Question For All First timers & those that remember the first time?

[Deb in Cali]

My parents had taken a few cruises and my mom was working on getting us to go on one. I was sure that I would love it, but wasn't sure that DH would like it. He is a outdoorsy kinda guy that isn't thrilled about dressing up. So I finally booked a 4 day repo cruise from LA to Vancouver. My DH LOVED it and was hooked.

 

We have been on several cruises since then. We are going back to Alaska in 5 weeks with my best friend from high school. This is her and her hubby's first cruise. It is going to be so fun to re-live the first cruise experience with them.

[nhraformula00]

The biggest thing holding us back some 30 years ago was the fact that we were not old enough.I think the age was 21,so we booked our first cruise for our honeymoon:p

[hladygirl]

my husband and i never went on a vacation our 27 years married. always something else to spend the money on. in 2009 i saw my mothers health start to deteriorate. i decided that she needed something she has dreamed of all her life. so on her 67 birthday i took her on her first and only cruise. my husband didn't care that we had never been on a vacation before. he just said book it. mom and i had a wonderful time. i spent the whole time telling her to spend whatever she wanted, it was on me. we couldn't get off the ship because physically she couldn't handle it but that was ok. we still had an awesome time. in 2010 i took my husband on a 15 night cruise to the carribean. it was the honeymoon we never had. we are hooked now and decided we need this once a year. the money will come from somewhere. we are booked for 11 night to carribean this november and can't wait. we wish we had started doing this years ago.

[MMMD]

I am always interested in what keeps folks from cruising. Many friends of ours him and haw about taking the leap. I understand that some folks have extreme motion sickness and I understand that.

 

My question is...

 

What was the number one concern that you had to overcome before you were able to say - "Let's book it; I'm taking this Cruise"!!!!.

 

For us we just wanted to try something new and different. I was afraid of motion sickness but knew I could take meds to help me get through any rough seas.

 

It was nice to unpack just once in the 10 days, yet be taken to different places each day.

 

For the foreseeable future our vacations will be on land, but we are open to another cruise because we did have a great time.

[valereee2000]

Our #1 concern is that we wonder if we're really cruise people. Our vacations have always been ones that allow us to be spontaneous -- if we don't like a place, we move on. If we love it, we stay longer. In general when we travel we love finding little out-of-the-way places to eat and drink run by locals, trying foods we've never tried, staying in bed-and-breakfasts, and wandering around discovering things. We can still do some of this at ports, but on the cruise ship we'll have only choices that are designed to appeal to large numbers of people, and even in port we'll have limited time.

 

Our preconceived notions of cruising are cattle calls, limited choices, lowest-common denominator travel. All of which may be wrong! We're open-minded, but we're a little worried that we'll wish we'd spent our vacation dollars and time some other way. :)

 

We're going to try it out because my 17-yo daughter wants a sun/beach/water/warm weather vacation, and my husband and I would like to see some places we've never seen, and I in particular would like to visit ruins. We'd like to do a little snorkeling, maybe, and a little shopping. This seems like a reasonable compromise. We're hoping we'll have a wonderful time, but we're a little concerned that we aren't really the target audience for cruising.

[Soloist]

P.S. - appoligies for my AVATAR, but i need to keep it for now as it is a running joke on my roll-call.

 

Love the avatar. Keep it.

 

 

--I had all the usual concerns

Sinking (if you can believe that),

Flying to the port (not my favorite pastime).

Bored

Inside cabin

 

Eventually went on a extended family cruise out of B'more and became hooked. I even got sick on that first cruise and was in the cabin for a day and a half. Missed 1 port.

 

Money is always an issue, but it is really the only "extra" that I allow to be charged. Pay down some and charge back w/another cruise. Of course, getting a little cash from the family always helps.

[ssnewbie]

I honestly never really thought about taking a cruise before. There was one cruise I wanted to take, and money kept me from that one.

My FH, is scared to death of the unknown. He has also watched Titanic and because of that movie, he fears the worse. I won't let him watch 2012.

This will be our honeymoon, our first cruise. His first flight. I'm making him a doctor's appointment for anti-anxiety medications. I think that we will love it. I am hoping that the seasickness won't be so bad. You really can't beat the price. It was the rate was certainly better than some of the landlocked "resorts" that we were considering. All and all I am super excited about this trip.

[Cuizer2]

I honestly never really thought about taking a cruise before. There was one cruise I wanted to take, and money kept me from that one.

My FH, is scared to death of the unknown. He has also watched Titanic and because of that movie, he fears the worse. I won't let him watch 2012.

 

Well, I think you can let him watch it in 2013. :)

[nofancyname]

My only 'concern' was thinking I wouldnt get to enjoy to places we visited because the time off the ship was so short. While its certainly true that you dont get to explore everything at every port, some of the ports offer comprehensive tours of their area and I even took advantage of some of those tours. Surprisingly, those were the tours I disliked the most! I didnt like being in a van virtually the entire time I was at port. I saw a lot, but only while looking out the window or a 3 minute stop on the side of the road. I actually preferred the beach trips or adventure trips. The amount of time allowed before we had to get back onboard was plenty - by the time we had to return to port, we were tired and looking forward to a nap!

[cruisin'tex]

I am always interested in what keeps folks from cruising. Many friends of ours him and haw about taking the leap. I understand that some folks have extreme motion sickness and I understand that.

 

My question is...

 

What was the number one concern that you had to overcome before you were able to say - "Let's book it; I'm taking this Cruise"!!!!.

 

1st cruise in 1982 - didn't have to overcome anything and still cruising!