Your first cruise ship

[Dobermangal]

[FK1NT8T9G5QMFONT=Comic Sans MS]Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam III, operated for HAL from 1983 until 2000 when "R" class ship Amsterdam joined the fleet. Then became 'Patriot' for American Classic Voyages (company went bankrupt after the 9/11 attacks in 2001). Patriot was reacquired by HAL and chartered to Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Line. She is currently operating under a sub-charter for UK-based Thomson Cruise Line as Thomson Spirit[/font]

 

 

Thank you! Seeing that photo brought back all the wonder I felt when I saw her for the first time. Beautiful ship. Amazing cruise.

[KenNMB]

John, Thank you, Sir! What a project you've taken on for yourself! I am sure that those of us you've gifted with both a photo and a bio of our first cruise-ship crush are as grateful as I am. Do you ever post your future cruises? Appreciate your kindness! Ken & Mary

 

 

KenNMB

Volendam: NYC to Bermuda (1978)

Nieuw Amsterdam Seattle to Alaska (2007)

Noordam: Port Everglades TA to Rome (2014)

Zuiderdam: to Panama (partial) (2015)

Veendam: Port Everglades to Montreal (Spring 2016)

Zuiderdam: Quebec City to Port Everglades (Fall 2016)

[Copper10-8]

I was on the Ryndam coming back from a summer of classes at Oxford following my graduation from High school. It was a different ship than now and I remember the dining room had a raised wooden edge on the tables to keep the plates from sliding off. We had a bunch of students on board and our rooms were inside cabins with built in bunks. The bunks also had a raised wooden edge to keep us from falling out on the rough TA crossing. We had been taking English Literature classes and some of the kids had costumes from Shakespeare dramas we enjoyed. I can still remember standing on the deck and seeing the Statue of Liberty with all the kids I had spent the summer with. It was 45 years ago and today is the anniversary of the first moon walk. Somewhere I have an Oxford England paper with the headline of the moon walk from 1969. I loved every moment of the trip and the sea is still calling.

 

 

Holland America Line's Ryndam II; Delivered in 1951 to HAL after having been built by Dok en Werf Maatschappij Wilton-Feyenoord in Rotterdam (originally as HAL cargo ship 'Dinteldyk' but converted to a pax ship during construction). She was the first newly built HAL ship with a gray hull.

 

In September 1966 she operated four round trips for West German-based Europa Kanada Linie from Bremen, West Germany to NYC. In August 1967, she operated as 'Waterman' (Aquarius) for Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans-Oceaan 's-Gravenhage (Trans Ocean Shipping Company the Hague, an associate company of HAL). Back to HAL as Ryndam in 1968 and chartered to Chapman College of Orange, California as a 'floating university'. In 1970 she became to first HAL ship with a partly Indonesian crew.

'

In 1972/1973 she became 'Atlas' for Greek-based Epirotiki Cruises. In 1988 she became gambling ship 'Pride of Mississippi' for Pride Cruise Lines sailing on day trips from Gulfport, Miss. In 1991 she became 'Pride of Galveston' and eventually a moored casino ship as 'Copa Casino', still at Gulfport. Her fate was sealed in 2003 as another ship that sunk, this time south of the Dominican Republic, while being towed from Mobile, Ala on the way to the breakers at Alang, India.

[Copper10-8]

Sept 2005, Carnival Conquest. We spent two extra days at sea because Hurricane Rita closed the Port of Galveston, visited an extra Port of Call; Costa Maya. We've been cruising ever since. When we are lucky, financial wise, we can cruise 3-4times a year.

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Conquest

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was in 1968 on the old Italian liner the Leonardo da Vinci. It is a good story: My parents and I were invited to a bon voyage party by friends from Chicago. In those days it was quite common to host such parties in your cabin. After a few cocktails I heard my father say" I wonder if they have any empty cabins on board". One of the officers who was at the party assured him there was room. He asked me if I could return to the hotel and pack our bags and be back to the ship in half an hour for a 10:00 pm sail. I flew , grabbed a cab and told him to wait for me ; meanwhile I went in and threw everything into our suitcases. There was a long line to check out so I skipped out figuring we could pay up later.( I was !6, what did I know!)

