The Good Ole Days

[Catrin]

I was inspired by a photo I just saw that mentioned the Funnel Deck on the Carnival Ships....

Thinking of things that have gone away over the years, and thinking it would be fun to reminisce....

 

So..

to start

 

Funnel Deck - Tops Optional

Four Piece Caribbean Band

Midnight Buffet - Every NIGHT!!

Men's Lingerie Contest - what a HOOT!

Pillow Fight Contest

Beer Drinking Contest

The little tool that wipes the crumbs from the table between courses.

Bread Baskets on the Table

 

What else??

 

:)

Catrin

[mowrider]

A Carnival ship in Mobile !

[taragl]

Streamers and confetti at embarkation!

[PROCRUISE]

1. Adequate staffing of the MDR.

 

Other cruise lines still offer the crumb-wiper and bread baskets too!

[Rottweiler Puppy]

....

Beer Drinking Contest.....

 

Why would they get rid of that? Or why did they?

 

Only contest I would have a chance in.

[Catrin]

Why would they get rid of that? Or why did they?

 

Only contest I would have a chance in.

 

That was in 1992 on our Honeymoon.

I believe they got rid of those contests to create more of a family image instead of a party one!!

 

I am sure there are a few unauthorized contests each cruise however!!

Catrin

[sharecruises]

My first cruise on Carnival

Sommelier in Dining room, complete with the tasting "cup" on a chain around his neck

 

Smoking all over the ship

 

Waiter gave you a "picture" of the ship (color print)

 

Got a ship pin for the cruise

 

FIVE piece Steel Band ...they were great :)

 

LOTS more dancers it seemed, and big orchestra

 

Carnival used to offer Beef Wellington

 

Fun Times was the "Capers" (I like that name better, easier to "google")

 

!!!!!!!!

My first cruises : (other lines, some now out of biz)

 

Bon Voyage : friends could drive up to the Port/s (Miami) and help you carry on your luggage, bring on booze, go to your cabin, have a drink with you, wak around the ship and then TOOOT "all ashore who's going ashore"

 

Very little security ....and yes, bring on the booze

Bon Voyage Party on deck - big to do, whistles, streamers

Skeet shooting on the deck

Baked Alaska waiter's parade with candles on the cake, some balancing on their head

 

Big fuss about the "Horse Races" (went on thru the cruise)

 

NO dinner buffet at all..fixed seating period

 

Smaller ship meant you saw the same people over and over, more of a sense of "US"....YAYYYYY :"WE" are the Cruisers on the Emerald Sky YAY!!

 

Every cruise seemed to have it's own "characters" that you saw over and over, the "stars" of the cruise. They were the ones in the talent show, marriage show, horse race "leader", and so on LOL

 

"Smoking or Non Smoking" in Dining room (Admiral, Dolphin etc)

 

NO stabilizers : which meant that the first night everyone was rocking and rolling as the ship would race to the islands...then they went only a short distance ...Nassau to "Private Island" to Freeport....so not bad..then back across the Atlantic and rock and roll

 

 

Princess :

Head waiter made Caesar salad tableside, complete with anchovies

Head waiter made a different pasta tableside (over a flame) every night

Head waiter made bananas foster one night and cherries jubilee "flambe"

VERY Dressy....my ex wore a black tux first formal night , then a white dinner jacket 2nd night...I wore gown first night and sequin "Dallas" type dress with big shoulders 2nd night....eek

 

(wonder we did not all burn up LOL)

 

St Croix was a port to visit...they built a new pier, had steel bands, peeps on stilts...but bad incidents (stabbing on beach) and anti-American politics made most cruiselines drop St Croix

 

The bad part : harder to find your luggage after the cruise !!

Port of Miami is sooo much nicer NOW...it used to be like a huge warehouse/s

and they would dump all the luggage together

[sugaangel601]

1. Adequate staffing of the MDR.

 

Other cruise lines still offer the crumb-wiper and bread baskets too!

 

Im fairly certain they used the "crumb sweeper" on my last cruise on Destiny January 2011. I was embarrassed that I had accumulated so many crumbs... and likely blamed it on my BF. ;)

[INTERLINER13]

Fruit punch.

[ferfoodle]

No such thing as Your Time Dining - you ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at your assigned table in the dining room.

 

Just an FYI - in January on the Liberty with YTD, they brought the bread basket to the table and left it every night.

 

You used dabbers at Bingo and played several games at the sessions.

[mikel24m]

My first cruise on Carnival

Sommelier in Dining room, complete with the tasting "cup" on a chain around his neck

 

Smoking all over the ship

 

Waiter gave you a "picture" of the ship (color print)

 

Got a ship pin for the cruise

 

FIVE piece Steel Band ...they were great :)

 

LOTS more dancers it seemed, and big orchestra

 

Carnival used to offer Beef Wellington

 

Fun Times was the "Capers" (I like that name better, easier to "google")

 

!!!!!!!!

