How old were you when you took your first cruise?

[Honolulu Blue]

I asked this one several years ago, but I think it's time for a redo.  A couple of clarifications:

 

1) Don't count any cruises where you were in your mother's womb, but please do count it if you were alive and kicking - no matter if you remember anything from it or not

2) Go ahead and count any future cruises if one of them will be your first

 

Thanks in advance!

[cruisemom42]

I was seven. Took a Christmas cruise with my parents and older sister on the Emerald Seas out of Miami. Six months later I went on another cruise with my grandmother, the Fairwind from Fort Lauderdale. My grandparents had just moved to FTL and had a local TA who'd call them up with last minute cruise deals a week or two ahead of sailing. 

 

After that, I cruised with my family about once a year until I went to college. (After that my parents retired and cruised more; I cruised less for about 10 years while starting work, buying a house, starting a family, etc.)  Back then we loved Sitmar and racked up many cruises with them.

[CruisingWalter]

Our 10th wedding anniversary in 2006, we were both 40 years old. Caribbean Princess on a 14 night back to back East/West Caribbean. Not a bad way to start our cruising adventures especially since I didn't even want to go! That was 18 cruises ago and counting.... 🙂

[Honolulu Blue]

2 minutes ago, WheresWalter said:

Our 10th wedding anniversary in 2006, we were both 40 years old. Caribbean Princess on a 14 night back to back East/West Caribbean. Not a bad way to start our cruising adventures especially since I didn't even want to go! That was 18 cruises ago and counting.... 🙂

Thanks for sharing.  That reminded me of a question I really should get around to asking this group - what length was your first cruise?  Mine was 7 days, and I think that would be the most popular answer - even in this experienced group.  But I don't truly know if I don't ask.

 

P.S.  Starting out with a 14-day cruise... I'm impressed. 😃

[George C]

I was 26 did a cruise to nowhere this was 1975. I have cruised at least once every year since 1977.

[urbanhawk]

I took my 1st cruise in 2007, and I was 57.   I had taken my mom, for an early birthday gift-she would turn 84 a few months later-she also got her 1st passport for the cruise! Happy cruising!

[Heidi13]

Joined my first cruise ship at 18 for 3 months.

[Honolulu Blue]

19 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Joined my first cruise ship at 18 for 3 months.

Thank you for reminding me about the OTHER way to be a cruiser. 🙂

[CanobieFan]

I think I was 27, haha

[navybankerteacher]

12 - Queen of Bermuda, New York-Hamilton .

[crystalspin]

38 and I hated it. Cape Town to Buenos Aires on the Marco Polo, Orient Lines. (There are no port stops between South Africa and Argentina! All three of my travelling companions were seasick the whole way and my lower back went out!)

[Mike981]

January of 2000 I was 34 and it was our delayed honeymoon by 10 years. Celebrity Mercury for seven days with a balcony room, kind set the bar rather high. Boy did we have a blast and we were hooked. We looked at it as a once in a lifetime vacation and spent like it, then we booked another for the next year and then the next year and...

[rkacruiser]

First cruise for me was aboard the S. S. South American of the Georgian Bay Lines, a Lake Erie cruise from Detroit-Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit.  I was under 18 at the time, probably 14 or 15.  First ocean cruise was in 1970 on Rotterdam V at age 27.  

[ontheweb]

First cruise was for our 25th anniversary. I was in the 50-59 category; DW (not voting) was in the 40-49.

 

And it was 7 days, Barcelona round trip Western Mediterranean. I had initially proposed Bermuda while she countered with Alaska. (We have since done both, and did another Barcelona to Barcelona for our 35th anniversary.)

[Mary229]

My family are avid travelers and they were horrified that we would cruise, how uneducated!  
 

DH and I took our first Caribbean cruise from our home city at the time, New Orleans on Norwegian.  We were around 24 years old.  The next year we sailed with my parents to Alaska on Princess.  They changed their mind.  They never were as avid as we are but that is ok, they realized it was just another mode of transportation to see the world. Travel on.