 

When I got back to the ship it was 10:15 pm, and they are now holding the ship.After a few moments of sanity my father realized he should not go. It would be too much time from work. I told him we still had the room at the Park Sheraton, gave him a bottle of witch hazle from my winter jacket(his cologne of choice at the time) and sent him on his way.

 

The sales desk suggested(thank God) that we have two separate cabins. And we were off. !4 day cruise to the Caribbean.Everyone referred to us as the stowaways, kindly offering summer attire as we had only woolens.Such was security in those days. My driver's license sufficed as ID. My mother said that the first thing to do is meet with the purser (she said she reads Gourmet magazine and that is what they would suggest) We opted for a different sitting than our friends . She said we don't want to be too dependent on them. We had one of the most memorable times of my life.

I have been hooked ever since.

 

Best,

Tom

 

 

Italia di Navigazione S.p.A./The Italian Line's ss Leonardo da Vinci, a beauty. Operated by the Italian Line between 1960 and 1977, initially on trans-atlantic liner service (Genoa and Naples to NYC). Between 1977 and 1978 she sailed short cruises from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas for Italia Crociere Internationali (ICI), a joint venture with other Italian shipping companies set up to operate Italian State owned passenger ships in the cruise market. In September 1978 she was laid up in the harbor of La Spezia in northern Italy's Mediterranean coast

 

While still laid-up on the 3rd of July 1980, a, later determined to be suspicious, fire broke out in the ship's chapel. When local firefighters were unable to control the fire, the ship was towed out of the harbor into the the Gulf of La Spezia to burn herself out. She burned for four days and eventually capsized. The burnt-out hulk was righted in March 1981 and towed back to La Spezia where she was scrapped in 1982 at Fincantieri's Muffiano's yard.

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by Copper10-8

[Copper10-8]

My first ship was the Dawn Princess, sailing the Mexican Riviera in 2008. When I see her in Juneau I still get a little wistful. I was definitely hooked.

 

We have not yet found our cruising home, but we are still searching. We do our first HAL sailing in a little over two weeks and I am looking forward to it after all the comments I have read here!

 

 

 

Princess Cruise Line's Dawn Princess. She will be 'internally-transferred' to P&O Australia as Pacific Explorer in May 2017

Edited August 12, 2016 by Copper10-8

[scapel]

My first cruise in 1975 off the East Coast of South America

 

 

Here is an Interesting story on this cruise. We met an Investment Banker from Cleveland that told us he was a personal friend of J.W.Marriott. At this time Sun lines the operator of the Stella Oceanus was owned by the Marriott Corporation. He did have a beautiful bon voyage flower arrangement from J.W.Marriott in his room. I saw the card. Somehow one day at sea this gentleman went to his cabin and the lady was running the vacuum cleaner and the ship rolled some and the man tripped over the vacuum cleaner cord and broke his right humerus (upper arm bone). There was a doctor on board, but he was just too pleased to let myself and a GP friend take care of him. We had an x-ray machine and we put a hanging arm cast on his arm. This would have probably worked but he couldn’t raise his wrist which meant the fracture had trapped the radial nerve and he would have to be flown home and have surgery.

About 6 weeks later I had a lawyer in my office because this friend of Mr. Marriott was suing Sun Lines stating that the cord tripped him and caused him to miss the rest of his cruise and he wanted a refund for the balance of his unused cruise and expenses for the flight home. He did not have any travel insurance. I didn’t charge lawyers in those days to just talk. Didn’t know I was supposed to.

I never did find out what actually came out of all this, but he gave me a $100 for helping him which was not necessary but he already had the check made out. I told him in those days I would have taken out his appendix for $100.

[Copper10-8]

Boarding The Epirotiki Line's Jason in St. John New Brunswick was our intro to cruising in 1987.

 

A passport was required since it did visit the French colony of St. Pierre & Miquelon.

 

After 7 days, and visiting Nova Scotia, Charlottetown and Quebec City, we ended in Montreal.

 

Eventually experiencing the Westerdam in the early 90's, we have been hooked on HAL ever since.