My first cruises : (other lines, some now out of biz)

 

Bon Voyage : friends could drive up to the Port/s (Miami) and help you carry on your luggage, bring on booze, go to your cabin, have a drink with you, wak around the ship and then TOOOT "all ashore who's going ashore"

 

Very little security ....and yes, bring on the booze

Bon Voyage Party on deck - big to do, whistles, streamers

Skeet shooting on the deck

Baked Alaska waiter's parade with candles on the cake, some balancing on their head

 

Big fuss about the "Horse Races" (went on thru the cruise)

 

NO dinner buffet at all..fixed seating period

 

Smaller ship meant you saw the same people over and over, more of a sense of "US"....YAYYYYY :"WE" are the Cruisers on the Emerald Sky YAY!!

 

Every cruise seemed to have it's own "characters" that you saw over and over, the "stars" of the cruise. They were the ones in the talent show, marriage show, horse race "leader", and so on LOL

 

"Smoking or Non Smoking" in Dining room (Admiral, Dolphin etc)

 

NO stabilizers : which meant that the first night everyone was rocking and rolling as the ship would race to the islands...then they went only a short distance ...Nassau to "Private Island" to Freeport....so not bad..then back across the Atlantic and rock and roll

 

 

Princess :

Head waiter made Caesar salad tableside, complete with anchovies

Head waiter made a different pasta tableside (over a flame) every night

Head waiter made bananas foster one night and cherries jubilee "flambe"

VERY Dressy....my ex wore a black tux first formal night , then a white dinner jacket 2nd night...I wore gown first night and sequin "Dallas" type dress with big shoulders 2nd night....eek

 

(wonder we did not all burn up LOL)

 

St Croix was a port to visit...they built a new pier, had steel bands, peeps on stilts...but bad incidents (stabbing on beach) and anti-American politics made most cruiselines drop St Croix

 

The bad part : harder to find your luggage after the cruise !!

Port of Miami is sooo much nicer NOW...it used to be like a huge warehouse/s

and they would dump all the luggage together

 

I wished we cruised at this time it sounded awesome

[dkdoob]

I wished we cruised at this time it sounded awesome

 

Ditto! We started cruising way too late. Are Love Boat re-runs on anywhere?

[mikel24m]

Ditto! We started cruising way too late. Are Love Boat re-runs on anywhere?

 

http://www.hulu.com/search?query=love+boat&st=0&fs=null

 

 

Enjoy:)

[Catrin]

Thought of a few more!!

 

FLAMING Cherries Jubilee and Baked Alaska... along with a Parade to boot!

Getting "FREE" birthday and anniversary cakes throughout the cruise.... hearing Happy Birtdsday to youz on each cruise over and over again.

Coquille St. Jaques... our favorite dish of pasta, potatoes, scallops omg heaven.

Welcome Aboard Party with free rum drinks!

Captains Welcome Party with Free Drinks

[mikel24m]

Thought of a few more!!

 

FLAMING Cherries Jubilee and Baked Alaska... along with a Parade to boot!

Getting "FREE" birthday and anniversary cakes throughout the cruise.... hearing Happy Birtdsday to youz on each cruise over and over again.

Coquille St. Jaques... our favorite dish of pasta, potatoes, scallops omg heaven.

Welcome Aboard Party with free rum drinks!

Captains Welcome Party with Free Drinks

 

LOL my first cruise we had a birthday .It was great

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Skeet shooting off the fantail (did that on Commodore in the 80's)

Midnight buffet

Family could come on board up until sailing time. (I bet it helped pick up some bar sales big time)

[me-shel]

http://www.hulu.com/search?query=love+boat&st=0&fs=null

 

 

Enjoy:)

 

Oh, no - there goes all my free time!! :D

[NJcruisemom]

I miss the "old" style of cruising....much more glamorous and elegant. The Grand "Midnight Buffet", everyone dressed up every night, and formal night meant black tie. no dirty dishes/glasses lining the hallway...or vacuums and linen carts for that matter, no chair hogs, well behaved children (and parents).

Cruising was just that....cruising. Now it's a floating theme park. Thank goodness for the new serenity area.

[A2Mich]

Thought of a few more!!

 

FLAMING Cherries Jubilee and Baked Alaska... along with a Parade to boot!

Getting "FREE" birthday and anniversary cakes throughout the cruise.... hearing Happy Birtdsday to youz on each cruise over and over again.

Coquille St. Jaques... our favorite dish of pasta, potatoes, scallops omg heaven.

