Your Favorite Cruise ... or one of them

[hueyjudy]

We've done the 'First Cruise' poll ... made me think about our favorite cruise.  We haven't cruised as much as many of you, but we did Athens to Istanbul on a Radisson Seven Seas ship the year after Athens hosted the Olympics.  I think it advertised as a 'six star' cruise and I sneered.  But it was really close.  We had a walk-in closet, a steward who was the epitome of service hospitality, the shore excursions were incredible.  Seeing those minarets on the skyline rise up as we neared Istanbul at dawn was a sight I'll never forget.  I don't remember a single negative about that cruise.  I will find my scrapbook from that trip and get the name of the ship ... she may still be sailing with a different cruise line.

[navybankerteacher]

One of my favorites was the reverse of OP’s:   two days in Istanbul followed by a great itinerary on a Renaissance ship stopping at Cannakale for Troy, Kusadasi for Ephesus,  Santorini (the only ship in that day), Mykonos, Heraklion for Knossos, then Rhodes before ending with a couple of days in Athens.  Wonderful ports, great service on a small ship with delightful passenger mix, enhanced by ideal October weather.

[rkacruiser]

My favorite was 2002 Asia Pacific Cruise on the Volendam from Vancouver to Los Angeles.  It's itinerary was a "Circle Pacific cruise" type with port calls in Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia (where the port call was cancelled due to a bombing), Australia, New Zealand, Polynesian ports, and the final one being Nuku Hiva.  Why is this my favorite?

 

1.  This was the maiden cruise for this itinerary.  At several ports, there were activities geared to welcome the Volendam on her initial port call.  These events were special!

 

2.  It was the longest cruise that I had sailed up to that time and allowed me to visit places that I had long wanted to do.

 

3.  Thanks to a very active Roll Call, I met and became friends with many fellow cruisers, many of whom I remain in touch and some of whom we have sailed together since.

 

4.  The weather:  both good and not so good.  First morning, west of Vancouver Island heading to Russia, we awoke to unexpected stormy seas.  And, more of those days occurred, periodically throughout the cruise.  Of course, beautiful, tranquil seas and weather were experienced with the seas in the vicinity of Bora Bora memorable.  

 

5.  Destination oriented menu items appeared often:  i.e., Filet of Kangaroo.  

 

6.  Port lecturers and lecturers who knew about which they presented/spoke added much to the cruise.  The gentleman who spoke about China accompanied my tour group when we visited Xian and a couple of other cities.  His commentary along with the "regular" guide provided value information and insights.  

 

7.  Many memories of my experiences during shore excursions.  Among which was my first experience with the Eastern style of the loo.

 

8.  Interesting interactions with various crew members, many of whom are those with whom I have sailed since.

 

9.  The flight home from Los Angeles:  disembarkation was running late, time was running short to get to the airport, the transfer bus driver missed the exit to LAX and didn't realize it until some on my bus so informed him, requiring a doubling back, a hurried check-in and security check with me being stopped at the gate for another screening while the door to the aircraft was about to be closed causing me to be the last passenger on the plane.  I was still not seated as the plane was pulling away from the gate while a flight attendant was "barking" at me to get seated!!.  

 

10.  The Volendam herself.  Rotterdam V is my most favorite HAL ship, but, the Volendam runs a very close second.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

My favorite was a Baltic cruise in 2007 for our 30th wedding anniversary on the Star Princess.

 

I contacted the various local guides and decided Alla was the best for what we were looking for. DW picked out one of their tours. I posted the tour in our roll call, and we ended up with 10 of us (a nice number for a private tour) and after some suggestions,  some modifications were made on the tour, which was fabulous. All of us from that tour bonded together very well.

 

Other ports were Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn, Helsinki, and Gdansk (the last one was on our actual annivesary). Oslo was on only a very few Baltic cruises (and in fact on this itinerary alternated weeks with the port for Berlin). We very much enjoyed Oslo, and were glad it was on the itinerary. Talinn is of course a wonderful port. We found a lot to do in Stockholm. (Actually, there were a lot more to see than we had time for.)

 

There were dance lessons and a lot of availabilty of dances, which made DW very happy.

 

And, other than the 8 who joined us on the Alla tour, there was one couple who lived one town away from DW's Mother. We were able to meet them and spend some time with them both before and after the cruise.

[wcook]

Favorite cruise: my next one

2nd favorite cruise: my last one. 

