Tell Me about your first time.

[dublin]

How was your first crusing experience?

 

My first was on the Celebrity Meridian which left Philadelphia on 05/27/97 on a beautiful sunny and warm day. The next day we hit the storm of the century and I spent my first day in bed.

 

We saw nothing but rain in Bermuda and never saw sun until we arrived back in Philly 6 days laters.

 

Even with the horrid weather - I have been hooked ever since.

[pairodocs]

My wife and I took our first cruise on the Commodore Boheme back in the early 80's. The cruise left Miami and visited the ports of St. Thomas USVI, Porta Plata Dominican Republic and was supposed to have gone to Port Au Prince Haiti. The ship had problems with one of the engines and the Captain cancelled the Haitian port. We didin't mind too much because the Haitian government was reportedly shooting refugees out of the water aas they were trying to leave the country and something about boats and people being blown apart just didn't excite us. We really didn't want to see the country anyway (no sour grapes). As much as I can remember, everything was great, even with the small hitch with the engines. The Captain hosted a special dinner party complete with free wine and drinks to make up for the missed port. We had never been on a cruise and had nothing to compare to, but we really enjoyed ourselves (being newlyweds helped a bit). Since then we have been on the Carnival Paradise to Cozumel, Grand Cayman Islands and Jamaica. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on that cruise as well. We are eagerly awaiting September 5 to take our third cruise. This time on Celebrity Infinity to Alaska.

 

I guess you can say that cruising suits us. Something about being pampered while you travel from port to port without having to deal with making flights or driving from place to place and all that stuff there.

[tuggers]

was a Carnival cruise out of Pt C over Christmas. We took a bus provided by the cruise line from New Port Richey. I think we only went to the Bahamas and Key West as it was only 4 nights. The seas were awful, people were walking around with barf bags. I remember sitting in the casino and the lady next to me throwing up in one of the casino cups. The food was terrible and we were at a table with a lady and her two twenty something daughters who would not answer any question without looking at the mother first. Delightful! Then the last night I got sick. Rode that horrible bus home sick. Two days later I was in intensive care iwth a temp of 105 and bacterial pnuemonia. Lots of people got it (I found this out about 3 years later talking to someone else who got sick on the same ship). Mold in the a/c system. Anyway, I didn't take a cruise for 5 years or so but finally tried it again and have been hooked ever since!

[joramrose]

For all I know, my first cruise may have bee aboard one of the Chandris line.

 

It was more than 20 years ago. I sailed out of Athnes on a small Greek ship, in early May, for the first cruise of the season. The boat had been oversold, and we were two or three hours late leaving port until they could sort out who would be assigned a cabin and who would stay ashore.

 

A ship official finally asked me if I minded sharing (I was going solo) and I said No and they put me, I swear it was down in the hold, with the Cruise Director as a roommate.

 

I never will forget her face when she returned to her cabin and found me there. She said excuse me and hurried away, I guess to check to see what was happening.

 

She did come back and we got acquainted. She was a lovely French girl with the name Veronique. What a time I had with her. She took me to all he favorite haunts on each of the islands, and got me shopping discounts everywhere. And I heard all the ship's gossip.

 

Most of the passengers on board were British or French, but there was one group from Brown University in New England, and then me.

 

It was a memorable six days. We hit the major Greek islands, Crete and Patmos and also Kusadasi in Turkey for Ephesus.

 

No pool on that ship, but lots of dancing and the ouzo flowed freely. A great introduction into what has become a major travel addiction for me.

 

love

joan

[tuggers]

Very cool story!

 

Gail