Ready for a happy thread. How did you start cruising with RCI??

[Toshia58]

My first cruise was with Carnival in 1991. It was a rewards trip for my DH from his company. We did an eastern caribbean route stopping in San Juan, St. Thomas, and St Martin. At the time I was not totally enthralled with cruising, but many years later we won a cruise when I bought a new car. I thought what the heck, let's give it another try. We upgraded from the inside cabin that was offered, to an OV cabin. It was a 5night cruise to the Bahamas with stops in Freeport and Nassau. Well, I was hooked. When we got home from that trip all I could think about was when can I get back on board another ship! Fast forward a year, I was wondering how I could fit in a cheap trip with my then 11 year old daughter, I found a 3day cruise to the Bahamas on Majesty and away we went. Now both my daughter and I are addicted! For my upcoming 50th birthday I wanted to go on a cruise, but I know that is not my husband's idea of the ideal vacation, so I let him off the hook and I am taking my best friend instead. I booked us a GS on Freedom of the Seas, I have never even stayed in a balcony cabin so I am super excited. I pass the time until May 2012 by coming on CC and reading reviews of Freedom and just generally staying in touch with the cruising community out there. I have to hide my secret addiction from my family, they think I am crazy! Yeah school is out for the summer today, I get to spend lots of time with my kids!

[lovevacadays]

My first cruise on RCL was actually back in 89 or 90. My then husband won employee of the quarter from his employer. The prize was a cruise to the Caribbean and we got to choose between RCL, Princess, and Carnival. We chose the Eastern Caribbean on the Sovereign of the Seas. It was new then and was fabulous. I did some subsequent RCL cruises but actually haven't cruised RCL for several years. I did some Princess cruises because of itinerary, price etc and then hit Platinum level with them so it's been hard for me not to book Princess. I will say, I would like to try a RCL cruise again for the variety.

[mbjboyle]

My wife and I sailed aboard Voyager in 2003 for our honeymoon. We had an incredible time and still talk about it. We then took a few years off from vacationing and focussed on each other and our careers.

 

In 2006 we decided to cruise during my February vacation. That soon began a tradition as we returned the next year and every February thereafter, including this year. During that time we have added members to our group.

 

In 2008 we sailed out of Bayonne with our friends, Steve and Peg. Steve had sailed once before, but it would be Peg's first. Both were worried about sea sickness and the notorious rough weather sailing out of NY harbor during the winter. To make a long story short, they returned again in 2009 when we sailed aboard Freedom.

 

In 2010 we decided to sail out of Puerto Rico and add another member, Janice. This sailing included a "sno-cation" as school was closed for back-to-back blizzards in the northeast causing us to fly to PR early and stay in San Juan for 3 days prior to embarking. No complaints:D.

 

2011 marked the 70th birthday of Steve's stepmother. Our group ballooned to 13 as the "Alluring Ladies" and the "Royal Crew" set sail aboard the Allure from Miami.

 

My wife and I will be going as a couple again in August, as we did for a New Year's cruise in '09. Regardless if we go as a couple or a group we have always had an incredible time, and we consistently meet fellow cruise addicts.

 

It seems like everywhere we turn we get more of our friends and family hooked on cruising. We sent my parents to Bermuda aboard the Voyager for their 40th anniversary in 2007, and they can't wait to go again. Members of the "Alluring Ladies" and "Royal Crew" will return to the Allure again in February. I'm sure there'll be new additions to the group!:D

[WeLove2CruiseRCI]

Thought it would be nice to bring this thread back up for some new additions.:)

[PH8]

Heard all about this new amazing ship.......the Voyager and thought WOW!! I wanna go........so we did and the rest is history!:)

[realtreebar]

Cut our teeth on the Sovereign of the seas just a 4 day to see if we liked cruising guess we did:D it is all history now!

