What Are Your Top 5 Memories Of Your First Cruise?

[Dutchman]

1. Seeing the ship up close and how big we thought it was, (Imagination) how things have changed. Pre the bigger ships.
2. Walking into the atrium the first time, we thought WOW
3. Shows, they were Las Vegas at that time. They were the best at the time.
4. MDR, food was new and great, also the waiters for the first cruise.
5. Our first cruise and we hit 30 ft waves 2nd night going across the bottom of the gulf, it had our attention, after that weather was perfect the rest of the cruise.
34 cruises later how different it is now.

[showcat]

1.The excitement of walking on board my first cruise ship!
2.New Years in July!
3.My first snorkel and seeing all the fish in Freeport
4.Finding this beautiful little beach on a scooter I think it was Cabbage beach in Nassau.
5.Laying on deck in the sun watching the ocean and thinking of my coworkers and boss stuck at work!

[BobMiller]

Each cruise has had its own set of special memories but they all seem 10 times bigger on the first cruise

1) We spent a day before our cruise exploring Miami and were blown away seeing the docked ships as we drove across the causeway. Each time we saw the ships we became more excited about leaving on one.

2) Our first Sail away as we stood at the rail with foo-foo drinks in hand and passed cars on the same causeway that we drove on the day before. We were on our way just like we anticipated the whole previous day. Cars honked, people waved, guys were stunt riding on their motorcycles and jet skis played in the ships wake. The whole city seemed to party for us. Although sail away has always seemed more sedate than that ever since, sailing from Miami is still seems more special than any other port.

3) The view of the Ocean from cliff behind the main temple at Talum where the palm trees grow out of the cliff side slanted out to the ocean like attempting to shade the beach below. We took photos there that my DW enlarged and put in her office as a stress reliever. Several people have actually recognized the location.

4) Our first cabin steward that no one has ever been able to live up to since. I had the feeling that if I stepped out the door and turned around to go back in it would be suddenly tidy with fresh linens and a chocolate or towel animal to greet me.

5) The feeling that I was no longer bound to my home country with my first step outside of the United States from the tender to Grand Cayman.

[robh]

What A great review
You must have enjoyed yourself
I had boss in BCSC called Bob Miller
Assume not you
Rob.

[BobMiller]

No, but I sometimes work with BCBS and have an employee named Rob.

Thanks. That was one of the cruises where our nieces traveled with us and seeing new things through their eyes always adds a bit of awe and wonder.

[robh]

Originally Posted by BobMiller

No, but I sometimes work with BCBS and have an employee named Rob.

Thanks. That was one of the cruises where our nieces travelled with us and seeing new things through their eyes always adds a bit of awe and wonder.

What a coincidence.
BCSC was a major computer centre for the Governemnt of British Columbia in Canada and I at the time worked as a senior analyst for Medical Claims
Sounds like BCBS is medical also

Cheers

[texaspepper]

Great memories Bob. . .I guess the people in Miami never get tired of seeing cruise ships going up and down that channel. . .like you said cars honking, boats honking and people waving. . .We sailed into Miami on RCL Voyager of the Seas sailing from Barcelona to Galveston. . .and arriving at 6am in the channel same thing. .honking horns, people waving. . .and when the ship departed at midnight it was the same

Arriving in Miami after being at sea 13 days from Barcelona, Spain. We arrived 7am and departed 12:01AM


Sunset at sea. . .



Our Cruise Photos

[Keith & Rita]

Our five top memories are from the Carnival Sensation out of Miami in 1997. It was our first cruise and it was for our delayed honeymoon.
1) Seeing the 2 European ladies strip down to the their bras and panties for the sail-away!
2) The ship's horn blasting as well as another Carnival ship's horn blasting as we pulled away from the pier
3) Sleeping until 3 o'clock the next afternoon. Apparently the we were back in our cradles from the rocking motion of the ship! Our room steward later told us he checked on us twice to make sure we were still breathing!
4) Our first formal diner with Rita getting up and doing the Macarena with the wait staff.
5) Our first snorkel trip to Buck Island on a sailboat and the Captain playing Jimmy Buffett music full blast as we raced another sailboat back to St Thomas

[RobertZanzerkia]

Everything was wonderful about this cruise :-)
We took RCCL Granduer of the seas from Miami (I think it was Eastern Caribbean, though at the time ports didn't matter :-))

Me, wife and 2 girls (7 and 3).
1) Taxi to pire and seeing the ship WOW! she looked beautiful.
2) Port of call - San Juan, PR almost missed the boat :-)
7yr old developed cough which got worse with ocean air.
Spent the day looking for doctor in PR, then took her to hospital and getting the medicine realized it was getting late, flagged the cab driver gave him $20 and said take me to pire as fast as you can :-) When we reached they were about to pull up the gang-way... Ran through gates on pire and got on ship. Caught breath and went to room.
3) After #2 when we went to cabin an envelop waited in the room with keys to a balcony suite upgrade free took away all the stress of that day...
I had interior room which ended up under disc bar (little did I knew about room locations ). When I talked to service desk they gave me ear plugs.
Next night I asked if they can move us, they said to wait till next port.
Which is why after #2 they gave us free upgrade. Next day on 7yr was fine and enjoyed the rest of the cruise.

4) Wonderful food and watching sunset over ocean.

5) Watching my girls enjoy the ship, 3 year old enjoyed the most.

