Is it just us.....

[jamesnnb]

We've been on 25 cruises but every time we walk the gangway to embark the ship, the excitement begins! You try and look/feel calm/jaded while waiting in the terminal, but when our feet hit the gangway, it's like it is our first cruise.:) Anyone else get that feeling?

[Denny01]

No, we are with you. We have 20 cruises and we Have to have a cruise planned in our future. No matter how many cruises on some Line or on some itinerary, we are just very excited about planning it, going onboard and then just the excitement of being there.

 

I hear new people talk about their excitement of a 'new' experience and realize I'm feeling the same excitement no matter how 'experienced' I am.

 

Den

[dln929]

Is it just you? I hope not with all my heart! My husband and I were so resistant to the idea of cruising and lo and behold we took our first cruise in October of this year--and fell in love with the idea of being on a ship, out in the open, under the stars--what can I say but it was magic. Now we are two months out from our second cruise, with another one booked for the end of 2012. I hope our experience wasn't a one-shot thing, that we were just in love with the novelty of a new adventure. I want to step on every ship and feel exactly as you and your wife! Reading your post gives me such a happy feeling. If you can feel excited after more than 25 cruises, surely my husband and I will feel that same joy when we board ship again, and again, and again. Thank you.

[Azulann]

It is great to know that the feeling of excitement never goes away. Looking forward to my third cruise.

[FrankinPA]

We've been on 25 cruises but every time we walk the gangway to embark the ship, the excitement begins! You try and look/feel calm/jaded while waiting in the terminal, but when our feet hit the gangway, it's like it is our first cruise.:) Anyone else get that feeling?

 

We have been on three cruises and have six more currently booked. Does that answer you question? :D

[redhot1]

We've been on 35 cruises and we agree 100 % with you on the excitement of going onboard. Hope that feeling never goes away beause thats what keeps you coming back and the excitement on every cruise, even if you have been on that same cruise before, theres always a new expience awaiting you as you board. :)

[New Hampshire]

Have done many. Will always be excited. Can't wait until March when we sail on Silhouette.

[MVPinBoynton]

We have 20 something cruises and the excitement only increases with every new ship or cruising adventure.

[Brad1185]

For the longest time I felt that way. All the cutbacks and extra charges unfortunately have changed that. My excitement has gone to near zero. Instead of 4 or 5 cruises a year it's maybe 1 every year and a half.

[ariawoman]

I never thought about cruising. I never thought about leaving the US either.

 

I had the opportunity to go on a cruise out of Rome in October of 2009 and i really didn't care about going. I only went because my boyfriend wanted to go.

 

Now, I'm pretty sure he's regretting it. LOL. Now I want to always be planning a cruise. We took our 2nd 1 year later, also in the Med. Then our third another year later....now I'm already bugging him because I want to book a cruise for next October LOL. I'm pretty sure i'll need to book onboard next year LOL.

 

I don't know why i love it so much. Maybe it's because it's an escape from real life, but all vacations are that, and I don't know, there's something different about being able to see so many places in such a small time, without packing/unpacking a bunch of times.

 

I realllllly hope to add a countdown to my sig soon!

[bob brown]

I totally agree with others, that each new cruise is highly anticipated, and exciting. Planning and discussing it on these boards surely adds to the experience. And there are always new ships and new itineraries to try. Even repeating the same cruise as before, is great. It is sort of like seeing a favorite movie over again. Each time you see it, you pick up on something you may have missed before. And it is nice to see staff that you remember from another cruise, and very nice when they remember you as well.:)

[GregNVNY]

I love that feeling of checking in and boarding the ship. After all the months of anticipation, I have finally arrived. It never gets old. Its the beginning of a pleasurable time and it feels adventurous. My cruise critic posts tend to increase the closer I get to my sail date. If I don't have a cruise planned, I hardly post. Each cruise gives me unique memories.

[Lois R]

Looks like 1 person does not enjoy it anymore but the rest of us are

in the "Still loving it" category.:)

 

Yes, I agree with the original poster and love it:)...5 months till

my first cruise to the Med on Equinox......so looking forward to it!:)

[MVPinBoynton]

Looks like 1 person does not enjoy it anymore but the rest of us are

in the "Still loving it" category.:)

 

Yes, I agree with the original poster and love it:)...5 months till

my first cruise to the Med on Equinox......so looking forward to it!:)

 

Lois,

If this is your first Med cruise, you are in for a treat. It won't be your last Med cruise. They are the best. We are doing our third on the Silhouette in May and we are super excited about it.

[Gracie115]

The morning we are to head to the ship I wake up EVERYTIME with this little ditty in my head which gets louder and louder as the morning goes on:

 

WE'RE GOING CRUISING TODAY, OH YES WE ARE!!