Welcome Aboard Party with free rum drinks!

Captains Welcome Party with Free Drinks

 

Will always remember the "Hoppy Burstday" and "Hoppy Onnibersary" in the MDR.

[sharecruises]

Much better for singles/solos

 

many ships had "solo" cabins (small)

 

most cruiselines...Princess, Carnival included offered "single shares"...

based on sex (same sex LOL) and "smoking or non smoking"...

you could ask for a double share, triple share or if really cheap and ready to party...a quad

 

Many had "dancing" gentlemen to dance with single women

 

They also had more "last minute" cruises for locals...you could go to a travel agent and ask what was "available' and...cheap

I booked my first cruise and sailed 3 days later, no checking this line and that line or comparing LOL>> price is right, let's go

 

Before internet, cruiselines had big thick glossy catalogs about their cruises

 

Cruiselines with more than one or two ships had a brochure for each ship

 

Travel agents had videos of all the ships....they would "lend" them to you to take home to watch...your choice of "format">> yeah they had Betamax and/or VHS. Or you could go in a little room at the travel agent office and watch on their tv

 

If you booked ahead, you got a really nice document folder in the mail, complete with nice luggage tags....if you booked last minute you got all sorts of paperwork in the agents office LOL

 

The "gambling ferries" did everything and anything to get people on board...if we had nothing better to do on a weekend we would jump on and rock and rock

 

At one point Discovery was giving "free cruise" certs when you ate at certain restaurants...you just paid "port fees" to go to Freeport...$14 then later $20

[YubaSutter]

Hitting golf balls off the ship.

[e150club]

The cabin key was a key on a elastic wrist band. Cash at bar and casino. You could bring booze from duty free back to cabin. Tug boats I love tug boats.

[A2Mich]

Hitting golf balls off the ship.

 

 

If I remember correctly, weren't they golf balls that dissolved in water? I also remember the skeet shooting, as well as shuffleboard courts.

[e150club]

Oh I forgot. The night gowns folded on the bed at turn down. That creeped the wife a little.

[glrounds]

My first cruise on Carnival

Sommelier in Dining room, complete with the tasting "cup" on a chain around his neck

 

Smoking all over the ship

 

Waiter gave you a "picture" of the ship (color print)

 

Got a ship pin for the cruise

 

FIVE piece Steel Band ...they were great :)

 

LOTS more dancers it seemed, and big orchestra

 

Carnival used to offer Beef Wellington

 

Fun Times was the "Capers" (I like that name better, easier to "google")

 

!!!!!!!!

My first cruises : (other lines, some now out of biz)

 

Bon Voyage : friends could drive up to the Port/s (Miami) and help you carry on your luggage, bring on booze, go to your cabin, have a drink with you, wak around the ship and then TOOOT "all ashore who's going ashore"

 

Very little security ....and yes, bring on the booze

Bon Voyage Party on deck - big to do, whistles, streamers

Skeet shooting on the deck

Baked Alaska waiter's parade with candles on the cake, some balancing on their head

 

Big fuss about the "Horse Races" (went on thru the cruise)

 

NO dinner buffet at all..fixed seating period

 

Smaller ship meant you saw the same people over and over, more of a sense of "US"....YAYYYYY :"WE" are the Cruisers on the Emerald Sky YAY!!

 

Every cruise seemed to have it's own "characters" that you saw over and over, the "stars" of the cruise. They were the ones in the talent show, marriage show, horse race "leader", and so on LOL

 

"Smoking or Non Smoking" in Dining room (Admiral, Dolphin etc)

 

NO stabilizers : which meant that the first night everyone was rocking and rolling as the ship would race to the islands...then they went only a short distance ...Nassau to "Private Island" to Freeport....so not bad..then back across the Atlantic and rock and roll

 

 

Princess :

Head waiter made Caesar salad tableside, complete with anchovies

Head waiter made a different pasta tableside (over a flame) every night

Head waiter made bananas foster one night and cherries jubilee "flambe"

VERY Dressy....my ex wore a black tux first formal night , then a white dinner jacket 2nd night...I wore gown first night and sequin "Dallas" type dress with big shoulders 2nd night....eek

 

(wonder we did not all burn up LOL)

 

St Croix was a port to visit...they built a new pier, had steel bands, peeps on stilts...but bad incidents (stabbing on beach) and anti-American politics made most cruiselines drop St Croix

 

The bad part : harder to find your luggage after the cruise !!

Port of Miami is sooo much nicer NOW...it used to be like a huge warehouse/s

and they would dump all the luggage together

 

You've hit a HOME RUN, Esty . . . . just exactly as I remember most of it. What days those were. What incredible memories. Thank you. :)