When was your first Royal cruise?

[rimmit]

Apr 1992.  Inaugural season for the Monarch.  Biggest on the seas at the time.

 

Theme dinners every night.  Midnight buffets.   Truly white glove service to die for.   How things have changed:

[Chicky2181]

[GetToLivin]

Fun post! My first cruise was a 4 Night Bahamas Cruise on Sovereign of the Seas in August of 2004. I remember being absolutely wowed by that little ship! Back in the day they still did the midnight chocolate buffet which is one of my fondest first memories, I still have pics haha 😄

[JustUs275]

Friends had tried to get us to cruise for several years, but I didn't think I would enjoy being "stuck on a ship". Finally decided to try a short cruise and booked a 4-night cruise on Monarch of the Seas for May 2010. We were so impressed by the ship and we talked just yesterday again about how our favorite MDR waiter was on that cruise! Fond memories. And, yes, we decided pretty quickly that we do love cruising!

 

Terri 

[sparks1093]

About 45 days in the future😀.

Edited February 19, 2019 by sparks1093

[shopaholic6]

Anthem - 2015 

[CanobieFan]

Freedom of the Seas 7 Night Western Caribbean in January of 2014

[champagnebarfly]

2009 on Brilliance for our Silver Wedding Anniversary, 12 nights from Barcelona.

We loved the Champagne Bar, and Rusty the bar tender was brilliant.

[Corby114]

May 1983 Song Of America Eastern Caribbean seven day sailing from Miami to Nassau, San Juan, Puerto Rico and St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. It was the ships twenty fourth sailing after it was introduced in December 1982. Sailed solo and met over one hundred singles at the get together. There were eighty five females and fifteen males on that sailing. Met a lot of interesting passengers that week that got me hooked on cruising. Remember at 1:30AM they passed around sandwiches at the disco and you paid for drinks with cash or a credit card. The good old days!

[Getting out there]

December 2001 on Majesty. Wasn't very impressed back then and didn't take another until 2013 again on the Majesty. Much different experience. For those who want a nature Coco Cay back in 2001 the beach was full of conch shells and the sand was all rocks. It wasn't very big. If you really wanted to explore you had to hike through a very wilderness setting. The food was some basic picnic food from a shack and a few picnic tables. When I went back in 2013 I wondered if it was the same island. Is it?

[scotmonson]

On 2/17/2019 at 8:13 PM, GXmanDC said:

January 2008 on Liberty of the Seas. We visited Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and Labadee.  My friends and significant other dragged me aboard because "I wasn't a cruise person."  We've been back at least once every winter since. 

 

I sailed on The Norway in 1986 and on Sovereign in 1991.  I know that Norway was a longer ship than Sovereign, but I think Sovereign was larger in tonnage. 

[Kerry's Girls]

Just looked at my account and the first one with details is 1992 Song of America, but there are 3 listed before that with a generic "Nov 5, 1970" date.  They weren't really that early - I started cruising as a kid with my family in the late 70s/early 80s, then with my husband, and now with my kids who will enjoy their Diamond level perks for the first time on our upcoming Baltics cruise.  

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

My first Royal Caribbean cruise was in 1983 on the Sun Viking. This was a seven-day Caribbean cruise. Although Royal Caribbean sold this ship many years ago, I saw the former Sun Viking in Hong Kong in 2017 (it operates as a gambling ship).   

 

Chuck 

[3monkeys4me]

November 2002, for our honeymoon on board Vision of the Seas. It was just a quick weekend cruise, 4 nights out of Los Angeles. We spent the week before at Disneyland and the week after at Yosemite before my husband went back to where he was stationed in Korea and I went back to where I was stationed in New Mexico. It would be another 11 months before we got a chance to actually live in the same country again. It was really a terrible cruise, my husband got an ear infection and was sea sick the entire time. That was his first cruise and his second one will be this April, I haven't been able to convince him to give it another try until now. Fingers crossed it goes better for him!

[Linecas2]

Majesty of the Seas 10/3/1999 and Sovereign of the Seas 10/11/1999 for our Honeymoon.

[Linecas2]

16 minutes ago, Kerry's Girls said:

Just looked at my account and the first one with details is 1992 Song of America, but there are 3 listed before that with a generic "Nov 5, 1970" date.  They weren't really that early - I started cruising as a kid with my family in the late 70s/early 80s, then with my husband, and now with my kids who will enjoy their Diamond level perks for the first time on our upcoming Baltics cruise.  

My husband has one that has that date too. He was not even a year old then, so, no, that was not his first cruise.

[EMBFlyer]

July 1991, Sovereign of the Seas, 7-day Eastern Caribbean.  Amazingly beautiful ship and incredible service.  Royal was tops in those days!

 

If you thought the cabins on Majesty (or Monarch/Sovereign) were small and tight for a 3/4 day cruise, try spending 7 days in one with a family of 4!

[catugirl]

My first cruise on RCCL was 2010 on Radiance OTS to Alaska.  We were so disappointed!  The food was very mediocre.  The crew in the dining room and the bars were very unfriendly.  The ship looked old and was in need of some TLC.  The entertainment was so-so.  Loved Alaska, but if this had been our first ever cruise,  there would not have been another one.

[cruisequeen4ever]

1997 on the ole’ Viking Serenade. The food wasn’t the best, but we had a blast. 

[linkerbink]

1996 on Song of America to Bermuda. It hooked us!

[Virtopia]

Liberty September 2009 on an Eastern Caribbean sailing I believe. We had a regular inside cabin but were so impressed. I've always loved the water and used to work on a ferry in Toronto so I was pretty much in heaven on earth. I went with my sister, then tried a solo 4 night Bahams cruise the following September and now I go at least once a year - fortuante to be doing a B2B for my 10 year cruising anniversary! 

[island couple]

Song of Norway 1988 to Bermuda over Labor  Day,ship cruised out of the Manhattan pier. 25 cruises later and just got back in December from a B2B on Symphony. Yes, Many changes since 1988, midnight buffets, BBQ's on the pool deck, and of course the size of the ship.

 

Jane

[fischymom]

Rhapsody of the Seas 8/19/11 20th Anniversary 

Still one of my favorite cruises. I wanted to do something very special for my hubby for our 20th so not only did we do our first cruise but also off to Alaska. Even now Alaska and that cruise especially hold a special place in my heart.

[StrikeEagle]

My first cruise was on Sovereign of the Seas,  Sept 1st, 1997

[xxHadleyxx]

First time on RCI for us was Easter 2011.

we mostly sailed Disney and Princess prior to that