[pris993]

If I had to pick one favorite cruise it would be one we did around l989, on Royal Cruise Line, from Venice to London.  Royal Cruise Line was a Greek line that catered to Americans, had an office in San Francisco.  Expensive for us at the time $7000 for a limited view cabin, not including air and other expenses.  Lovely ship, cruise made stops in Athens, Rome, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Lisbon, La Harve and Southhampton.  First cruise for us in Mediterranean, was so outstanding that we returned 12+ times on many other lines and ships.  Mediterranean never gets old.  We have many memories not only of that cruise but of all the cruises we did in the Mediterranean over the next 20 years.   

[ldubs]

Gosh, I can't pick just one.  

 

Our very first cruise from other than a US port was Grand Princess Barcelona to Venice.  The cruise ship approach into Venice that first time (and a few since) was incredible.  

 

Also among my favorites are the British Isles and Baltic cruises.    

[Markanddonna]

My favorite has been our Holy Land cruise from Rome to Haifa and back seeing so many ports in the Med.  The transpacific to Australia was fantastic as were our transatlantics and the Panama Canal all the way up to Seattle. Have to say the Caribbean and Southern California coast rank at the bottom.

[Heidi13]

If I had to pick one, it would be the 3-week 1977 Christmas cruise R/T Sydney to SE Asia, on my favourite ship - SS Oriana.

[bonsai3s]

South Pacific...Renaissance Cruise.

The sail-in to Bora-Bora was simply breathtaking. 

[cruisemom42]

My first Voyages to Antiquity cruise in their inaugural year. They offered a wonderful itinerary that started with about 5 days overland in Egypt (Cairo, then Luxor), boarding our ship in Safaga and sailing through the Suez canal. Then we had stops in Beirut (to visit the ancient site of Baalbek) and Syria, where we had an overnight excursion (included) to the desert site of Palmyra and another stop at Aleppo to see the sites there, including the famous bazaar.  I am so glad I did this cruise as the latter two sites no longer exist. 😥

 

The cruise was a revelation to me -- a single small ship (350 pax) with itineraries to ancient and classical sites, each one crafted with a specific theme and with supporting lecturers to provide additional background. I had found my "cruising home" for the next decade until 2019 when VTA leased their only ship to Road Scholars. I would consider a cruise with them still but have been unable to do so yet due to COVID...  However, I'm not sure it will be quite the same experience.

 

I'm only sorry that I didn't also book their Northern Africa itinerary which included Libya, as I'm not sure now if I'll ever be able to get there. 

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks @hueyjudyfor starting this thread.  It's been very interesting reading the replies so far.

 

I guess my two favorites so far have been the two music charter cruises I took earlier this year.  It was so great listening to great music (mostly) live for days at a time and reliving the better parts of my youth.  They were expensive for mainstream cruises in interior cabins, but I judged those experiences to be oh so worth it.  So much so that I'm doing the same two cruises again next year.

 

Some other of my cruising highlights, mostly for my benefit, not in any order:

 

• Regal Princess 80s Cruise, December '21 - A short cruise that was a prep for my charters above.  First time on Princess.  First trip in a balcony.  First visit to Amber Cove (nice place, though I didn't do much there).  Won two trivia competitions. 😁
• Carnival Valor, March '14 - First cruise ever!  It was out of sunny San Juan to the Eastern Caribbean.  Still one of my favorite cruise itineraries.
• Celebrity Summit, November '17 - Another visit to the Eastern Caribbean with several twists.  First trip on Celebrity.  First trip after Irma & Maria decimated much of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico.  First trip with rock star Captain Kate.
• Carnival Breeze, January '20 - Last cruise before the pandemic changed many of the rules.
• Carnival Liberty, October '15 - I had a buddy on this trip!  Also, 6 days, 5 ports, and no sea days.  Eastern Caribbean again out of San Juan.
• Carnival Triumph, February '15 and January '16 - East from San Juan to Galveston one year, then west from Galveston to San Juan the next.  Couldn't do the obvious B2B due to the limits of my job, though many others did both years. 🙁
• Carnival Splendor, November '16 - First election getaway cruise.  It won't be the last.
• Carnival Legend, September '18 - First time out of Vancouver.  First trip to Hawaii (yes, including Honolulu).  One of these days I'll be back.
• Carnival Splendor, January '18 - First and only full Panama Canal transit.  First visits to Puntarenas, CR; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; and Long Beach.
• Carnival Horizon, January '19 - The newest ship I've been on so far.  It was only a few months old when I boarded.  No new ship smell noted. 🙁
• Celebrity Summit, September '21 - First trip after the restart.  750 crew, 320 passengers.  Bliss. 🙂
• Majestic Princess, April '22 - My most recent cruise.  First time doing the Pacific Coastal thing.  First time in a mini-suite (on a free upgrade - score!)

