HAWKSBY

Took a 4-day cruise out of LA as a booster shot following my first cruise in to the Carib about 1983. It was a beautiful old ship, clearly made for the Atlantic crossing trade, -very "nautical", with lots of brass and wood. In those days the bridge tour included a turn at the wheel if you wanted one. My wife turned the wheel so hard the ship took a good roll and they lost a lot of glassware down below- Those were the days.

I had two great cruises on Stardancer- a year to the day (almost) apart. Both went to Mexico and the first one was disrupted by Hurricane Roslyn. We had to tender in to Puerto Vallarta in the rain and missed Mazatlan and Cabo entirely. We did go into Ensenada, which hadn't been on the schedule, and we had a wonderful time. The seas were about 30 feet and the main rooms were pretty much empty, but the casino was hot. At Vallarta we took our excursion guide to Le Kliff and got him blotto on tequila-that was a terrific tour !

Because there were a bunch of people taking advantage of Stardancers vehicle ferry capabilities, a lot of people didn't get to take their vehicles off at Vallarta or Mazatlan. In those days you could book a trip to one or the other ports rather than the round trip. So- on a warm afternoon while we were enjoying the sun on deck the Captain announced all passengers would get a free cruise, which we did the following year . That time we hit all the ports but it wasn't half as much fun as the hurricane.

Those were the glory days of cruising and the Stardancer was a beautiful ship with a great international staff and glorious food.