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Your first cruise ship


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I don't remember the name of the ship itself, but it was on Sitmar Cruises to Alaska, a year or two before it was bought out by Princess.

 

It was a 15-day from San Francisco with my grandparents, mom, aunt, cousins, and my brother. (The ladies left the husbands at home to work).

 

I was 9 years old and it was 1986.

 

Could have been Fairsea, Fairsky or Fairstar. DH was a crew member on Sitmar for 8 years, from 1978 to 1986. Then he met me. ;)

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1993 The Carnival Tropicale from San Juan to Caracas and Aruba. our 25th wedding anniv. hooked. we do our 20th cruise Nov from Galveston and our 21st from Galveston next Dec. Celebrating our50th wedding anniv on the Nov cruise.

 

Tropicale in LA, January 1983 :)

 

Scan_zpsdzfsoa5d.jpg

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My first was on the Britanis (owned by Chandris, now Celebrity) in 1987. It originally set sail in 1932, but, I didn't appreciate it's diverse history. It had most of the modern amenities, but, I knew that there were nicer ships out there.

 

And, yes, I was HOOKED. The food and service was amazing. Being on a ship is a great feeling.

 

It was a 7 night cruise from Montego Bay, Jamica to Aruba (gorgeous); the San Blas Islands; Cartegna, Columbia; and Colon, Panama. It was a great way to see these new places.

 

The OP's m/s Viking Serenade was actually my second cruise when it was owned by Admiral Cruise lines and was called Stardancer.

Ours was Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's m/s Viking Serenade, a converted car ferry, back in NOV 1991, a 3-day L.A. - Catalina Island - Esenada, Mexico - L.A. cruise. Never forget our first impressions - we were hooked from that day on!

Ship+Photo+ISLAND+ESCAPE.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
Dolphin Oceanbreeze out of Aruba through southern Caribbean in December 1992

 

 

 

That was the renamed Royale which was my first cruise, in April 1984.

She rests on the bottom of the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia.

Wonderful ship.

 

 

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That was the renamed Royale which was my first cruise, in April 1984.

She rests on the bottom of the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia.

Wonderful ship.

 

 

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The OceanBreeze was the former SS Southern Cross.

 

The SeaBreeze was the former Star/Ship Royale.

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Well, I'm a relative newcomer at cruising. I had never thought much about cruising--never thought I would enjoy it. There was a married couple at work who were cruise enthusiasts and justraved about the whole thing. It just didn't seem to intrigue me at all. I figured (literally) "whatever floats your boat."

 

When my wife and I retired a few years ago one of the first things we did was apply for our passports. Our first cruise was actually a promotional giveaway from a local land-based casino. We figured that the cost of flying to Miami and the port charges were worth figuring out what cruisingwas all about.

 

So, a couple of years ago we sailed on Majesty of the Seas to Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West. Reading reviews about the oldest ship in RC'sfleet made me skeptical about it, but it was just fine in my book. I kind of liked the fact that it wasn't the newest or biggest. I figured that if I liked sailing on an older ship then I would enjoy the newer and bigger ships,too.

 

I was immediately hooked on the whole idea. I have always loved to travel and cruising allows one to see several places on a single trip without the hassle of packing everything up between each destinations. I definitely like the hotel moving, not moving to a new hotel. Certainly, as this website has shown,cruising has a lot of things that a lot of people don't like. But geez, if you look at the big picture--it is a wonderful way to see the world.

 

We spend an awful lot of the sea days (and money) in the casino, and because of this we have been given offers for future sailings. Soon after our inaugural Bahamas trip we reserved a cabin on Explorer for a 7 night Alaskan cruise. And before we did that trip we jumped at the chance to visit Cuba on Empress. Currently we are booked to travel to Spain and France on Navigator.

 

A lot of the amenities on the bigger ships (like the Flow Rider, zip lines, ice skating rinks) are simply amazing that they are available on cruise ships, but frankly, they are not things that I would actively partake in. Rather, they are non-participatory sightseeing activities.

 

The fact that we are going to gamble in casinos whether weare at home or vacation has made another of our avocations--traveling--so much better by subsidizing some of the travel costs.

Edited by JPSemprini
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  • 3 weeks later...

1982 Western Caribbean NCL Southward, in my middle 30's thought I was really living! I had an outside cabin, designed as a single, no extra charge. I was hooked, especially as our ship sailed past the ssNorway, knew I wanted to try it next! Eastern 7 day cruise '83 ssNorway, booked a transatlantic England to Miami on the Norway 1984.

 

My dad always talked about going to Sweden by ship with his parents. After 2 seven day cruises, I thought I need to do a transatlantic, then I was really hooked. Sailing on the Norway was special. I did TA's both directions, east bound and west bound, glad I did them on the Norway. I've done more since, of course, but being on a ship built for crossings was unique.

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  • 5 weeks later...
1985 Sitmar "Fairsky" 14 day from San Francisco to Alaska...Oh yes I do miss the good ole days of cruising...Skeet off the back and Cigars in the lounge!!!!

 

 

 

She became Sky Princess which was my first Princess cruise. Wonderful ship!

 

 

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1985 Sitmar "Fairsky" 14 day from San Francisco to Alaska...Oh yes I do miss the good ole days of cruising...Skeet off the back and Cigars in the lounge!!!!
DH was a crew member on Sitmar back then, although he worked on the Fairwind and Fairsea. He loved his 8 years on board those ships and often talks about his experiences. In fact, once he gets started, you can't turn him off. [emoji23]

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

August 1992 on the Carnival Celebration from Miami.  We sailed to San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Martin.   Hurricane Andrew hit SoFL while we were out so Miami did not look the same when we got back.  We were able to avoid it for the most part but did have one rough evening at sea.  The Celebration is now part of the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line (Grand Celebration). 

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Our first cruise was the Hawaiian cruise done on the SS Constitution, of the American Hawaii company.  It was retired and sank on the way to the breakers in 1995.

 

Yup, hooked.  And just in passing, the Norwegian Pride was built to at least some extent to replace the advantages the Constitution and the Independence had in the Hawaiian Islands.

 

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1966 or ‘67 

Transatlantic from Genoa, Italy to NY 

ship was the Raffaele. I was 6 or 7 running loose around the ship. 

Dont remember how many days it took but we, my sister (8) and I, kept ourselves  busy with the childrens activities available at the time.

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