 

I wake my DH with it which always brings a smile....

 

It's about 12-14 cruises now, 3 more booked....nah, it never gets old....:D

[gelo7]

My giddiness starts when I pull into port and see my ship.

[bob brown]

For me, the best part of it all, is when I cross the gangway. Especially if it is the day after I finished work for vacation....all the stress and tensions from the workplace seem to magically erase and are immediately forgotten, as I slip into the carefree, vacation frame of mind.:)

[lel5344]

We've been on 25 cruises but every time we walk the gangway to embark the ship, the excitement begins! You try and look/feel calm/jaded while waiting in the terminal, but when our feet hit the gangway, it's like it is our first cruise.:) Anyone else get that feeling?

 

There are many steps along the way when we get that feeling of excitement (in no particular order):

 

When our vehicle gets close enough to the terminal for us to see our ship...

 

When we check in and we get our sign and sail cards...

 

When the photographer greets us...

 

When that first crew member says "Welcome aboard"...

 

When we leave work on that last day...

 

When the taxi for the airport picks us up...

 

When we pile the suitcases by the front door...

 

But for me, the excitement really begins as soon as we book our next cruise. I have the kind of brain that allows me to create a countdown clock in my head, and at any given time, I will know exactly how many days (actually, how many hours) until our next cruise. When i go to sleep, I actually calculate the percentage of time that has elapsed since we booked and, consequently, the percentage of time remaining until that cruise begins. Yes, DW says I'm strange, but she also asks me almost every morning: "How many days?" or "How many hours?"

[BosoxI]

If we didn't enjoy it, we wouldn't do it, but after 35 or 40 cruises, it's hard to get really excited unless it's an exceptional, perhaps once in a lifetime voyage. We've had several of them and hope to have more in the future, but in the meantime we board a ship as a getaway, not an exciting adventure most of the time.

[Cruiser Susie]

I always get that feeling of excitement which really starts increasing and building as we are at home, packing our suitcases. And I know my husband is even happier and more excited about cruising than I am. Once we arrive at the airport, it ratchets up considerably. (Never let a crummy flight get in the way of that feeling, either... or at least not most of the time! ) But as we enter the port, we start twisting and turning to see if we can find the ship... and then, once we are checked in and cross the gangplank and see all the smiling faces of the crew and staff, we just smile, smile, smile and I am thinking "Yippee!!" We are lucky enough to be back on a ship and off on another adventure." I hope I never lose that feeling. Being able to take a cruise is wonderful.... being able to share it with my husband and friends we have made here on CC and onboard is just priceless.

[tispwisp]

We've been on 20 with 4 more booked and look forward to each one as if it were our first! I love researching the different ships, looking at the deck plans and trying to find that "perfect" cabin for us, looking at the ports, counting down the days, getting on the ship, watching it drift away from the dock and looking forward to a nice stress free vacation. Can't imagine vacationing any other way. I hate packing and unpacking so this works out perfectly. We can see many different ports and only unpack twice - once on the ship :) and once when we are back at home. :( Then I can start the process all over again!

 

We'll be celebrating 10 years of cruising on the Solstice on March 30, 2012 (our first cruise was on the Golden Princess on March 30, 2002). Can't believe how fast those 10 years went or how addicted we would become! "Just one" I begged my husband 10 years ago when he was adamant that cruising wasn't for him. Well he gave in -- reluctantly -- and the rest is history!:) I think he kinda liked it!

[PatC]

The excitement never goes away for us either.

 

Susie - one of our greatest anticipations is waiting at the hotels the day before to see our cruising friends again, usually after about 2 years. Remember our excitement when Mo & Steven surprised us on Constellation last year:D That made it all the more exciting.

 

Now, we're into double digits for our Silhouette cruise in March and we're all getting really psyched.

 

Pat

[Leeroy-Jenkins]

 

I hear new people talk about their excitement of a 'new' experience and realize I'm feeling the same excitement no matter how 'experienced' I am.

 

 

Agreed! :D

[mamasue]

My excitement starts from when I put the phone down after booking the cruise!!

DH and I are retired, so we can book at short notice....Our shortest notice has been 6 days, our longest 3 months We live in Georgia. so we can drive to Miami or FLL in a day.

We've done 12 cruises now....and have loved every second of every one...from a 5-day Caribbean quickie to a 2-week transatlantics!!

The second bout of excitement comes with handing the bags over to the porters, and going to check-in, and being handed the room card.

I seriously am like a kid at Christmas the whole time!!!!:D

[bob brown]

".............exciting and new,

come aboard, we're expecting you......

....set a course for adventure.............."

 

With apologies to 'The Love Boat'.....:D