 

 

Epirotiki Line's Jason or Iason in Greek. Built as Greek inter-island ferry Eros in 1964 for Typaldos Lines. In 1967 she became Jason for Epirotiki Line. In 1995 Epirotiki merged with Sun Line and Royal Olympic Cruise Lines was born. The International Olympic Committee was not a fan of the name and let this be known, so Royal Olympic was changed to Royal Olympia Cruises in 2003. As fate would have it, Royal Olympia went belly-up one year later in 2004

 

In February 2005, she was sold to Greek-based Olympic Short Cruises back again as Jason, and in December that same year she became Ocean Odyssey for Indian Ocean Cruises offering a two-week itinerary around the southwest coast of India, sailing from Goa along the Malabar Coast to the Lakshadweep Islands/Archipelago with mainland India stops at Cochin, Mangalore, Trivandrum and Cape Comorin as well as at Colombo, the capitol of Sri Lanka. The end came in late 2009 when, after being sold for scrap, she was broken up in 2009/2010 at Alang, India

 

[shipgirl56]

1994 Carnival, Carnival Jubilee, 7 Day Mexican Riviera

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was on the Regal Princess to Alaska in 1994 for our 25th anniversary. We took our 2 high school and college age daughters with us. They had their own stateroom and thought they were really something!

 

Since then we have spent hundreds of days at sea and occasionally take the whole family, even our 2 grandchildren who also love cruising - a family tradition now!

 

 

Princess Cruise Line's Regal Princess (originally constructed for Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi, better known as Sitmar Cruises). She sailed for Princess from 1991 until 2007 when she received an internal transfer to P&O Australia and started operating for them as Pacific Dawn. She is currently still sailing for P&O Australia out of Brisbane, Queensland

[Copper10-8]

1994 Carnival, Carnival Jubilee, 7 Day Mexican Riviera

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line's Jubilee. She operated for Carnival from 1986 until 2004. At that time, she received an internal transfer to P&O Australia and was renamed Pacific Sun. In 2012 she was purchased by China-based HNA Tourism Cruises (parent HNA Group) who renamed her Henna. In November 2015 the one-ship cruise operation of HNA Group was shut down due to lack of profitability and Henna laid up in Daishan, Zhejiang Province, PRC on the East China Sea. The latest news is that she will soon be headed for the breakers

[shipgirl56]

Thanks for the picture.

[Copper10-8]

Great Thread- my first cruise was back 1983 on board Epirotiki´s Jupiter, she is already at the bottom of the sea after a collison with another ship! I was hooked right then and there- but to young still!

Back in 1997 the first BIG ONE was RCI´s Grandeur of the Seas- in those days she was called " Megaship" ! LOL!

 

 

Epirotiki Line's Jupiter; originally built in France as 'Moledet' in 1961 for Israel-based Zim Lines. In 1970 she went to Greek Epirotiki Line who renamed her 'Jupiter' and placed her on routes throughout the Mediterranean out of Piraeus.

 

On 21 October 1988 she left Piraeus on a one-week educational cruise with schoolchildren and their teachers. Shortly after leaving Piraeus she was struck by the 'Adige', an Italian freighter about to enter the Greek port. Jupiter sank within the hour with the loss of a student, a teacher and two crew.

[DesrtDrmr]

Can you believe that this thread you started has been active since 2008?????

Amazing.....and still fun to read!

[Silverback969]

First cruise was, I believe, in November of 1993, on board Regent Cruise Line's Regent Sea. I believe there is, currently, another Regent Cruise Line, but no relation to the earlier incarnation. It was a 7-day relocation cruise out of Tampa, FL, with a special, first-time ever, itinerary consisting of ports where we could visit various Mayan ruins. We had stops in Mexico (Cozumel--BEFORE the hurricane blew it away), Copan (Honduras) and Quiriga (Guatemala), and completing our itinerary at Montego Bay, Jamaica--had to fly back to Tampa from there.

 

My wife and I were helping her parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They drove to Tampa from Alabama, spent the night prior to departure with us in Tampa. My wife had told her mom that we'd take care of getting us to the cruise terminal and--unknown to M-I-L--we had booked a limo to get us to the cruise terminal. M-I-L was one of "those people" who HAD TO KNOW all the details, and she was just about a wreck when it got close to time to head to the port and there was no taxi yet. She still didn't have a clue when the limo came slowly down the street--and then, it make a U-turn and stopped in front of our apartment. She almost had a stroke! As you might imagine, we created something of a sensation when we rolled up to the gate.