[bigque]

Was looking for a place to go on a vaction. Was making plans to go to Hilton Head South Carolina for a 3 day weekend trip. After I priced how much it would cost to drive there, pay for the hotel resort, food and drinks, and entertaiment for the 3 days, I decided to look at something different while surfing the net about vacations. I clicked on the RCI website, jut to see how much a cruise would cost because I always wanted to do one but was under the impression that they were too expensive. After I did the math, A 3 day cruise to the Bahamas came out to be cheaper than the 3 days I was planning to Hilton Head. So I thought Why not! Booked a cruise on The Sovereign Of The Seas and was so glad I did! Loved it and it is now my choice for vacations over land based even if the land based is all inclusive, I'd still rather cruise! I Like RCI! I have not tried another Cruise Line Yet, cause right now, I am like "If it aint broke...Don't fix it" and RCI is not Broken with me! I have been going every other year, and want to cruise more so I am planning one of the cheap Bahama Cruise out of Charleston SC on Carnival, cause Charleston is so much closer to me than Florida. This would be a treat in between going on a 7 day cruise on RCI, which I would still prefer!

[debshomespun]

Took our first cruise in April/2003 for our 25th wedding anniversary. Went on Carnival

Destiny our of San Juan, wanted to see Aruba and Barbados, and this was the only ship.

We immediately fell in love with cruising. Had left the kids at home (then 19 & 21). Soon

as we got home, told the kids how much fun we had, and heard about the Voyager class

ships and RC. Made reservations for May (6 weeks later) to go on Explorer, and took the

kids. One of the best cruises we have taken! Almost made it to Diamond+. RC definitely

does have the WOW factor. Going on Oasis/Allure B2B in just over 2 months. Can't wait

to see what those ships are like! :D :D

[stones902]

How did we fall in love with RCI.....

 

Well, back in '85 for our 1st anniversary I wanted to suprise my wife with a cruise. I was a big fan of "The Love Boat" tv show as a kid and always wanted to try one. The only thing I could afford at that time was a 3 day Bahamas sailing on the Dolphin IV. Despite bad weather, bunk beds and a case of the flu we had a great time. While the ship was docked at the Port of Miami I noticed this large gleaming ship next to us called the Nordic Empress. Our ship was tugboat compared to that magnificent vessel.

 

Jump ahead 4 years later, a friend of mine won a free cruise as a sales promotion on the Nordic Empress. His wife just gave birth and opted out of the cruise. He asked me to step in. Loved the ship so much that I decided to book later that year with my wife. We have been sailing RCI even since. Now we are Diamond +.

[north29]

We were new to cruising, friends talked us into doing transatlantic with them on Costa. We enjoyed it so much, we booked the Navigator's TA the next year. Well that was the ill fated cruise where the Portuguese government, seized the ship, and would not let it leave Lisbon for mechanical reasons, any we missed all ports in Europe, except for Lisbon, almost a riot on board, RC or maybe the captain did not handle it well, but who ever did extend ship board credit to all. It was not a issue for us, we had eight days in Spain planned any way. We, also got a voucher for a discount on a future cruise, which we use for a Freedom cruise. Now we were getting up there in cruise points. I also found out, thanks to my TA friend, buying at least 100 shares of RC stock got you on board credit, well the recession was in full swing and I was able to buy a bunch of RC stock for about $5.50. Now we live about one and a half hours from Port Canaveral, the short cruises on the Monarch during the recession were dirt cheap, and we booked them often. Our cruise points were adding up so we stayed with RC and it has been a good chance choice.

[kccrzr]

Won a sweepstakes which provided $5000 for any tour package to Alaska! Looked into options and thought a cruise was the way to go given the distances and relative inaccessibility of many of the towns we wanted to see. The travel agent tried to discourage us from taking a cruise because our kids were fairly young at the time. After doing some additional research it seemed RCI had a good kids program. SO, we ignored the naysaying travel agent, booked a cruise and were hooked - the rest is history! We all had a blast. In fact the youngest liked the kids program so much that we had to insist she go to the ports with us.