Robert

[BigStickKenobi]

1.The excitement of walking on board my first 5 day cruise!
2. Sitting there with my life jacket on in the wrong muster station.
3. Drinking
4.Being scared of those damn stingrays my wife made me swim with and watched as I jumped straight out of the water and took pictures of her.
5.Sleeping

[Aerogirl]

1. The amount of stars when your out to sea.
2. The midnight buffet.
3. Sitting on my balcony listing to my then walkman totally relaxed.
4. All the diner menu choices.
5. The ship

[mouche]

Originally Posted by texaspepper

What. . .twin beds that would make into a queen. Ah, that had to be not so fun. Well it was a long time back and maybe they had not thought about this trick. Don't you wish you could do another 5 day for $500 pp with air. Well, you have Galveston now and some great cruise bargains. Thanks for the memories.

Our room on the Fantasy out of New Orleans. . .the bed did join. . .helps the marriage

All our Fantasy Photos

Just looked at all your Fantasy Cruise photo's and there awesome!!! I will be on her in May (Lord willing)

[mouche]

1. Seeing the Ship from the car (Fascination out of Miami)
2. See the atrium and lights
3. The Casino
4. The MDR food
5. The wake

[CarolinaGirl]

Originally Posted by texaspepper

What Are Your Top 5 Memories Of Your First Cruise?

We just got back Saturday from our first cruise. Some of it is just a blur, but these are the top things I can think of -
1. Laying on the bed the first night and thinking of the Poseidon adventure. I finally realized that I'd never heard of a tidal wave hitting Florida so I went to sleep.
2. So much good food at the buffet.
3. Meeting new people each night at the Celebration Dining Room.
4. The farewell party with free drinks.
5. Making a towel elephant for my steward before we left and leaving his tip on it to suprise him.

[Snoozeman]

It was in the 1970's and really don't remember very much from that decade.

I really don't remember, could have been the Norway, but probably a Princess ship from Miami, Port Everglades wasn't really used in those days.

[JimInBuffalo]

This is not about our first cruise but the first time that I ever saw a Cruise Ship and decided that I had to go on one.

We were in Jamaica in Ocho Rios at the Mallard's Bay Resort in 1979. This was the first trip like this that we had ever taken. I woke up on our second morning there and opened the curtains to our balcony on the 5th floor that looked out onto the bay. I was shocked to see the largest ship that I had ever seen in my life.

I quickly woke my wife up and had her look at it. We then got dressed and walked around the bay over to the pier so we could get a close-up look.

I will never forget that sight. We later started sailing and are now scheduled for our 18th cruise in February and it will be our first with our grandchildren, ages 6 and 4.

-Jim

[Thoth]

My first time was the old Enchanted Capri from New Orleans...a bargain cruise
1) the staff and fellow guest were so friendly
2) the games were so much fun
3) the entertainment was exciting
4) the ports exotic
5) the sea itself and it's calming effects

[mbleezy]

Being groped by creepy, dirty Carnival band members at the all night ´Club´if you could call it that. Worst entertainment ever. Now i know why so many ugly people like these ´fun´ 24 hour our ****-discos. The dropout f%%%up on drums wasnt much better, eye-f%%%%%% me all night.

Gross. Ill never cruise again.

[mbleezy]

all the ships look the same. why post x3????? waste if webspace.

[oriema2002]

First cruise was aboard the MS Starward (NCL) 26 years ago.

Top 5 Memories

5. The ice sculptures at the daily midnight buffet (they don't even have midnight buffets anymore)

4. Tony, one of our fellow paasengers who was always drunk and who was rumored to have set a new one week NCL record for consumption of alcohol. (What a bar bill he must have had)

3. Resupplyiing the ship in St. Thomas (Just like a military operation)

2. The cleanliness of the ship

1. The friendliness and the genuine concern of the cruise director and his staff. The best cruise director we ever had, Danny Corbeille (sp?)

After that cruise we were hooked!!!

Starward (NCL) Sept 1987
Seaward (NCL) Nov 1990
Regent Star (Regency) Dec 1991
Tropicale (CCL) Aug 1993
Regent Spirit (Regency) Jul 1994
Discovery II (Discovery) Dec 1994
Song of Norway (RCCL) Dec 1995
Costa Victoria (Costa) Dec 1996
Galaxy (Celebrity) Jul 1997
Noordam (Hal) Jul 2001
Carnival Spirit (CCL) Dec 2001
Grand Princess (Princess) Jul 2002
Carnival Glory (CCL) Dec 2003
Norwegian Spirit (NCL) Dec 2004
Carnival Legend (CCL) Dec 2005
Radiance of the Seas (RCCL) Dec 2006
Norwegian Jewell (NCL) Jul 2007
Carnival Liberty(CCL) Dec 2007
Norwegian Majesty (NCL) May 2008
Star Princess (Princess) Dec 2008
Diamond Princess (Princess) Dec 2009
Norwegian Dawn (NCL) Nov 2010
Royal Princess (Princess) Dec 2010
Diamond Princess (Princess) Oct 2011
Oasis of the Seas (RCL) Dec 2011
Brilliance of the Seas (RCL) Aug 2012
Allure of the Seas (RCL) Oct 2012
Pacific Princess (Princess) Dec 2012

Upcoming:

Royal Princess (new) (Princess) Nov 2013
Norwegian Spirit (NCL) Dec 2013

[beachbum13]

Carnival Fascination - Not in any order...

5) The ship. I just love being on a cruise ship. Worries far behind with the real world and nothing but fun and relaxation ahead.

4)Standing on the deck late one light in the moonlight and realizing I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend.

3) The dinners. We really enjoyed our food and the wait staff was top notch. Even with a couple of picky kids!

2) Day at the beach in Cozumel. It was the perfect day! Beautiful water, nice beach, lots of water sports and good food & drink.

1) Pirate Dinner Cruise (excursion) in Cozumel - Our kids were the only kids on the cruise and everybody went out of their way to make sure they had fun. Our whole family had so much fun and laughed so hard! And we got really drunk by the end of the cruise