What a difference from 1983

[jbhcw]

My first cruise was on the Kazakhstan out of New Orleans in 1977. This was our senior class trip from high school. The Kazakhstan was 16,000 tons. It was a seven day trip and we went to Jamacia, Hati, and Grand Cayman. There were four of us to a cabin and the cost was 316.00 for the week. The rooms were configured with two lower bunks and two upper bunks. The ship was Soviet built and I recall all of the crew was Russian. Here is a picture of the ship.

 

 

That is neat!! My SIL...did the Semester at Sea thing when she was in college...late 70's or early 80's...

 

Our 3 day on the Majestic was cheap...but our cabin was an inside and about 5X8...the bed was built into the wall:eek: I can remember telling my dh I didn't think I could stay the room...too small..too dark...and him laughing and telling me I had no choice...we were at sea!! He did turn the bathroom light on and that helped:D

[Aplmac]

My first cruise was on the Kazakhstan out of New Orleans in 1977.

 

Look at the very functional Roll-on/Roll-off gate at the stern.

You can probably still transport 4 or 5 tanks on that ship! ;)

 

 

All Russian transport (Air or Sea!) was made dual-purpose

in the event of war.

Those guys were/ARE serious, make no mistake about that.

 

 

 

I once heard a quip about the USSR...

Russia doesn't have a military/industrial complex

- it IS one.

 

.

[detroitlions]

Some change was very good. Like larger casinos, Balcony rooms, More lunch time options, Buffetts and food venues other then the MDR, I dont care for theme meals seems corny and paying everything in cash was good cause of the control but not convienent. In the last 10 years some of the changes were real stinky. Like removing the midnight buffet you cant get anything but pizza or room service in the late night hours now I cant stand that. Plus I do not like the shows anymore boring I leave thinking why did I bother or leave early, The bars dont seem to gravitate people anymore I hope the 2.0 stuff changed that for spring break, everyone seems to hang out in the casino area. I love cruising but some things take away from it and some things add to it. I put a blog in before about no one cruised much before the late 90,s early 2000's. You look at there signiture it will show 1 cruse in the 80's and 10 or more from the 2000 era. so they must be doing something right now.

[ddbaab53]

Wow, you guys are really remembering, I am so excited reading all of these that I am even more ready to get on board Liberty in Sept.

 

In answer to the cost back them, it varied a lot but you really got a lot for your money back then. Or maybe it seems that way. You had food available all night long, there were always games and such on the lido deck, and live music on deck and in the lobby almost all the time. Also, back in the early days there were not that many cruise ships out there so they could charge more. Now there are so many that the competition forces the prices to go down... Ours has gone down over $300 for this next one. Even so I wish that the midnight buffets and live music on deck would come back... I also remember for the sail away parties they would bring on board entertainers from the island to preform until we were ready to set sail.

 

Oh, and someone asked about boarding, no clipboard that I ever saw. You checked in at the terminal like now had a pic taken as you were boarding and then there was staff on board to greet you and get you in the right direction.

 

One thing I do like about now as opposed to then is that the cabins are much nicer than they were then.

[davy jones]

Let's see. Some things that cruising was like in the 80's. For better or worse is your opinion.

 

1. Smaller ships - Large ships were in the 40,000 to 50,000 ton range. Today, anything under 100,000 tons is considered "medium" sized.

2. Far more formal - Jacket and tie every evening for dinner. Dark suit or tux for formal night.

3. No children's programs - While cruises were not adults only, most did not bring children.

4. Airfare and transfers included in cruise price. You checked your bags at the airport and they ended up in your cabin. Some lines did offer cruise only prices.

5. Dinner was an event - More courses, far better food and presentation, wine stewards, caesar salads prepared tableside, dishes flamed tableside.

6. Activities included skeet shooting, golf ball driving off the stern, dance contests, horse racing, and I can't remember them all. Prizes actually had value, usually bottles of wine or champagne.

7. Extravagant midnight buffets with 30 minutes for photography before opening.

8. No TV or internet. A news summary was slipped under the door daily by the cabin steward.

9. One class cruising - Everyone was treated equally regardless of cabin category. There were no obvious additional perks for frequent sailers or suite passengers. Access was not for sale.

10. Ship and bridge tours were offered on every cruise.

11. Printed list with name and city of all passengers were distributed.

12. List of food consumed during the week like how many thousand eggs, pounds of meat, etc.

 

Returning to some of these thing would be nice, but overall, I like today's cruising better.

[Neotericisis]

Why even pay $20?

Carnival already has your big bucks. :cool:

 

Just present yourself at their gangway control

with your valid Carnival ship-card in hand,

and they give you a temporary visitor's pass, while keeping your valid ship-card as security.

You get it back when your inspection tour is done and you're leaving Their Ship

to go back to Your Ship.

 

 

This could apply to any Carnival Corp. cruise line...

i.e. Holland-America, Yachts of Seabourn, Costa, Cunard, Princess, etc.

