How did you pick your first cruise?

[ontheweb]

49 minutes ago, matamanoa said:

My parents had been avid cruisers and were always encouraging my husband and me to go on one.  So for our 25th anniversary, that's just what we did.  We chose a 7 day Alaskan cruise and enjoyed it thoroughly, so much so that we knew that any cruises after that would consist of at least 10 days as we didn't want to get of the ship after only 7 days.  

 

Barb

OP, here, I see we are not the only ones who had their first cruise for their 25th anniversary.😊

[SmoothFlying]

1 hour ago, matamanoa said:

My parents had been avid cruisers and were always encouraging my husband and me to go on one.  So for our 25th anniversary, that's just what we did.  We chose a 7 day Alaskan cruise and enjoyed it thoroughly, so much so that we knew that any cruises after that would consist of at least 10 days as we didn't want to get of the ship after only 7 days.  

 

Barb

LOLLLLLLLL ! Reminds me of my wife on BOTH accounts ! :)) She's always (and even too this day) says our 7 day Alaskan cruise out of Seattle in 2010 was the best cruise we've even taken and would do another in a heartbeat and hopefully August of next year we'll get a chance too take an Alaskan cruise.

 

On the other account, my wife fought me for over ten years because she was NOT interested in any way shape or form about cruising. She had seen 'LoveBoat' ad did not want to spend any time with 'snobs in tuxedos/formal ware. Finally, I just went behind her back in 2006 and made reservations for us on a five day out of Mobile for an anniversary cruise for March 2008. She was shocked but went determined NOT to like it. After going aboard  we went up topside for the sailaway party (mind you we only been aboard for 20 minutes). While we walking around and she saw everybody having fun, singing, drinking, dancing, She was walking in front of me and suddenly stopped and asked me, 'When can we do this AGAIN!!' I laughingly told her, 'Hey ! We haven't even left the dock yet, let's see how you feel in five days.' By the cruise's end on the return too Mobile she couldn't believe five days could go so fast and I had a heck of a time getting her OFF the ship, she want too take it back out.

 

Mac 

[Noodles84]

We also did our first on our 25th anniversary, under protest, as I remembered  rough Atlantic crossings with parents as a child, and I was always seasick.  However hubby explained about stabilizers and modern ships and convinced me to try one.  If I didn't like it, we wouldn't go again.  Well, we are now booked on our 37th cruise next year, and needless to say, I loved it.  It was a Princess cruise from Victoria, down the coast to the Panama canal, into the Caribbean with numerous ports and all in 21 days.  Nicole

[JDincalif]

In November 1999 Renaissance ran an ad in the LA Times offering a 15 night voyage from Istanbul to Barcelona starting at $499/pp two months later (due to cancellation of a middle east itinerary). Renaissance had a great reputation for its small informal non-smoking ships; the bargain price sealed the deal.

Edited July 6, 2021 by JDincalif

[getting older slowly]

First Cruise 

 

The idea started after a dozen return trips on an overnight ferry. ( about r class size but fast   27 knots )

 

Enjoyed being at sea, lot of family had been on cruises, thought it was older person's holiday..

 

Then thought what the heck.... better try it..... went to a local TA.     she pointed in the direction of Princess,   which she thought would be a good fit for us..... a 13 night cruise with 7 sea days....   we would either love it or hate it....

 

Decided to go in suite as will not do this again.. after two nights we were hooked......

 

So enjoy cruising longest so far is 26 nights.... which was great, but it was time to get off..

 

Don

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, Noodles84 said:

We also did our first on our 25th anniversary, under protest, as I remembered  rough Atlantic crossings with parents as a child, and I was always seasick.  However hubby explained about stabilizers and modern ships and convinced me to try one.  If I didn't like it, we wouldn't go again.  Well, we are now booked on our 37th cruise next year, and needless to say, I loved it.  It was a Princess cruise from Victoria, down the coast to the Panama canal, into the Caribbean with numerous ports and all in 21 days.  Nicole

Maybe the cruise lines should start an advertising campaign aimed at those about to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They could probably get the data as to who was married about 24 years ago and target them.

[matamanoa]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Maybe the cruise lines should start an advertising campaign aimed at those about to celebrate their 25th anniversary. They could probably get the data as to who was married about 24 years ago and target them.

great idea :).  We will be celebrating our 50th anniversary next year on a British Isles cruise.  Can't wait!

