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.