 

.

 

Coolest info I read all day! Including my client's deposition transcript= naughty attorney lol! :p

[Warm Breezes]

I have to laugh when I read that people can't remember the names of the ships that they've been on. I can see where people can't remember the names when they've been on twenty or thirty cruises. We have had friends just get off a cruise and when I ask what ship it was, they say they can't remember. My first thought is always "How did you even know what ship to get on?"

 

We were just going through some home movies the last couple of days and labeling tapes that were missing labels (most of them weren't labeled...we're bad). Every time we came to cruise video, I was the only one out of the 4 of us that could name that ship immediately:o:p.

[Neotericisis]

Let's see. Some things that cruising was like in the 80's. For better or worse is your opinion.

 

1. Smaller ships - Large ships were in the 40,000 to 50,000 ton range. Today, anything under 100,000 tons is considered "medium" sized.

2. Far more formal - Jacket and tie every evening for dinner. Dark suit or tux for formal night.

3. No children's programs - While cruises were not adults only, most did not bring children.

4. Airfare and transfers included in cruise price. You checked your bags at the airport and they ended up in your cabin. Some lines did offer cruise only prices.

5. Dinner was an event - More courses, far better food and presentation, wine stewards, caesar salads prepared tableside, dishes flamed tableside.

6. Activities included skeet shooting, golf ball driving off the stern, dance contests, horse racing, and I can't remember them all. Prizes actually had value, usually bottles of wine or champagne.

7. Extravagant midnight buffets with 30 minutes for photography before opening.

8. No TV or internet. A news summary was slipped under the door daily by the cabin steward.

9. One class cruising - Everyone was treated equally regardless of cabin category. There were no obvious additional perks for frequent sailers or suite passengers. Access was not for sale.

10. Ship and bridge tours were offered on every cruise.

11. Printed list with name and city of all passengers were distributed.

12. List of food consumed during the week like how many thousand eggs, pounds of meat, etc.

 

Returning to some of these thing would be nice, but overall, I like today's cruising better.

 

I'm such a youngin'! I was born in 1986 so I have no clue about this old school world, but I must admit there are some things that I wouldn't mind- including the formal elegant night, knowing fun facts like how much food was used, and especially one stop baggage claim!

 

BUT, I agree, I think overall I would rather today's cruising- it seems to have a lot more to do and the class system isn't too bad (some resorts are terrible about "members only" systems, so the different colored S&S cards and obligatory cocktail party etc. mean nothing to me!)

[Neotericisis]

My first cruise was on the Kazakhstan out of New Orleans in 1977. This was our senior class trip from high school. The Kazakhstan was 16,000 tons. It was a seven day trip and we went to Jamacia, Hati, and Grand Cayman. There were four of us to a cabin and the cost was 316.00 for the week. The rooms were configured with two lower bunks and two upper bunks. The ship was Soviet built and I recall all of the crew was Russian. Here is a picture of the ship.

 

 

You had the coolest school ever- for our senior trip in 2004 we went to Six Flags in NJ- about 1 1/2 hours away- via bus-this included fund raising! Then again I guess NYC schools really don't have it in their budget so we had a blast anyway!

[Aplmac]

Returning to some of these thing would be nice, but overall, I like today's cruising better.

Ah the Good Ole Days is usually about sentiment and fond memories but..

like you, give me today and tomorrow, warts and all! ;)

 

...........

 

For your enlightenment, I'm attaching a few shots of what cruising was like

back in the days of the original Queen Mary 1.

 

Oh how far we have come!

and how glad I am that none of us had to endure "Suites" like these shown below!

Hopefully the names of the files will show, to indicate what the class of accommodation is..

[soccersharon]

Wonderful pictures :) Really enjoying this thread!

[thistoo]

6. Activities included skeet shooting, golf ball driving off the stern, dance contests, horse racing, and I can't remember them all. Prizes actually had value, usually bottles of wine or champagne.

 

I understand why they've done away with it, but I do wish there was still skeet shooting. That sounds like so much fun.

[sc4125]

So no real gangway control, it would seem.

 

How trusting and honor-based everything was, in those days.

Today's security paranoia seems extreme by comparison!

 

.

 

I worked on Carnvals ships in the early 80's then on the Rhapsody (as a purser) for a few years. When we did the Transcanal on the Rhapsody to do the Alaska run for the summer, we had to make an announcement for any passengers who planned to get off in Panama - they had to leave their name at the gangway due to the high crime rate (we were there until late at night), so that we would know if someone didn't make it back onboard. Needless to say, very few people got off the ship in that port.

 

Other than that, we just left when it was time to leave and waited for the port authorities to contact us when the pier runners missed the ship.

[sc4125]

Might be the Tropicale in 1996.

Otherwise the only other Carnival ships to run aground were in 1972 and 2002.

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Aground.html

 

 

Thank you for that site - I was a purser on the Rhapsody when she went aground and had to be evacuated in Grand Cayman. Hard to believe that was in 1984 - where does the time go.