 

I believe we had one more cruise on the Regent Sea, then a couple of cruises on Commodore Cruise Line's Emerald Isle. So, we had our indoctrination on small ships, and we still prefer the smaller ships. We're booked on the Prinsendam for her Grand Mediterranean in March 2017, and can hardly wait to be back on a small ship that really LOOKS LIKE a cruise ship, and not so much like a floating island.

 

We've had a few cruises on Carnival, one each with RCI, Princess, and Celebrity. All the rest have been on HAL ships, including a family cruise in 2013 to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Both our children and their children. Get 'em started young. :cool:

[Copper10-8]

First cruise was, I believe, in November of 1993, on board Regent Cruise Line's Regent Sea. I believe there is, currently, another Regent Cruise Line, but no relation to the earlier incarnation. It was a 7-day relocation cruise out of Tampa, FL, with a special, first-time ever, itinerary consisting of ports where we could visit various Mayan ruins. We had stops in Mexico (Cozumel--BEFORE the hurricane blew it away), Copan (Honduras) and Quiriga (Guatemala), and completing our itinerary at Montego Bay, Jamaica--had to fly back to Tampa from there.

 

My wife and I were helping her parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They drove to Tampa from Alabama, spent the night prior to departure with us in Tampa. My wife had told her mom that we'd take care of getting us to the cruise terminal and--unknown to M-I-L--we had booked a limo to get us to the cruise terminal. M-I-L was one of "those people" who HAD TO KNOW all the details, and she was just about a wreck when it got close to time to head to the port and there was no taxi yet. She still didn't have a clue when the limo came slowly down the street--and then, it make a U-turn and stopped in front of our apartment. She almost had a stroke! As you might imagine, we created something of a sensation when we rolled up to the gate.

 

I believe we had one more cruise on the Regent Sea, then a couple of cruises on Commodore Cruise Line's Emerald Isle. So, we had our indoctrination on small ships, and we still prefer the smaller ships. We're booked on the Prinsendam for her Grand Mediterranean in March 2017, and can hardly wait to be back on a small ship that really LOOKS LIKE a cruise ship, and not so much like a floating island.

 

We've had a few cruises on Carnival, one each with RCI, Princess, and Celebrity. All the rest have been on HAL ships, including a family cruise in 2013 to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Both our children and their children. Get 'em started young. :cool:

 

 

Regency Cruises' Regent Sea; built in 1957 as 'Gripsholm' for Svenska Amerika Linien/Swedish America Line (SAL) initially for trans-Atlantic liner service from Gothenburg, Sweden to NYC. In 1971 that changed to cruising. In 1975 she went to Greek Karageorgis Lines as 'Navarino'.

 

Laid up after a grounding and after a brief name change to 'Samantha', Regency Cruises got her in 1984 as one of their first ships and renamed her 'Regent Sea'. Regency Cruises went belly up in 1995 and Regent Sea was auctioned off. There were plans to turn her into a casino ship (United States American Cruise Line renamed her 'Sea') but that did not materialize half-way through an extensive dry-dock in Tampa, Fl. The ship was sold to Indian breakers however, while under tow to the ship graveyard at Alang in July 2001 (she was first boarded by pirates and pillaged off Dakar, Senegal), she sank near Algoa Bay, South Africa, east of Cape of Good Hope.

[LizSydney]

Diamond Princess, Princess Cruises, Carnival, December 2015. It was two weeks and yes. My next one is in November this year.

Edited August 14, 2016 by LizSydney

[innlady1]

Thanks, Copper.

This has always been the most interesting thread on CC.

[1ANGELCAT]

Hi Copper,

My 1st cruise was on the SS Statendam in Sept 1976. 7 days from NY to Bermuda. My girlfriend and I had the cheapest cabin on the ship, an inside with upper and lower bunks.

I think you could probably fit at least 2 of that cabin in the verandah cabin I had in June on the Noordam[emoji3]

40 years of cruising with HAL, next one coming up in December on the NADM.

The addiction is never ending[emoji568][emoji568][emoji3][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Copper10-8]

Diamond Princess, Princess Cruises, Carnival, December 2015. It was two weeks and yes. My next one is in November this year.