[George C]

here is a few of my 70 plus cruises 

Getting engage on sovereign of the seas in 1990

Honeymoon on SS Norway 1991.

Renaissance cruise 2001 from Athens to Rome ( great line that went under after 9/11’

4 rock and romance charters (last was this February) where we listened to great music and talked to some legends .

2021 July cruise in a penthouse to celebrate my wife’s 60th ( long way from our inside cabins) on Edge.

[iancal]

Crystal Symphony Med cruise.

 

Our all time favorite.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I have several favorites, but the Eastern Med cruise from Rome with Greece and Turkey might be #1. So many great sights and so much history--and beautiful as well.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Nebr.cruiser

[lenquixote66]

My favorite cruise was in 2010 from Ft.Lauderdale to the Panama Canal with stops in Costa Rica and other ports.

Second favored was in 2008 a 7 day land trip to Alaska with stops in many cities followed by a 7 day cruise.

 

Third favorite was in 2013 from NJ to New England and Canada.

[marco]

One of our favorites was a cruise along the Croatian coast on Katerina Cruises.  It was more like a yacht, carrying only 30 or so passengers.  All spoke English, but the pax were from US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zeland and South Africa.  We stopped as several ports the "big ships" can't go to.  We overnighted in one port city where the population was around 250 people.   There was no pool on the ship, but we'd pull into a little lagoon and jump off the stern platform with tubes and  noodles and we were close enough to swim to  shore beach if so choosed.  The guide was excellent, whch made our shore stops that much more enjoyable and they were included in the cruise fare as were 2 nights  in Dobrovnik at the end of the cruise.

[KBS1607]

Well, I should say our 1984 honeymoon but we got married in October and there was a hurricane..,husband took one look at his entree the first night and bolted. I had to tell the waiter he wasn’t coming back. I got sick later then hit my head on the sink and almost knocked myself out. So it was memorable. 

My favorite was our 2019 11 day Baltic. It had been my dream to see St Petersburg. 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

Hard to pick  favorites,  but:

 

Our first ever cruise on Independence of the Seas when she was brand spanking new from the shipyard.

 

Panama Canal, Fort Lauderdale to San Diego; made friends with a delightful couple from California and we're still in touch 10 years later

 

Baltic cruise, where I fell in love with Tallinn.  What a wonderful city!

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Hard to pick  favorites,  but:

 

Our first ever cruise on Independence of the Seas when she was brand spanking new from the shipyard.

 

Panama Canal, Fort Lauderdale to San Diego; made friends with a delightful couple from California and we're still in touch 10 years later

 

Baltic cruise, where I fell in love with Tallinn.  What a wonderful city!

👍👍👍 for Talinn being a wonderful city.

[herbanrenewal]

This is a great thread - lots of people have spoken about some of my favorites - loved Holy land cruise, also New Zealand and Australia,  Baltic when it still went to St Petersburg  - Many great Med cruise experiences, but i got to admit. usually my favorite cruise is the next one coming up

[azalice]

To date, my favorite has been our Norway cruising, one that did not go far north and the one in 2019 that went far north. Loved the scenery, sitting on some days for hours watching that part of the world.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, azalice said:

To date, my favorite has been our Norway cruising, one that did not go far north and the one in 2019 that went far north. Loved the scenery, sitting on some days for hours watching that part of the world.

We were supposed to do that in the summer of 2020, but we cancelled before sending in final payment knowing the cruise line would have to cancel, which of course they did. With Norway closing ports, and hotels in London closing, we could see there was no way that cruise could ever happen.

[Mike981]

We have done a fair amount of cruising, but all of it in the Caribbean. Being from Minnesota we always look for warm weather and warm water. My favorite would be our first cruise, it was our honeymoon 10 years in  the making. We sailed on the Celebrity Mercury and it was fantastic. So many firsts and so much fun that we did the unthinkable, after promising to not cruise again for a while because of $$, we booked another cruise shortly after returning home. We fell hook line and sinker into cruising.

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

We have done a fair amount of cruising, but all of it in the Caribbean. Being from Minnesota we always look for warm weather and warm water. My favorite would be our first cruise, it was our honeymoon 10 years in  the making. We sailed on the Celebrity Mercury and it was fantastic. So many firsts and so much fun that we did the unthinkable, after promising to not cruise again for a while because of $$, we booked another cruise shortly after returning home. We fell hook line and sinker into cruising.

 Sounds like us. Fond memories onboard the Celebrity Mercury...ended up sailing on her 4 times...and yes, got addicted to cruising.