Anyone else a veteran of The Big Red Boat?

[rkacruiser]

21 hours ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

  What I remember most about the 'Big Red Boat' was our cabin seemed HUGE in comparison to the first two ships that we had been on (Norwegian Caribbean Line's 'Sunward II' and Carnival's 'Carnivale') . 

 

My traveling companion and I had an inside cabin in the price category just above the lowest on Sunward II.  Compact?  Yes!  But, for a 4 day cruise, it was fine.  My cabin on the Oceanic was an outside, but on the lowest deck and in one of their low priced categories.  It was spacious in comparison to our Sunward II cabin.  

[trivia addict]

We sailed the BRB in the early 90’s with our young son and daughter.
30+ cruises later,  I’m surprised that I ever got on a ship again! 
The Island that the ship stopped at for the day, ( was it even Coco Cay back then? Don’t remember), was terribly crowded with no room to even sit down.

One rude man stole our hammock and made my young daughter cry.

Both my son and myself got the Norovirus, and spent our first two days in the WDW hotel ( which was the worst hotel on the premises), violently throwing up.
Happened to run into our table mates later in the week at WDW, who informed  us that they also had gotten the virus. 
Later called corporate with our complaints and they were totally uninterested.

Good riddance to the BRB

Glad they are no longer around!

 

 

 

 

[hawk/hornfan]

I am a veteran of BRB with now ex wife, son, nephew and unborn daughter. Can't remember which ship. It was in April of '98. We were suppose to sail in late December '97 with my mother, now ex-wife, expectant child & son. Mom passed away 2 days before sailing. Mom's friend and T/A got us rebooked. 

We had a great time. Had a big room and had the Looney Tunes characters tuck the kids in one night. Visited WDW before and after cruise.

 

[the simpsons]

We took our kids on a "grown up" cruise years ago. Our ship was berthed next to the Big Red Boat. When it left port, its whistle blasted notes of the tune, "When You Wish Upon A Star". One sad look from my kids told me us that Mom and Dad had picked the wrong ship for kids to be on.

[skeeter195]

We sailed on the Atlantic for our honeymoon in 1989.  I upgraded us a month before leaving and we got the grand bahama suite, no number just the name.  My wife was very surprised and worth every penny.  I remember ordering drinks and giving our cabin and then signing a slip of paper.  In the gift shop the same thing.  It seemed like half of the drinks never made it to our account.  Even when I tried to make it right with the front desk they told not to worry about it.  

 

  We did the 4 day cruise with 4 days in WDW staying at Sonesta village with 4 days of passes, a lincoln town car, and airfare from NY all for $1143 total for the 2 of us.  I guess we had a great TA.   

[Batch5]

Wow, I was on the Star Ship Royal thought it was the biggest ship 21,000 Tonnage 9 decks.  I member even as young adult 20-21 how rusty the ship was (you needed a tetanus shot to walk on deck). We had a port window and with a huge bathroom and the biggest tub I have ever seen.  We went to a private island Coco Cay? with just palm trees and hammocks and to Nassau.  It was originally built for the Costa cruise line in 1958.  On December 17, 2000, the ship sank off the coast of North Carolina/Virginia.

 

Chris

[buddylover]

We are also Oceanic, aka The Big Red Boat, veterans.  It was our first cruise, sons were 2 and 5. We cruised first the WDW for 4 days.  We went to the island where they shot "Gilligan's Island" (the TV show).  My 2 year old was petrified of the Disney characters that promenaded thru the DR each night, so my husband never had a meal in the DR with us.  They seated us at a table with 2 retired couples who did not appreciate young children.....but 40+ cruises later....I can say that introduction to cruising did not stop us!!

[TwinMamainMN]

That was my first cruise and it was with my parents. I don't remember much about the cruise itself, other than the wall mounted lights looked like a woman's anatomy, my dad got badly sunburned and looked like a lobster, and we couldn't dock (or maybe it was tender?) in the Bahamas due to the weather. I was really sad because I was going to swim with dolphins that day. I clearly enjoyed it enough as I have sailed several times since then.

[bconley351]

We were also on the Big Red Boat. That was my daughter ‘s intro to cruising. I remember that where you booked your cabin had some impact on which pre-cruise hotel they put you at. And what hotel you were at once you were at WDW (I suppose that could have affected the precruise hotel). We were at a hotel in coco beach, the waiters at our table were so excited that my daughter would try things off the adult menu, while the family at our table would only order French fries for their 3.

[shipgeeks]

On 1/12/2023 at 12:32 PM, Batch5 said:

Wow, I was on the Star Ship Royal thought it was the biggest ship 21,000 Tonnage 9 decks.  I member even as young adult 20-21 how rusty the ship was (you needed a tetanus shot to walk on deck). We had a port window and with a huge bathroom and the biggest tub I have ever seen.  We went to a private island Coco Cay? with just palm trees and hammocks and to Nassau.  It was originally built for the Costa cruise line in 1958.  On December 17, 2000, the ship sank off the coast of North Carolina/Virginia.

 

Chris

That ship was SeaBreeze, one of our favorite Premier ships.  I remember shedding a few tears when my husband called me at work to report that she had just sunk.

We loved all the Premier (BRB) ships. Our first one, StarShip Atlantic, looked huge as we approached the port. All of them had such character, and sometimes remnants of their days as true ocean liners.

[Pyrate13]

Our first cruise was on the Majestic. It was an Outer Abaco trip.  It got us hooked, and we still are.😁

[CGTNORMANDIE]

4 hours ago, Pyrate13 said:

Our first cruise was on the Majestic. It was an Outer Abaco trip.  It got us hooked, and we still are.😁

I recognized her immediately.  She was originally laid down for Norwegian Caribbean Line but later sold to P&O as The Spirit Of London.  Around 1974 P&O bought Princess Cruises and renamed the ship Sun Princess.  Then eventually she was sold to Premier Cruises and renamed Majestic.  Interestingly Sun Princess was the original “Love Boat”!!

Edited June 18, 2023 by CGTNORMANDIE

[Parkhopper]

I got engaged on the Big Red Boat in 1989!

[azappraiser]

Our first cruise too... we booked a 7-day honeymoon package with hotel, car, WD World tickets for 3-days, and then 3-days to the Bahamas on the Starship Oceanic, in an obstructed-view suite.  Still memorable.

 

Finally took our 2nd cruise 23-yrs later on NCL to Alaska, then the 3rd to the Caribbean, then the 4th in Hawaii, then a break... now booked for Alaska again in 05/2025.

[Spurs Fans]

My first cruise in 87 and about 6 years later, it was my kids' first cruise.

[Cruise till you drop]

We sailed with our 3 children on the BRB in the mid 90’s.

 

What I liked is we had a decent cabin size for the 5 of us

 

What we mainly disliked

a) They didn’t really cruise at night.  They would dock/park all night until the morning

b) They had a character bedtime tuck in service but all they had was 5pm.  So our kids would essentially go to bed at 5pm to get tucked in and then get back up and go to dinner.  Of course we passed

c) we went on an excursion in the Bahamas and let us off the boat with no supervision.  We ended up in the wrong part of the island with a different cruise group and eventually we figured it out.  Luckily we made it back on our own and didn’t miss the sailing (which would have been easy to do)

 

Our nickname was the Big Red Boat.  It’s no surprise they don’t exist anymore