[dogs4fun]

As an inveterate DIYer via land (mostly in Europe), I had no interest in cruises. It was my brother who, some years ago, first talked us into joining him on an ocean cruise in the Mediterranean. We really had a nice time and thus began our enjoyment of ocean and, especially, river cruises.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, matamanoa said:

great idea :).  We will be celebrating our 50th anniversary next year on a British Isles cruise.  Can't wait!

Congratulations, we will be celebrating our 45th next summer. I guess we have to look for something special as we have done that on the 0s and 5s.

[Mike981]

I used to be a cigar smoker and was in a forum with other smokers. One gentlemen brought up the idea of getting some of us together to cruise. I jokingly suggested it to my wife and she said yes lets do it. Man was I surprised. We had never traveled before.

It was January 2000 and we sailed on the Celebrity Mercury, it was wonderful. It was the honeymoon we never had and looked at it as a once in a lifetime event and we spent money like it was. Within a week of getting home from our cruise, we had another booked.

[Winnigirl]

Our first cruise was in 1996 with our two daughters who were in their lovely, sulky teenage years.  It was on the Norwegian Lines Norway and our travel agent - a friend with two lovely, sulky teenage girls of her own, picked it.  My husband was not keen on trying a cruise, and the girls wanted to go to DisneyWorld, like we always did.  I wanted to try something new.  Long story short - we loved it!  And we've all been cruising ever since.

[iancal]

Our first cruise was RT Vancouver to Alaska.  We lived in Vancouver at the time.  Booked on Wednesday, left of Saturday. 

 

 My business travel TA called and said I was doing too much business travel.  Time for some R&R.  She had an deal that we simply could not refuse.  She got us 24 hours to make up our minds.   Checked the Alaska weather f'cast and said yes.

 

It was a great cruise.  So nice to only have to drive 20 minutes or so from our home to the dock.

Edited July 6, 2021 by iancal

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, iancal said:

Our first cruise was RT Vancouver to Alaska.  We lived in Vancouver at the time.  Booked on Wednesday, left of Saturday. 

 

 …So nice to only have to drive 20 minutes or so from our home to the dock.

Reminds me of Holland America (before they got Carnivalized)  and sailed regularly from Manhattan to Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean  (before they gave up the New York Market to the likes of NCL)  - a 45 minute train ride to Grand Central followed by a 15 minute cab ride got me on board.

[lenquixote66]

15 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Reminds me of Holland America (before they got Carnivalized)  and sailed regularly from Manhattan to Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean  (before they gave up the New York Market to the likes of NCL)  - a 45 minute train ride to Grand Central followed by a 15 minute cab ride got me on board.

We took many Holland America cruises from Manhattan back in the day.

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Reminds me of Holland America (before they got Carnivalized)  and sailed regularly from Manhattan to Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean  (before they gave up the New York Market to the likes of NCL)  - a 45 minute train ride to Grand Central followed by a 15 minute cab ride got me on board.

We have a less than 2 hour bus ride to NY City. We have not had a HAL cruise from there, but did have an NCL cruise (to Bermuda) and a Carnival cruise (to Canada).

[cruisemom42]

My family have always been travelers and I started cruising as a child. My grandparents retired to Fort Lauderdale, to a house that was about 10 minutes from Port Everglades. They got great last-minute deals from their TA (office on Las Olas Blvd) for cruises and were hooked. Shortly thereafter my parents and sister and I also were cruising. I think my first cruise was in 1972 or 73.

 

The first cruise I chose on my own was my honeymoon cruise, which was a terrible choice. NCL did not compare favorably with the lines I'd sailed thus far:  lesson learned was that not all cruise lines are alike and one needs to do one's research!

 

 

[slidergirl]

I was a latecomer.  2008.  After going through a year of rehab for a badly broken leg (suffered in Italy on my 2007 post-divorce vacation), I wanted an easy vacation.  I still had issues where I couldn't walk as well nor as much as I could,  I looked at short Pacific Coast repositioning cruises.  There was a TA on here who helped me with my questions and I found an Island Princess trip from Los Angeles to Vancouver.  I was able to just hang out and not feel obligated to go out and tour around.  I did some walking around the Promenade deck for rehab and walked Main St. to go have a beer at the Wet Dog in Astoria, but I think that was it.  I did spend a 2 nights in Vancouver post-cruise because I really like that city.  I broke my rule of "no Ho Ho's" and took one so I didn't walk too much.  My biggest walk was the Granville Island Market.  The cruise was just what I needed.   

