Best cruise ever

[shel003]

With travel essentially cancelled for this year and all of the negativity with the pandemic, I thought it would be nice to reminisce. So what was the best cruise you’ve ever been on and why?

[Potstech]

The first one we took to the Caribean as it was our first experience.  Beats all others.

[Cruzinnana47]

15-day Westbound Panama Canal on the Coral Princess (FLL to SFO)  Best CC group we've ever met (through our Roll Call) and sailed with in over 27 yrs. of sailing.  We had a fantastic time!  The itinerary was great, as was the weather and we loved the ship.

[pcur]

Top two:

 

1.  Circumnavigation of Australia:  Sydney all the way around to Perth. Plus, we had the RCCL head pastry chef trying out new, to-die-for desserts in the Windjammer.

2.  Hawaii/Tahiti roundtrip from Los Angels:  super short flight, awesome ports, great cruise

[voljeep]

1) - the first one - Diamond Princess to Alaska ( 2007 )

 

2) - the last one

 

3) - the next one

[h-sar]

Golden Princess, New Yrs 2007, out of New Orleans, for the following reasons:

 

1. Our first ever cruise. My parents were with us and the kids were 8 and 10, still full of wide eyed excitement. Well, so were all the adults, frankly!

2. This was all before Cruise Critic came into my life, so had no visions in my head of food, activities, the sheer size of the ship. Everything I knew about cruising came from having watched first run episodes of the Love Boat back in the day. Nothing beats the wonderment of stepping onto a cruise ship for the very first time, having seen no YouTube videos, no Instagram pictures, etc. Will never be able to experience that feeling again. Now, I do so much research beforehand, I could probably walk onto most ships blindfolded and find my way around, LOL. Definitely something to be said for going in without any knowledge. 
3. This was about 16 months after the devastation of hurricane Katrina and cruise ships were just starting to sail again from New Orleans. The devastation in certain parts of the city was still evident, but it was good to see the economy rising up and tourists like us returning. In fact, princess was using large tents for the check in process as the port had not been rebuilt.

4. The most fortuitous part of this was that our first ever cruise happened to be on a Princess ship. We became spoiled for any other line and will be elite after one more week (which was supposed to have happened this coming Christmas 😔; fingers crossed for Dec 2021!)

[cruisequeen4ever]

Our 17 day Med cruise on the brand new Regal! It was our first Europe adventure together (we had both been before knowing each other), every port was new to us, we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary, the ship was so exciting and new, the food was a cut above with the executive chef onboard, and it was our longest cruise to date. By the end, we felt like we had moved onboard and just wanted to stay onboard forever! That cruise sparked our now lifelong passion for Europe! 

[jean s]

Our 14 day cruise last June to the Baltics on Sapphire.  We have been on a number of cruises but this was simply the best.  All of our tours (except one...in St. Petersburgh) were fantastic, the hospitality on the Sapphire was outstanding and we met the nicest people from all over the world.   When the current situation is over we do plan on doing this cruise again.

[MISTER 67]

For pure fun it was on a Sitmar Fairsky 10 day cruise in 1989, met great friends, great entertainment and activities. We participated in a Lip-sync contest and I was Bobby Darin singing Splish Splash I was taking a bath, my wife was one of 4 gals backing me up, they were called the Splash-ettes and one of them was 85 years old. One night at midnight they had a Naughty Nighty contest with guys dressing up in their wives nightmare, I don't think I ever laughed so hard. I passed as far as a contestant.

 

As far as a  great itinerary we had 2 favorites with Renaissance Cruises on the R 1 in 1999 sailing from Instanbul to Athens with stops in 5 of the Greek Island plus Ephesus. The cruise included 2 extra night each  in 5 star hotels in Istanbul and Athens. What made it special was meeting my dad's first cousin who lived in Athens and a lot more of the family. Our last night they wined and dined us Greek style and al fresco at a beautiful hill top restaurant overlooking Athens until 2:30 in the morning 

The other great itinerary cruise was on the Veendam in 2007 round trip from Venice with stops in Messina, Rome, Florence,  Pisa, Monoco, Corsica and Naples where we had a great tour of Sorrento and Pompeii. Last stop was Dubrovnik Croatia which is a fascinating walled city. We were sort of worn out after that cruise from the long tours that we had in Rome and Florence, 13 hours long but what great historic places we were able to see.

Edited July 25, 2020 by MISTER 67

[dns65]

10 day cruise of French Polynesia in 2014 on the Ocean Princess.  It really is one of the most beautiful places on earth, particularly Bora Bora, Moorea and Rangiroa. 

 

[casofilia]

Surely for everyone the best cruise will be the next one, the one we have been waiting for for so long!!

[Retirement2016]

October, 2018 on the Emerald Princess, roundtrip Los Angeles to Hawaii, French Polynesia and Samoa.  Best CC roll call, best tablemates, beautiful islands and crossing the international date line.  28 days of cruising with perfect weather.

[CynCyn]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

1) - the first one - Diamond Princess to Alaska ( 2007 )

 

2) - the last one

 

3) - the next one

Same here but it was 

 

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

1) - the first one - Diamond Princess to Alaska ( 2007 )

 

2) - the last one

 

3) - the next one

Same here but it was Diamond Princess 2006 to Alaska.  My next was supposed to be in August to Alaska.  Wishing for the next one.......