 

 

Princess Cruises' Diamond Princess

[Copper10-8]

Hi Copper,

My 1st cruise was on the SS Statendam in Sept 1976. 7 days from NY to Bermuda. My girlfriend and I had the cheapest cabin on the ship, an inside with upper and lower bunks.

I think you could probably fit at least 2 of that cabin in the verandah cabin I had in June on the Noordam[emoji3]

40 years of cruising with HAL, next one coming up in December on the NADM.

The addiction is never ending[emoji568][emoji568][emoji3][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

Holland America Line's Statendam IV, built at Dok en Werf Maatschappij Wilton-Feyenoord in Rotterdam and delivered to HAL in 1957. Her godmother was HRH Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, the future Queen and Mum of the current King. Regular trans-Atlantic service between Rotterdam and New York City followed. She had the honor of performing her first world cruise in January 1958 and went to full-time 'cruising' in 1966. She ran annual NYC to Bermuda cruises every summer starting in 1974 and would continue to do so until 1981.

 

In 1981 she became 'Rhapsody' and was operated by France-based Paquet Cruises (grounding off Grand Cayman in in 1984). In 1986 she became 'Regent Star' for Regency Cruises (engine room fire and pax evacuation to ss Rotterdam in 1995 while inside Prince William Sound, AK). When Regency went out of business later in 1995, she was laid up in Piraeus/Eleusis Bay, Greece. She became 'Sea Harmony' in 1996 but was in sad shape. She was eventually sold to the breakers in India and in 2004, under the name 'Harmony 1', she sailed to Alang where she was broken up

 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Copper10-8

[Copper10-8]

Haha- it was carnival ecstasy as a 16 year old in 89. That one didn't hool me but diamond princess with my husband, my first grown up cruise did!!!

 

 

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Ecstasy; sailing for CCL since 1991

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was on Celebrity Solstice March 2013 from Sydney, Australia cruising up the Sunshine Coast and back. Loved, loved, loved it - we are more than hooked - we're obsessed!

 

 

Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Solstice

Edited August 16, 2016 by Copper10-8

[Copper10-8]

Romanza was my first cruise in 1969 when I was 24. I beleive it was 9 or 11 thousand tons. My friend aand I went to an agent in Queens ny and asked for the cheapest trip to a warm place over the Xmas holiday. She came back with this 7 day ctuise from Curacao. It included airfare and the whole thing was $300 each. I think we had a cabin below the crew with bunkbeds and a bathroom the size of a phone booth. Being our first cruise we had a ball as we were the only single men on the ship. We wanted to do it the next year but they raised the price to $450 so we went to PR instead. Since then i have done 45 cruises but now with my wife ans still having fun.

 

 

Chandris Line's Romanza; built as cargo-passenger vessel 'Huascaran' by Blohm & Voss at Hamburg and delivered in 1939 to Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft or Hapag, aka Hamburg Amerika Linie. Upon the conclusion of World War II, she went to the Canadian Government as reparation and managed by the Park Steamship Company after a refit. She eventually received the name 'Beaverbrae' and then went to Canadian Pacific Line (1947) after another refit. In 1954 she went to Compagnia Genovese d'Armamento of Genoa (Cogedar Line) as 'Aurelia'. She would take a lot of immigrants to Australia and New Zealand.

 

In September 1970, Aurelia was purchased by Armadores Romanza S.A. a subsidiary of the Greek Chandris Group who renamed her 'Romanza'.She spent the majority of the eighties laid up and was also chartered to Lloyd Brasileiro. In 1991 she was purchased by Cyprus-based New Ambassador Cruises of Cyprus and renamed 'Romantica'. New Ambassador Cruises went belly up in 1995 and Romantica was once again laid up. In 1997 she went to Cyprus-based Bought by Paradise Cruises, still as Romantica, but an engine room fire that same year resulted in the evacuation of all her pax and crew some 65 miles off Cyprus. Two days later, three salvage tugs towed the burning vessel to Limassol, Cyprus where she was beached adjacent the port and her fires finally extinguished. In April 1998, she was towed to Alexandria, Egypt where she was scrapped

 

 

[Copper10-8]

First cruise was 2011 to Alaska on the Zuiderdam. My retirement present to myself. We have cruised each year since. Hooked is putting it mildly.:)

 

 

Holland America Line's Zuiderdam

Edited August 16, 2016 by Copper10-8