We all started somewhere... where did you start?

[shipgeeks]

My first ocean voyage was in 1969, on a 12-passenger cargo ship, New York to Sydney, Australia over 42 days.  I loved it.

I got my wish to sail again in 1991, on StarShip Majestic.  4 days, as part of a one week Disney package.  With several hundred passengers, I was overwhelmed with how huge she looked from the pier.  We ported in Nassau, where we could walk along the pier and see several even bigger ships, but our other stop, at a private island, was cancelled due to weather.  I kept talking about cruises daily, from that point on, and have probably never stopped.

[Heidi13]

January 1976 on SS Uganda of British India SNCo. Cruised the meddy for a fortnight with 1,000 kids and 300 1st Class pax.

[Suzanne123]

Our first cruises were in 1983 on the SSNorway, an NCL ship, the largest cruise ship in the world at that time at 70,000 tons, followed the next year by Sitmar’s Fairsky.  The Norway was so elegant with beautiful crystal and table linens. The Fairsky had six or seven course meals including different pasta courses every night.

 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

I believe Alexandr Pushkin was renamed Marco Polo - which was my first.

Yes  

But the topic was  "where did you start? "

 

When she was  owned by Orient  we  did a Baltic /Norway  with them  they had added W/C facilities to the cabins by then  😉

 

Too bad  she went to the knackers

 

[Shmoo here]

10 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm curious about on what cruise line you made your cruising start.

Disney Cruise Line was first.  15 night Panama Canal from Port Canaveral.  

[CPT Trips]

‘82, a three day cruise to nowhere out of NYC on QEII. It was scheduled by Cunard at the last minute as it was the first cruise after being requisitioned for the Falkland’s War to carry regular pax. There were still signs of her wartime service that were being removed as we cruised.

 

https://www.beyondships4.com/queen-elizabeth-2-falklands.html

 

[SPacificbound]

We came late to cruising, had never even considered it until 2011.

 

We decided we were going to go to New Zealand and Australia in 2013, something I had always wanted to do. We were going to fly out of LAX to Auckland, and I got to thinking if there would be a more pleasant way to return. 

 

I started looking online and found Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas, 18 nights out of Sydney to Honolulu.

 

We spent 2 weeks in NZ, 8 weeks in OZ and we were ready to have some down time.

 

The day we boarded Rhapsody of the Seas we walked around looking at everything, had our first ever muster drill, got lunch. I was taking pictures like crazy, was on deck looking at the beauty that is Sydney. I was in awe of this beautiful ship, I was totally hooked before we sailed away. Jim kind of liked to too, what an easy way to travel. 

 

Since then we have continued with Royal Caribbean, and added Celebrity in 2015 and then Cunard when I figured out we could take Queen Mary 2 back and forth.

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Yes  

But the topic was  "where did you start? "

 

When she was  owned by Orient  we  did a Baltic /Norway  with them  they had added W/C facilities to the cabins by then  😉

 

Too bad  she went to the knackers

 

As I mentioned in my post, she WAS the first ship I booked. Earlier cruises had been my parents’s chooses.  She was a good size ship.

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, Suzanne123 said:

Our first cruises were in 1983 on the SSNorway, an NCL ship, the largest cruise ship in the world at that time at 70,000 tons, followed the next year by Sitmar’s Fairsky.  The Norway was so elegant with beautiful crystal and table linens. The Fairsky had six or seven course meals including different pasta courses every night.

 

Agreed - Norway was a beautiful ship - and NCL continued sailing her in “traditional” style - after all their other ships went “Freestyle” (to the bottom of the barrel).

[whogo]

July 1986, six nights on the 12 passenger boat San Pedro around the Galapagos Islands. Fellow guests were from Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands. Had a great time in basic accommodations with incredible wildlife viewing, but not the kind of trip to get one hooked on ocean cruising. Our second cruise was down the Danube from Vienna to the Black Sea (almost) on the Romanian boat Donau Stern. Our eleven month old son was a hit with the crew. A fellow passenger had the film confiscated from his camera for taking a photo of a passenger plane at the airport. Six months later Romanian leader Ceaușescu was overthrown.

 

Our first typical ocean cruise was on the short lived Seawind Cruise Line, seven days from Aruba, our ten month old daughter's first cruise.

[janetz]

1999

Celebrity Century ❤️

[antmaril]

NCL Starward in 1982.  We had an inside cabin and I remember being absolutely shocked when we opened the door and saw how small it was.  I think I had visions of “The Love Boat” in my mind.  😁.   Our next cruise was on The Big Red Boat in 1991.  Our son was four years old and we all big fun!  

[luvs2beachit]

Never ever thought about cruising until I won a cruise on Holland American for high sales from the company I was working for in 1991.  Went on the cruise with my family and that was it.  Hooked big time! Now, 60+ cruises later will be cruising with my adult kids and my grandchildren on their first cruise in June on the Venezia! Life has come full circle! 

Edited May 28, 2023 by luvs2beachit

[Ferry_Watcher]

Was a invited guest on the Sapphire Princess' Christening sailing in 2004 - a one night cruise out of Seattle.  I remember touring the spa area and just being wowed by it, as well as the entire ship.  We were assigned to a 'mini suite'.  Two years later we sailed to Alaska on HAL's Westerdam.  We will take our first extended cruise, also on the Westerdam later this year.