[oskidunker]

1999 Grand Princess Baltics. Ship was new and fantastic. Food was at a higher level than now. Service alsoq.

[ontheweb]

Baltic cruise on the Star Princess in 2007. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary onboard. Super great ports. I put together a group from our roll call that did an Alla comfort tour in St. Petersburg, and we became close to all of the other participants.

 

There was also a different couple on our roll call that lived one town away from DW's mother on Long Island who we met before the cruise and visited even post cruise.

[roxievegas]

Our Baltic cruise.  My brother and his girlfriend came on the trip with us.  We enjoyed all the stops and everyday was great.

 

Our second favorite was a cruise with son, dil, two granddaughters on Royal Princess roundtrip out of LA to Mexico.  Didn't care for the stops, but the grandkids had the greatest time and want to go with us again.  Enjoyed being with the family.

[skynight]

To us no cruise is a special cruise of a lifetime. Each one affords us with different experiences. Two that stand out are the land tour of Australia followed by a 31 day sailing from Sydney to L.A. Another was the Norwegian fjords 14 day RT Southampton.

[TeaBag]

Great thread Shel.  Thank you for starting it.  I would agree our first was special too.  We went on the Star, London to Athens in 1992 for our 25th.  Got off in Athens and flew to Santorini where we saw the Star again sailing off into the sunset.  DH nearly had to restrain me to keep me from going down and getting back on, just to say hello.  That was in the days before the electronic sea passes. 

 

Honolulu to Sydney was another wonderful one, although not on Princess.

 

A third was a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam.  Definitely want to repeat that one.

 

Actually we have never had a bad one but came close in Mar when we were not allowed to dock in Chile (end point of the first leg) and sailed 15 more days without leaving the ship, disembarking in San Diego.  However, we were very well taken care of on board.

 

Can't wait for cruising to restart.  

[getting older slowly]

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

1) - the first one - Diamond Princess to Alaska ( 2007 )

2) - the last one

3) - the next one

Agreed

First.......... New Zealand Goldness Princess  ( hooked after the second day )

Last ...........Goldness Princess B2B 26 nights Dec 2019

Next.......... One Day   ( 3 cancelled )

 

Cheers Don

Edited July 25, 2020 by getting older slowly

[Sarnia 432]

First - A 3 day coastal, LA to Vancouver.  We were hooked.  I was so jealous of those who were staying on for a 14 day to Hawaii.

 

Best - 10 days round trip from Sydney, visited the Great Barrier Reef, glorious weather, great company, amazing crew.  Enjoyed every minute.

 

Last - down to Mexico for 5 days from SAn Francisco.

 

and the one we will be missing - 10 day Baltic in September.  I had each port planned and we were really looking forward to it.  We had a bargain price for one of the 2 window suites on the Sky.......  another time maybe.

[Renmar]

Our first one in 2005 (40th anniversary) on board the former Regal Princess, roundtrip from San Diego to Mexico. Got hooked and now 21 cruises later waiting for Covid19 to go away.

 

Theo

[reedprincess]

First cruise, obviously. Star Princess to Alaska.

 

Cruise where I met my future husband. Regal Princess, 2005, LA to MX 

 

Round-trip LA to South Pacific, Emerald 2018.

 

Baltics, Sapphire, 2019

 

Med and transatlantic, October 2017. 25 days of bliss.  Amazing ports and 7 days of relaxation.

 

Celebrity Infinity, March 2006 - first cruise with future hubby where he was a guest also. Amazing suite.  Sorbet on parade. Midnight buffet. Gorgeous ship.

 

Oasis of the Seas, transatlantic 2014. Perfect to enjoy all the ship offers with the longer cruise. Solarium Bistro is among the best specialty dining at sea. Ice skating while in the middle of the ocean is pretty darn cool.

 

Family reunion Emerald Princess 2018.

 

Brother's wedding, Caribbean Princess 2015. 

 

Alaskan round-trip Seattle on Celebrity Millennium. Most traveled passenger on that sailing, pretty amazing celebration...

 

MSC Seaside, Feb 2019, Yacht Club. Absolutely breathtaking ship and amenities, terrible itinerary but the ship was the destination on this one. And totally totally amazing.. 

 

And so on.  There's so many amazing memories on ships. 70+ cruises and counting since 2002!

 

 

[rdsqrl]

My first Princess cruise:  the original Island Princess, to the western Med.  Every port was wonderful, the ship was the perfect size, made good friends aboard, plus the fun of sailing on the Love Boat and feeling like you were on a television set! -- it was just a perfect cruise in every way. 

[Lucky TGO]

I think it was my first cruise on the Costa Riviera. That’s it for me a was hooked and have been on over 50 cruises since then.

Tony

[Ombud]

1. Santiago to LA because of Captain Michele Tuvo 

2. Tasmania - walk right after getting off tender. Gorgeous scenery, plenty of animals, nice 3-4 miles along the coast

3. Alaska - Adventure Park ziplining & Mt Roberts!!!!! Repeating it next summer

4. Japan & Busan

5. My next one

 

Maybe I should just say wherever I can get a nice long walk along the shore 😊