet Blue cancelled our flights out of Boston.  They told us to go home and rebook (right, it was February vacation!).  Luckily, we had booked our air through RCCL and the agent was able to rebook us out of Pittsburgh!  10 of us rented cars, drove to Pittsburgh and were put up in a hotel for the night.  We flew to San Juan the next day and met the ship having missed just the day at sea (we heard the weather was terrible so we didn't miss anything).  To this day, we joke about the cruise we took that left from Pittsburgh!

 

So grateful that we have all these memories to look back on!

[davy jones]

First cruise.  1982 on Holland America NYC to Bermuda.  You can't compare today to this, but I do like today's less formal vibe.

 

One you never forget for obvious reasons.  Explorer of the Seas 10/28/2012.  Hurricane Sandy.  For us, it was not nearly as bad as some said that it was.  The worst thing was that our car parked at Cape Liberty was one of many totaled by the flood.  Returning to the scene on 10/29/2022 for 10 year anniversary sailing.  Taking no chances, we will be parking a couple of levels up in the parking deck that has opened since then.