[hallux]

Wow, I started WAY later than many of you.  2014, Explorer of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) was my first ever cruise.  After that one it's a wonder I ever got on another cruise ship but I've done 5 more cruises since then.

[wwcruisers]

What a wonderful thread -- thanks for starting it, HB!👍

Ours was a 3-niter to Ensenada, out of Long Beach -- back in '86. The SS Azure Seas was an old converted ocean liner, with one tiny pool, and a 'gym' the size of a walk-in closet. And talk about tiny cabins! We had an inside cabin, down in the bowels of the ship. Unmovable (bolted to the floor) twin beds -- and a bathroom so small that the toilet was actually inside the shower! BUT -- the food was excellent and our fellow passengers were mostly repeat cruisers. When they learned that it was our first cruise, all of our dinner-table-mates took 'the new kids' under their wing, and turned our 'Cruising 101' experience into an unforgettable 3 days! ☺️

[CunucuMom]

Similar experience as @cruisemom42 and @StollyBolly with first cruise on Sitmar Fairwind in the early 70s when I was in high school.  I'll never forget the delicious food, pizza and the gorgeous midnight buffet complete with intricate ice sculptures.  My guess is the crew enjoyed having young passengers for a change and they were wonderful to my brother and me.  I remember having to use the hand dryer in the ladies room (Lido deck?) to dry my hair because the in-room plugs were either European or non-existent.  Fast forward several non-cruising decades and we're going on Celebrity this fall (first cruise for DH).

[DarrenM]

On 5/27/2023 at 11:22 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

Hi everyone.  I'm curious about on what cruise line you made your cruising start.

 

I'll go first.  My first cruise was on Carnival.  I have tried other lines since then, but my next scheduled cruise is on Carnival.

 

As always, please be considerate of others.  Not everyone can or want to start at the very top.

 

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Disney in 2002.

 

Much to my shame I cant remember the name of the ship.

 

There were lots of those little creatures on board, shudders, that I think you lot call children.

 

[DarrenM]

20 hours ago, CunucuMom said:

Similar experience as @cruisemom42 and @StollyBolly with first cruise on Sitmar Fairwind in the early 70s when I was in high school.  I'll never forget the delicious food, pizza and the gorgeous midnight buffet complete with intricate ice sculptures.  My guess is the crew enjoyed having young passengers for a change and they were wonderful to my brother and me.  I remember having to use the hand dryer in the ladies room (Lido deck?) to dry my hair because the in-room plugs were either European or non-existent.  Fast forward several non-cruising decades and we're going on Celebrity this fall (first cruise for DH).

After the one Disney experience, I have done 2 Celebrity cruises with a third coming up soon.

 

 

[DarrenM]

2 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Disney in 2002.

 

Much to my shame I cant remember the name of the ship.

 

There were lots of those little creatures on board, shudders, that I think you lot call children.

 

It was actually marvellous.

 

Went to Key west, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Disney private beach. I think that was all we went to.

 

The ship was wonderful. Despite the creatures.😉

[jsn55]

6 hours ago, DarrenM said:

It was actually marvellous.

 

Went to Key west, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Disney private beach. I think that was all we went to.

 

The ship was wonderful. Despite the creatures.😉

Other peoples' small creatures can be quite entertaining and enjoyable.  But usually they're completely over-shadowed by the brats.  The experience can be particularly grueling in a ship's environment.  It's a shame.

[sparks1093]

NCL Dream, 2 night cruise to nowhere out of Boston. We wanted to give cruising a try and it was the least expensive (in both time and money) to do that. Fell in love with it even though the Gulf of Maine was rough that time of year (and made rougher by the fact that the ship was only going fast enough to maintain steerage). Have been on NCL, Carnival and Royal Caribbean since, with Celebrity booked for 2025 (and a Carnival for 2024). (Of course the first cruise that got me hooked on the sea was on USS Boulder, but that's a different story and I didn't pay to be onboard.)

[Honolulu Blue]

On 5/28/2023 at 3:47 PM, wwcruisers said:

What a wonderful thread -- thanks for starting it, HB!👍

Thank you!  And thank you, and everyone, for replying with such wonderful stories.

 

I've heard about one each from those who started with Princess, Celebrity, and Disney.  Those are a bit upscale from the usual starting places.  I'm still waiting for those who started even more upscale - are there that few who do?  Or do they not hang out in places like this?

[jsn55]

18 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Thank you!  And thank you, and everyone, for replying with such wonderful stories.

 

I've heard about one each from those who started with Princess, Celebrity, and Disney.  Those are a bit upscale from the usual starting places.  I'm still waiting for those who started even more upscale - are there that few who do?  Or do they not hang out in places like this?

We didn't 'start' with it, but will never forget Radisson 7-Seas Athens to Istanbul.  I sneered at the '6-star' rating, but it was indeed a gorgeous ship with service to match.  We had a walk-in closet!  Loved every bit of that ship, crew and itinerary.

[frantic36]

8 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm still waiting for those who started even more upscale - are there that few who do?  Or do they not hang out in places like this?

 

There is nothing wrong with this board, it's an interesting place to hang out.🙂

My husband and I did a 3 day P&O Australia cruise to nowhere as an introduction in 2009. That was almost the first and last cruise. After researching we did a Seabourn Pride cruise 14 day Singapore to Hong Kong which got us hooked and we have sailed with them ever since with some diversion to Crystal and Silversea.