[antmaril]

My late husband and I took our first cruise in 1982 on the NCL Starward.  I was 31 years old.  We only cruised two more times together before he passed in 2008.  He didn’t love it.   Since 2009, I have cruised nine times with friends.  I enjoy cruising.  

[LoungingMcCoy]

My wife had been wanting to go on a cruise for years but I had zero interest in cruising.

 

One year there was a mixup at her workplace where she was only able to get vacation time in January.  Around that same time one of my coworkers was planning a 3 day cruise.  I didn't realize that there were cruises that short.  I felt bad about her vacation situation and figured I could handle a 3 day cruise.

 

We ended up going on a 5 day cruise on Carnival Triumph and we both loved it.

[Emilie]

I grew up in the 80’s watching The Love Boat. I had the feeling that cruises were for the ultra rich, but had the deep conviction that someday I would be on one!

Luckily for me it became more affordable, and in 2005 my sister and I decided to bring our mom on a cruise for her 60th birthday. I was 28, and it was even better than I expected… since then I have been on a cruise ship at least once a year, except in 2021.

[kelkel2]

I was in my 20’s for my honeymoon. Now we’re taking our 4yo twins with us in January for their first. 

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, Emilie said:

I grew up in the 80’s watching The Love Boat. I had the feeling that cruises were for the ultra rich,

 

I loved The Love Boat!  But, having experienced a sailing of the Queen Mary in 1957, I saw that not all of her passengers were wealthy.  Young people who weren't wearing mink stoles/coats.  When they got out of my elevator, they headed for the Tourist Class or Cabin Class check-in areas.  Even when my family visited the ship and were in the First Class section, I didn't get the sense that one had to be rich to sail.  That's when I determined:  I have to do this!  And, I have.  

[lenquixote66]

On 9/26/2022 at 9:00 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

I asked this one several years ago, but I think it's time for a redo.  A couple of clarifications:

 

1) Don't count any cruises where you were in your mother's womb, but please do count it if you were alive and kicking - no matter if you remember anything from it or not

2) Go ahead and count any future cruises if one of them will be your first

 

Thanks in advance!

I was 29.My second cruise was 21 years later.

[ontheweb]

44 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was 29.My second cruise was 21 years later.

I guess the first one did not impress you very much. 🤦‍♂️

[jocap]

It was a fly/cruise package, Sea Princess from Fort Lauderdale, 14 nights round the Caribbean, 2006.

But we'd spent numerous nights aboard ferries from the UK to various ports in Europe, and had begun to realise that the ferry was the best part of our holiday... there was an amazing difference between the bunk beds and shared showers/loos down the corridor of the ferries and the en suite cabin of a cruise ship! 😁

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I guess the first one did not impress you very much. 🤦‍♂️

Every person on ship ,passenger and grew became ill.My wife said never again to cruise.However,for a special birthday for her a good friend of mine who was a TA planned a vacation which was a cruise.The next cruise was 14 years later.That was a cruise to celebrate her retirement.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I guess the first one did not impress you very much. 🤦‍♂️

 

There was a period in my life of 7 years when I was unable to cruise because of my responsibilities as caregivers for my parents. The one year that I did manage to sail on a 7 day Alaskan cruise, the night before I was to fly home after a couple of days in Vancouver after the cruise, I returned to my hotel room to find my phone's message light blinking.  I needed to call my Mother's nursing facility ASAP.  The message was the Head Nurse did not think she had much time left.  What a night!  What a stressful flight home!  I drove straight to the nursing home from the airport late at night.  I reassured her that I was still there.  She thought, we believe, that I had forsaken her and was giving up.  She rallyed and stayed with us another 8 months.  

 

There are very good reasons why there has to be gaps in one's cruising resume.  My signature would include more cruises than are listed if I had not experienced that time lost at sea.