[sjb317]

1999: We wanted to do something special to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We booked an 11 day Caribbean cruise on Splendor of the Seas. Everyone thought we were crazy to book 11 days since we had never been on a cruise before but I hated to fly so I wanted make it worth my while to get on a plane!:D We LOVED it!!! We have done 22 cruises since then, all with RC. We keep talking about trying another cruise line but we've always been happy with RC.

 

Sherri:)

[Gone Fishing]

First night on CCL Inspiration watching Cooter, Bubba and the Boys slowly kill a full rolling cooler of Bush beer at the pool. They were loud and lit, I was not sure if should have joined them or complained. I did neither, but come on …….. it looked like a scene from Larry the Cable Guy. (My family is from the smoky mountains so no flaming);)

 

We had terrible service in the main dining room and had to complain to get a reasonable level of respect. (Eye rolling waiter and we did not even ask for anything and were super nice to him) We were told he was not happy about being there and was home sick. Yes we started to feel the same way.

 

Our table mates who we met on the cruise did not eat meat. They asked if they could have anything other than salad. Like maybe an omelet or anything that did not involve lettuces and dressing. They were told that the risotto did not have “that much meat in it”. :confused: They left and went to the buffet.

 

After asking one of the room stewards if there was any way we could get a towel animal for the kids on the last night since we never saw our steward and never got a towel animal we were told “No” stewards are not allowed in the cabins after 8:00PM. Gee thanks. :rolleyes:

 

Went RCCL in October and it was a major difference. Great service and just nicer all the way around. I know that CCL has good ships and can have good service but I think I now like RCCL better.

 

I am considering yet another line next summer as we plan to visit the Med.

 

RCCL was great but there is a lot of competition.

[justrache]

On Christmas, my parents gave me a present. When I opened it, it was 2 travel books.....one was for all inclusive land vacations and the other one was Royal Caribbean...I was told for my 30th birthday, my mom and I were going to go on a vacation just the 2 of us ( leave my kids, husband and dad all at home :) ) I chose the Cruise without a hesitation and so we went on the Adventure of the Seas Southern Caribbean cruise ( Barbados) less than a week after I turned 30 and LOVED IT!!!

[Guest maddycat]

In 1997 our TA suggested RCI. He thought that it would be a good fit for us. We cruised on the Rapsody to Alaska. We loved RCI, and of course, Alaska. Since then we've tried other cruise lines (Celebrity, Princess, NCL) but keep coming back to RCI.

 

We live only 45 minutes from Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, NJ. We now only sail on ships leaving from Bayonne. Explorer is our favorite. We love the ship. Wonderful, friendly crew. We've sailed on Celebrity's Summit but prefer the Explorer. In Nov. we'll be sailing on Celebrity's new ship, the Silhouette. We couldn't pass up sailing on a brand new ship. Next April we'll be back on the Explorer.

[daveky]

Got started with RCI accidentally. Tried to book Carnival out of San Juan on the Festivale years ago and it was booked, so relunctly booked the Song of Norway, and except for booking one more time with Carnival, got addicited to sailing with RCI.

 

Dave

[gaylemh]

Choice was easy, when I lived in Bayonne, it was less than 5 minutes to the port to get to the Explorer. I'm now about an hour away, but my daughter is still in Bayonne. Booked 2 more, leave the car at her house, and there in 5 minutes.

Also I hate to fly.

[DBR61]

I'm going on my first cruise ever in October. I picked Royal Caribbean based on the recommendation of a good friend. She cruises at least once a year, sometimes more, and loves Royal Caribbean. She is very loyal to them and has a great time on every cruise. I live in CT and being able to sail out of New Jersey and avoid airfare is a big plus. I can't wait for my cruise!