[babs135]

We have friends who live in Orlando and we were going to stay with them for a couple of weeks way back in 2000 when about a couple of weeks before we were due to fly out she rang to say that they'd seen a 3 or 4 nights cruise (can't remember) to the Eastern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral with Royal Caribbean and were we interested. 

We said yes!!

[SelectSys]

Super easy.  Disney somehow mailed our house a VHS tape that described their cruise line and the onboard experience.  My kids started watching it over and over and eventually we all watched it.  Everyone thought it looked great and we ended up buying a package including a week on the Magic followed by Disney World park stay as a family vacation.

[pris993]

We booked RCCL, Song of America, was brand new about l982, in the Caribbean.  At the time never realized we would cruise so much.  My DH picked the ship and cabin from a brochure with a TA.   Lost count on how many cruises we did sometime ago, have been on 9 different lines, well over 60 cruises.  Lots of fun and memories.

[sergel02]

My mom and her family came to the States in a ship so boats were part of her life when she was young. She never really thought of cruising until my uncle told her about it, and I  think price ended up being the big factor. Back then cruises were really expensive but we wanted to try something different, and the ship looked nice for a decent deal so we decided to take a leap of faith!

 

I ended up sick for half that cruise. 

[ericfromri]

On 7/5/2021 at 1:20 PM, woldridge said:

We started cruising back in the 1980's. At that time we smoked cigarettes, and the brand we smoked offered a 7 day cruise for a certain number of seals off packs of cigarettes.  It took us a whole year to scrounge up enough to get passage for two.  The ship was the Costa Riveria in an inside room with the beds in a "L" shape and the closet was covered by a curtain with the top half for hang-ups and the bottom half drawers. One dining room only (no buffet) and everything was served family style. Only other food available was pizza and you got the whole pizza.  One night of the cruise was toga night.  You HAD to wear a toga to dinner or you were not allowed in the dining room.  (No room service, so if you did not come to dinner you had to wait until the midnight buffet where you could easily get a complete meal). Everyone got a sheet and an instruction card on how to tie the toga with some options. 

 

One small pool on the aft with no shade.  Skeet shooting off the aft. Everything bought required cash payment. Left from Miami (where EDGE terminal now is) and everyone threw streamers.

 

BEST CRUISE EVER (because it was the first)!

love your story...  having sailed on costa, it was hilarious to read that you got the cruise by sending them proof of purchase from smokes.  everywhere on the ship was "smoking"

[STARFISH*4]

I still consider my first cruise in 1964 coming back from Guam to CA on the USNS Barrett.

My Dad suprised my mom by telling her we were going back to the states on a Navy ship

He was in the USAF and at this time this was a very special not of the norm way to return to the states.

This was a military ship carrying servicemen to HI (2 day layover) and to CA from Guam

There were very few families on board but the crew did an amazing job of keeping the kids entertained.  They provided us with so many things to do my brother and I (7&11) we were never bored.   My mom was sea sick a lot but it was still an unforgettable and most memorable time in my life.
My other first cruise Celebrity Mercury to Alaska 2002.

” Wanna go on a cruise to Alaska?”  Alaska? on a cruise, why?   “Cos we can get a great deal thru a Travel Agency In July-the salmon will be running and I think it would be cool!  Ok, I guess; what do I wear?”

Been cruising ever since.

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, sergel02 said:

My mom and her family came to the States in a ship so boats were part of her life when she was young. She never really thought of cruising until my uncle told her about it, and I  think price ended up being the big factor. Back then cruises were really expensive but we wanted to try something different, and the ship looked nice for a decent deal so we decided to take a leap of faith!

 

I ended up sick for half that cruise. 

I hope you at least enjoyed the other half of the cruise, the time you were not sick.

[tropicalkerry2002]

Wanted to get to Italy for our 30th anniversary. Chose 2 itineraries: a 10 day Venice to Rome, and a 14 day Venice to Barcelona. Didn't know if we would ever get back to Europe, so chose the Venice to Barcelona, and LOVED every moment. Also discovered that I preferred the south of France to Italy. We have done 4 more Med cruises, as well as others, none Caribbean. Can't get enough of the Med or cruising!