Cruises in yesteryear

[Txwoman]

Has anyone here cruised before cruises became so popular?

 

Who took cruises I will say in the 60's and prior to that? Was it the socially elite, those blessed financially or those using it as a means of transporation vs. a vacation

 

I was just wondering how cruising has changed since those days vs today's cruising experience..

[Cotton]

Wow, I sure don't go back that far...but things have changed a great deal since my first cruise in 1987. My two sisters and I flew from N.O. to San Juan and cruised on Carnival's Festivale. Very expensive trip, but great fun.

 

Cokes were included in the price of the cruise, as well as a rum swizzle party on deck at sailaway. We were also given streamers to toss overboard. There was a costume party on deck one night, which was great fun. I went as Lady Godiva (in a nude-colored body suit and long, long blonde wig). Yep, lots of things have changed....including me!:D

[caviargal]

I took my first cruise in 1962 on the SS Ariadne. We by no means were rich but my mom was a bargain hunter! She would wait til we drove to Miami from NJ on our annual vacation and then get these incredible day of sailing deals. We packed the whole family into two small cabins (the ship only held a few hundred) and hence, a cruise addict was born!

 

I remember things being more elegant than and personally regret the casual tone of many of today's cruises. I still have a photo of me shaking the Captain's hand. I had on a yello poufy dress and pink suede shoes! A walking fashion faux pas but boy I thought I was really something.

 

Such wonderful memories!

 

CG

[johnql]

I go back to the '80s. The biggest changes that I've noticed are the trends towards casual dress and a la carte pricing. Back in the '80s and early '90s, virtually everyone got dressed up for the formal nights. And I mean, dressed to the nines (gowns and tuxes, not just dresses and suits). Also, back then it was generally expected that the entire evening was formal, not just attending dinner.

 

Pricing has changed dramatically. Cruise fares are actually lower nowadays than 15-20 years ago. It used to be much closer to all-inclusive. Now, in order to keep base fares low, most cruise lines charge for many extras (e.g., soda, alternative dining, some gym classes, specialty coffees, specialty ice cream, etc.).

[cruisead]

Early 70's on the old Carnival Mardi Gras with our boys. No question about dressing up---everyone did, and you didn't see jeans, shorts or other such clothes. Everyone dressed up, with the exception of at the swimming pool. None of the attitude of "I paid for this and I will dress as I da mn well please".

[LHT28]

First cruise in 1974 on Alexander Pushkin (now Marco Polo) with communal washrooms and showers down the hall. Bunk beds ( we were much younger then)

Everyone dressed for dinner.

Very interesting experience.

[glgolfer]

First on the Song of Norway out of Miami in 1987. Streamers at sailaway/muster drill. Driving golf balls off the back of the ship. Shooting clay birds from the port side. Bridge tours offered to anyone that wanted them. Dressing for dinner with no complaints. Sitting at the Chief Engineers table the whole cruise. Choice of vegetables at dinner. 23,000 ton ship with 1300 passengers so you got to know the staff and they remembered you. A feeling of elegance instead of glitz and color.

We were by no means rich, but it was still cheaper than going to someplace like Cancun for a week. But it was as much for an inside cabin then as for a balcony today.

[cruisetarp]

My first cruise was in the early 60's on the old Homeric. Cruising was much more "formal". You dressed for dinner each night - ladies in dresses and men in suits. You had an assigned lounge chair. They had attendants by the pool who would move your chair to wherever you wanted it but that was your chair for the cruise. We also had great "Bon Voyage" parties before we sailed and tried to see just how many friends and relatives we could get into those tiny cabins. Your guests then stood on the pier throwing confetti and streamers as the ship sailed.

[caviargal]

First on the Song of Norway out of Miami in 1987. Streamers at sailaway/muster drill. Driving golf balls off the back of the ship. Shooting clay birds from the port side. Bridge tours offered to anyone that wanted them. Dressing for dinner with no complaints. Sitting at the Chief Engineers table the whole cruise. Choice of vegetables at dinner. 23,000 ton ship with 1300 passengers so you got to know the staff and they remembered you. A feeling of elegance instead of glitz and color.