[dmlm1995]

It was our honeymoon and family members all had sailed before on Royal. We have never sailed with anyone else since. We love Royal!:)

[kuddles14]

Well years agon, when our children were about 9 and 12 one wented to go to Disney the other wanted to try a cruise (her friend had been on one and raved about it). So, the next day I get home from work and my DH said he talked to our TA and there was a deal with the "Big Red Boat" for a 4 day cruise. Bye one adult ticket get a child's ticket free. So we were able to do both. We got hooked. Well, when we got back a friend of my son said he went on Carnival's Destiny and we should give it a try. It was the water slide that sealed that deal. Then on to the Grand Princess.

Well one day about 6 years ago, my mother-in-law and father-in-law said they weren't getting any younger and always wanted to take a cruise. So of course we told them how about next year and we'll take them. They jumped at the chance. One problem. My my mother-in-law is cluster phobic!!:eek: She didn't want a balcony, didn't want to see water all the time:eek:!!! She knew she would be fine when on top decks because of all the activity. My DH looked at me and I said not a problem!!! I called Royal talked to a service agent and booked the Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral and had them on a promenade room and us across from them on the balcony.

The rest has been history for DH and myself. We have been on Oasis, Monarch and Explorer. Next year, Freedom. Love the service, entertainment and find cruising to be a good deal for the money.:D

[Mack2]

My first cruise was a Royal Caribbean cruise aboard the Song of America in 1987 at the tender age of 15.

 

My parents had started taking the family on big vacations three years earlier, starting with Orlando (Disney) followed by Jamaica (Montego Bay), and pre-MTV Cancun (when it was a quaint resort town).

 

My parent's had gone on a cruise aboard Costa for their honeymoon back in 1967 and they wanted to do another for their 20th anniversary/family vacation.

 

After the Song of America, we sailed aboard the Sovereign, Monarch and Majesty consecutively until I reached college, and the big family vacations were harder to do together... It wasn't until a few years after I had gotten married did we do another cruise. Aboard the Celebrity Mercury on it's inaugural year, where my wife and I traveled with my in-laws on their first cruise.

 

Since then, we've made cruising my family's preferred vacation with the kids. We've sailed Disney, Princess, Carnival... but RCI is still our favorite cruise line. The kids are Platinum, and we're looking forward to sailing aboard the Oasis this year....

 

Although, after this Oasis trip, I told my wife I want to go back to sailing aboard smaller ships. Radiance-class or something...

I don't know if it's the fact that the HUGE ships have to cook for 2000-3000 people all at once for each MDR seating, or that my memories of sailing with RCCL back in the late 80s to early 90s are a little awry... but I think I remember AMAZING meals back then...

 

Don't get me wrong, meals are GREAT now! but I thought I remembered AMAZING 25 years ago... I mean, RCCL used to publish a passenger manifest that you would get, so you could try to reconnect with all the wonderful new friends you made aboard the cruise...

Today aboard the giant ships? Not so much.

[Aquahound]

This one would be my wife's fault. We were in Nassau on the Norwegian Sea. She looked over at the much prettier ship next to us (Monarch of the Seas) and said "I want to try that cruise line." The rest is history.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

My best friend's mom and my mom are very good friends. When we both turned 16 they surprised us with a cruise on the Sovereign of the Seas in 1999!

 

I took me 9 years to get back on a cruise ship, but I haven't looked back since. In the last year and a half I've been on 9 cruises! DH and I have two more planned and then we're taking a break for a few years.

[Mango Tango]

In 1992 I won a 7 night cruise through my employer. It was on the Sovereign of the Seas...the largest cruise ship in the World at the time. :) It was the start of our cruise addiction. :D

[seaofwonder]

We lived in Miami for 2 years (just moved this week to TX) and figured we should try cruising. We went on Norwegian for our first cruise and hated it. We swore off cruising, but then saw a commercial for Royal Caribbean and decided to try Liberty. Now we're "loyal to royal" and cruise several times a year. We have 3 cruises booked and are looking to add a fourth. We should be diamond by the summer :-)