Your Sitmar Experience

[Ronnie1a]

My 1st Sitmar trip was in 1971. And they had sales back then This is what we got on a 1 week Mexican trip out of LA:

round trip airfare from San Francisco

transportation from LAX to the ship and back

cruise-inside room

A gift left in the room last night at sea (forgot what it was)

price: $290.@

[rkacruiser]

Thx. I’ll have to get a pic of it posted.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Posting such here probably would be unproductive. Google ocean liner memorabilia collectors and I think you will find several sites that might be more useful.

[chanteur]

Loved Sitmar. Back in the 70s, my first ship was the Fairsea & the first thing that pops into my head is how small the cabin was--inside, upper & lower, no tv, and the first time I flushed that vacuum toilet a) it startled the hell outta me & b) I thought I'd broken it!! Also, the great Italian service in the dining room & the white rubber on the stairs--so you could see how clean they kept the ship (or so I was told!)

[Homosassa]

Funny about your memory of the inside cabin. We cruised on the Fairsea with our then 18 month old daughter in an inside cabin on a lower deck (same deck that had the movie theater).

 

The cabin was huge. Besides our two twin beds, there was a large double dresser (six drawers about 5 -6 feet long, a desk, and two easy chairs with a small table. There was still room for the full size crib that was placed in the cabin for our daughter (plenty of space to maneuver around it). The closets were along the long axis of the room that also had the bathroom. There was so much closet space that I could use one for just the baby stuff - diapers for a 14 day cruise, a stroller, etc.

 

I did see inside and oceanview cabins on the upper decks when the doors were opened for cleaning and I was shocked at how small they were compared to our cabin.

[rkacruiser]

Interesting memories about cabin sizes. On the Fairwind, my stateroom was an outside stateroom on the deck below the Promenade Deck, if I remember correctly. I was amazed at it's size when my traveling companion and I first entered. Lots of floor space between the wall with several closets and the beds with 2 chairs and a table in that space. Knowing that Fairwind had been a Cunard liner in her previous life, I assumed that such space was due to her previous trans-Atlantic voyages. But, I am almost sure that our stateroom was in the Tourist Class section of the vessel and not in the small First Class section.

[weedpindle]

The five cruises I did on the Fairwind were the very best cruises I have done. No contest. I still compare every cruise with those, and bore table mates with Sitmar tales,no doubt.

[Gretchendz]

What a great thread! Our first cruise ever was on the Fairwind to Alaska in August1986. My father had died in May and my mom decided she was taking the whole family (3 siblings, 3 spouses, my niece, and my 8 month old first child). The crowd was older so my baby was virtually the only child anywhere in sight. He was so poked and prodded and grinned at that he started to freak out about strangers after a few days.

 

The crew was great; the food amazing. Fresh pasta daily and wonderful pizza. I fondly remember the formality at dinner and the baked Alaska presentation. Also, in those days, they had a real midnight buffet almost every night and it was amazing!

 

I had thought my grumpy husband would hate cruising--instead he loved it more than I do :)

[DRS/NC]

As you can see from my signature, Sitmar was our first love in cruising. Our first family cruise was on the Fairsea, 10 days, LA down the Mexican coast in June 1974; DD was 2.5. We had cabin A123 (inside) on that trip & several others on both Fairsea & Fairwind.

 

Given her age, I took lots of diapers, fearing that the toilets would scare her & blow her "training." She love it! All the diapers came home again.

 

She was the youngest of only a few kids on board & was "Bella Bambini" to all the crew. Esp. the dining room crew carried her around & got her whatever she wanted before she even thought of it. The only problem we had w/her was a near tantrum before leaving in LA; she cried, not wanting to leave "my boat & Sal" (DR waiter).

 

We sailed 7 more times, enjoying the Fairwind & Fairsky too. We were always warmly greeted by the crew, including Head Waiter Mario DeSelmo who always let DD start the champagne waterfall.

 

On our first Alaska cruise (Aug. 1981) was our favorite (after the 1st cruise), w/Capt. Quartini. He collected Snoopy toys. DD had hers w/her that trip; Capt. Q invited us to his quarters to show DD his sizeable collection -- including his phone (that worked on the ship!).

 

Our last Sitmar cruise was actually our first on Princess: it was the Med. (Venice to Lisbon) in June 1989. We were celebrating DD's graduation from H.S.; DH's 50th b'day & our 25th anniversary. The ship was the Fairwind when we booked; it was the Dawn Princess when we sailed. Several of our Sitmar friends were still there, but it wasn't quite the same.

 

It was also our last cruise for 10 years as we sent DD to college & then me to grad school. When DH & I cruise again, things were very different, but we still loved cruising. DH passed in 2009. I still cruise solo (or w/friends or DD) w/Princess mostly. But Sitmar is still my gold standard.

 

I still have 9 Circolo del Commandante glasses, our log books & other odds & ends. Maybe our best 'souvenier' was starting as Platinum when we began sailing w/Princess.