We were by no means rich, but it was still cheaper than going to someplace like Cancun for a week. But it was as much for an inside cabin then as for a balcony today.

 

I had forgotten about the vegetables being served individually at dinner. So were the dressings for the salad, not just plunked on the table as many lines do today.

 

And, yes, skeet shooting and streamers and all of those other things that now are known to pollute the environment. My little brother used to fish off of the front of the ship on crew deck with the crew.

 

And I loved Song of Norway. A great size with a great crew.

[marco]

The best part of "the olden days", particularly for sailing out of NY were the bon voyage parties. For approx 1000 people sailing, there were about 5000 people on the ship. Bars were open, hors doueveres and pizza (on Italian ships) was passed. Champage bottles were popping at the rate of about 1 every 5 seconds. Then, "All ashore whose going ashore" was announced, every one proceeded ashore or to the outside decks, confetti and streamers were passed out the bands were playing on the decks and departure was quite the event. Jackets and tie for men EVERY evening after 6PM in ALL public rooms and the restaurant, or you were not permitted in. For dining, dishes were placed in front of you and the dinner was served off of silver platters and bowls, one for the main course and then veggies were served as well from a platter. All meals were in the dining room, save for maybe one lunch buffet extrodinare, midnight buffets were a "meal". Speical orders and table preparation was common, always. Everything on board was "cash", no cruise cards and signing as you went. You rented a deck chair, and that was YOUR chair for the cruise. You sat in it, and the "pool boy" would bring you towels. I remember no casinos, no art auctions, bingo was $3 and the entire pot was won by a passenger. On most any evening, the gowns and jewelry taht came out looked like a fashion show. No alternative dining venues and no revenue producing "options". You could get a massage, your hair done or cut, but that was about it, no Spa treatments. Shows were singers, dancers, a comedian, juggler etc, etc, not the Las Vegas revues there are now. The best part was the fact that most "OCean Liners" would do cruises as well, so the ship really had the personality staff and cuisine of the country, Italian Line, Greek Line, Swedish America Line, Hollad America Line, French Line. Not all as homoginized as the lines are now, and staff and crew made this their career, not a couple of year contract to make some money to go home to thier home country with. Some people would book a specific cabin because of the steward AND (not or) stewardess assigned to it. Call buttons were in the cabin and you would push it and the light above your door would light up, red if you were summoning the steward, green if the stewardess. Service was considerably more polished than it is now, in both the dining room and cabins. The ships themselves had brass, teak, wood paneling and the decor reflected the country of origin, as well. Ships were considerably smaller, a 45K tonner was huge, now, that would be small and folks got to know other passengers easier and quicker and we developed a lot of friendships that continue, and we still sail with some of the folks I/we met 30 years ago. I started cruising when this era just in it's twilight, the late 60's and I was "a kid" my early 20's. I think what got me hooked on ocean travel was even as a child, trans-Atlantic sailings.

[Txwoman]

I've heard of theme cruises and they sound like fun but wouldn't it be wonderful if they would do a theme cruise to give everyone to a chance to see a cruise like it use to be. I always hate to see a part of history disappear and what ya'll are describing sounds delightful.

[njcruisingmom]

I don't feel like an old-timer, but I will always remember my first cruise, on the Volenda from NY to Bermuda. I remember my dad and brother could come on the ship to see us off, going away parties in a lot of the cabins and a much smaller ship. We had one showroom, about the size of a small lounge on today's ships. The show was there. The exercise classes were there. Everything was there! The shows weren't as elaborate as they are now -- singers, dancers, that sort of thing and I believe a crew show near the end. Little tiny disco. Cabins much smaller. And we really felt the rough seas off Cape Hatteras -- remember seeing the dancers slide across the floor at the first show!

 

But it got me hooked on cruising! Took my next one on the then-brand new Celebration in I believe 87 or 88.

[ladycaveat]

First on the Song of Norway out of Miami in 1987. Streamers at sailaway/muster drill. Driving golf balls off the back of the ship. Shooting clay birds from the port side. Bridge tours offered to anyone that wanted them. Dressing for dinner with no complaints. Sitting at the Chief Engineers table the whole cruise. Choice of vegetables at dinner. 23,000 ton ship with 1300 passengers so you got to know the staff and they remembered you. A feeling of elegance instead of glitz and color.