[stewpapa]

Great Thread!

[MandynJim]

My first cruise was on the Dolphin IV in 1989. I was 10 and really don't remember too much about the amenities. Second was the Carnival Fantasy in 1993. I do remember a lot more midnight buffets, etc.

[Prof Peg]

My first cruise???? I was but a silly child - 1957. Navy family transferred to Honolulu and had to go over on a troop ship (my brothers even had to stay with the military guys down below).

 

HOWEVER, when we returned, the troop ship must not have been available because we came back on the SS Lurline (Matson Lines)

 

I too can remember dressing every night for dinner. I also remember selecting 1st or 2nd seating in the MDR and crew would come down the passageway playing a small xylophone thing. It sounded like the old NBC chimes--- ding, dong, ding. Like Pavlav's dog, we heard that and started salivating!

[SHayesShip]

Alas, this all stopped after 9/11. I had done the lunch routine a couple times back in the late 80's and 90's but not since.

 

Would like to see this policy instituted.

 

Not so very long ago, passengers from the same cruise line

could go on board other ships of the same line and have lunch!

I distinctly remember reading that, right here on CC.

Perhaps one of these long-term cruisers can verify?

 

 

Why can't we do this today?..

..if two/three Carnival ships are alongside the pier at St.Maarten, or wherever?

 

That would be so so cool, not to mention a great hospitality gesture!

.

[CRUZBUDS]

Here are some cut an pastes from our Daily Capers 1988 on the Tropicale - we paid $784 each for an outside cabin 7 days. That is $1520 in 2012 dollars.

 

Dress for the entire evening is Formal after 5:00 PM. Thank You.

 

Trap Shooting - Beginners & Pros! Don't miss your Chance! E - Deck Aft

 

Bridge Tour! ONLY for Passengers who will be Disembarking in Puerto

Vallarta . Meet outside the Islands in the Sun Lounge Port side at 4:00 PM

will be Bridge Tours for all other Passengers on Friday and Saturday.

 

12:30 - 1:30 am Midnight Buffet Featuring Dessert Specialties Riviera Restaurant

1:30 - 2:30 am Mini Buffet is Served Promenade Deck

 

Enjoy our Bar Special "Tequila Sunrise" $1.95

 

 

Baked Alaska -- with real fire!

 

[tkportersat]

Very cool thread, love hearing about the good ol' days. I have always cruised after 9/11 so I don't know any different.

 

I do remember the days when you could go to the airport and your friends and family could see you off; I do miss that.

[satbeachbill]

Our first cruise was on the NCL Sunward, their first ship out of Miami, in the mid 70's. I can remember being treated -and feeling like- royalty. Man, we were something special - being able to go on a cruise ship! And yes, as I recall an inside cabin was fairly pricey too. We've been hooked ever since.

[crusing_guy]

You had the coolest school ever- for our senior trip in 2004 we went to Six Flags in NJ- about 1 1/2 hours away- via bus-this included fund raising! Then again I guess NYC schools really don't have it in their budget so we had a blast anyway!

 

It was very nice but there was no fund-raising for our senior trip. Everyone who wanted to go had to pay their own way. My high school was all "guys" and we had another high school in the area which was all "girls". I remember that all of the guys were in cabins on one end of the ship and all of the girls were in cabins on the opposite end of the ship. We were not allowed to even be in the hallway of the girls cabins. There was one couple who were engaged in a little hanky-panky in one of the lifeboats. They were flew back home at the next port.

[Aplmac]

This does not qualify as a cruise

simply because this was how one transited the Atlantic back in 1955!

 

There were no trans-Atlantic flights: the technology wasn't there, yet.

 

Can you believe my parents took me across the Atlantic in this TUB? :eek:

 

If they weren't already dead and gone, I think I'd SUE for endangering my life! :D

 

The above tub was the R.M.S. (Royal Mail Ship) HILARY of the Booth Line.

 

___________________

 

and this...

...was me at the age of five, in front of my father in the checked shirt -my Mum at left.

 

 

Whatever happened to cute? - Today I'm someone's Big Hairy Husband! :eek:

 

Please check out those awful Deck Chairs...bet there was no squabbling over them!

.

[farmermd]

My 1st cruise - Feb,1989 - Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam - 7 day Western Caribbean out of Tampa - $2690 per couple included airfare out of DC and transfers for porthole cabin

 

Ten years later - Jan,1999 - RCCL Grandeur - 7 day Eastern Caribbean out of Miami - $2644 per couple included airfare out of DC and transfers for a Balcony cabin

 

This year - Jan,2013 - Celebrity Reflection - 7 day Eastern Caribbean out of Miami - $2202 per couple included airfare out of DC and all gratuities for a Balcony cabin

 

All of the above ships were new or relatively new at the time of the cruise. There have been many cruises in between but I thought these offered a good comparison of pricing over the last 24 years since they were basically the same.

[tandemcruzr]

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