We were by no means rich, but it was still cheaper than going to someplace like Cancun for a week. But it was as much for an inside cabin then as for a balcony today.

 

Boy, do you bring back some fantastic memories of my cruise in 1974, 1984 and 1994. Don't get me wrong . . . I totally enjoyed my last two cruises but they were definately different than the earlier three.

[GrannyJ]

My first cruise was in 1967 -- the next-to-last westward sailing of the old Queen Elizabeth from Southhampton. We were two teen-aged sisters returning from three months of bumming around Europe, staying in hostels, cheap hotels and sleeping on trains to save money, thus the QE was a pretty amazing experience for us. We had a cabin in "steerage" that was approximately twice the size of the bunkbeds, but we were lucky in that ours was one of the few cabins that had its own bath, small as it was. No frills in steerage -- metal walls, metal floor, no closet. We must have been right at the waterline because when the ship stopped in LeHavre to pick up passengers, there was a horrendous crash on the other side of the hull that must have been a tug pushing us into the dock. I was sure we had crashed into something and we grabbed our lifejackets and scurried out into the hall. Nobody out there seemed to be agitated about anything, so we slunk back into the cabin, ditched the vests and went up top, trying to look sophisticated. I don't think we fooled anyone.

 

There were three classes - First Class, Cabin (I think it was called) Class and Tourist (that was us down in steerage). Each class had its own dining room, lounges, decks, etc, but the ballrooms were open to everyone. A friendly deck steward sneaked us up to First Class one day to see how the riche lived. "As God is my witness" vowed I in my best Scarlett manner, "I'll never go Tourist Class again." Alas, almost 40 years later, I'm still sailing on the cheap.

 

Food was wonderful but strange at times (the first time the waiter placed a bowl of picked herrings on a bed of chopped onion in front of me for breakfast was an eye-opener). There was no buffet or snackbar. Tea and cakes were served in the afternoon and I vaguely remember there were a few snacks out late at night. You put on a dress and you went to the dining room and you sat down and ate..and ate...and ate. Mealtimes were announced by a cabin boy walking up and down the corridors playing a tune on a little xylophone-like thingy. Ship's personnel was mostly English, Scots, Welsh and Irish and were friendly but somewhat reserved. Alcoholic beverages were unbelieveably cheap and I had my first Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Tom Collins, followed quickly by my first horrendous hangover. Every night, a band played til the wee hours in the grand ballroom, which had a floor about the size of a football field which was polished to a shine that resembled (and felt) like a skating rink. The stabilizers would go off at midnight and the ship would start rolling. Combined with the afore-mentioned alcoholic beverages and the extremely high-heeled dress shoes I had purchased in London to go with my slinky black cocktail dress purchased in Paris, dancing was less of a graceful pursuit and more of a slippery slide to oblivion. We had fallen in with a group of other teens and 20's and spent most of our time hanging out in the bars and the ballroom (there being no belly-flop or hairy back contests, Newlywed Games, climbing walls or iceskating rinks available). I had a short shipboard romance with a handsome young Welsh lad who was coming to American to attend graduate school at Wharton. Alas, he never called me and my heart was broken....at least until I got back home and took up with my boyfriend again. The pool was a dank little tank of frigid saltwater located in the bowels of the ship. One look at it and I put my French bikini back in the backpack. Any illusions of lounging around on a deckchair in a filmy frock, sipping tropical drinks and waving languidly as my new-found friends strolled by on the deck were quickly dispelled. It was colder 'n hell out there, with what felt like a hurricane blowing. I ventured out a couple of times to be wrapped in a blanket by the deck steward and handed a cup of tepid consomme that I couldn't decide whether to drink or soak my feet in.

 

The last day, I got up at dawn and watched the skyline of New York "rise" out of the sea. What a sight! It was good to be back in America again.

[cruise memories]

It was so good to read about the great memories you had. You definatley should be a writer. It sounded like a wonderful time.