Trip down memory lane

[*Miss G*]

I miss:

 

- the slippers

- the pad and pen

- the big Explorations Café in the Crow’s Nest

- the view out the Crow’s Nest not being blocked by TV monitors

 

I can do without:

 

- the giant interactive electronic boards taking up space in the Crow’s Nest

[KAKcruiser]

The chilled soups seem to be available on the current world cruise.

[syesmar]

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

I can do without:

- the giant interactive electronic boards taking up space in the Crow’s Nest

Agree!😃

[Nanner]

Playing "Name that Tune" in the Piano Bar

I still have my Dam Dollar from our first cruise, which was the only one before they were discontinued. We also just experienced Dutch Night with the hats on that first cruise.

Actual prizes for trivia. Even the pins were something you could trade or give away. I liked having destination pins and ship pins. You could always refuse them if you didn't need one.

The coffee cups with the HAL logo and the ship's initial that were given as prizes. I played "Name that Tune" with a couple on their honeymoon one night and gave them ours for a set of 4.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Nanner

[highscar]

Bingo and game prizes, coffee mugs, water bottle slings, pins, vynal documents folders, craft scrap books, my favorite prize from 1979 a battery operated folding alarm clock. It has been with me on more than 20 Holland cruises.  Oh, memories.   

[highscar]

correction, not 1979,  1999.   Whoops.  

[Iamthesea]

On 3/7/2023 at 8:56 PM, Nanner said:

How about the "yum yum" man with his uniform and the dates, figs and candied ginger after dinner in the dining room? 

We received chocolates on the pillow 2 nights on our recent 10 day voyage. I do miss those, even if I didn't need them

The bubbly when you got on the ship

Real ice cream is still free, but it has to be vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. At least that's true on the Pinnacle Class ships

I miss the fruit crumble being listed on the menu. I was told on the final day of our recent voyage that you can get it if you ask for it.

I have several of the leather and pleather document pouches and a fabric one. I still use them for my papers, too!

The old laminated luggage tags that HAL provided with photos relevant to the cruise. I remember bears on the Alaska tags

 

 

Oh no...do you mean to tell me that HAL no longer serves Rum Raisin ice cream, and other ship made ice creams?  Are the Neapolitan flavors hard ice cream or the soft serve?

On 3/7/2023 at 10:14 PM, RuthC said:

I miss the intimate Piano Bars, with musicians who knew music that covered many eras, in various genres, and played until 2:00 AM every night. Without a break. Someone who somehow made a party every night, and wasn't there to 'perform'. 
I miss the 'Dutch Girl' with her basket of flowers who greeted every embarking passenger. 

I miss the Rosario Strings. 
I miss the chilled soups, made with fine ingredients like sherbet, and tapioca, as thickeners. 
I miss the great dance bands in the Ocean Bar, who played for every cocktail time, right up until the chimes called us to dinner, then again until 1:00 AM. Every night, without a break. 

I miss it all!!!  All remind me of when HAL cruising with my parents, and other cruiselines, as well. 😉

[jeh10641]

My first HAL cruise was a transatlantic in June 1959 followed by a Caribbean cruise on the same ship in 1966 (1938 version of the Nieuw Amsterdam). More recently, we were on Westerdam, Oosterdam and Rotterdam.

I do not miss three classes (first, cabin, tourist) that said you could NOT attend venues in the classes above yours.

I do not miss smokers everywhere (although I WAS ONE on my first 2 cruises!).

I do not miss mandatory dress codes (too much to pack at 80+ years old).

I miss the Midnight/Chocolate Buffets (although I would not be able to do those now because of the time and dietary issues).

I miss the singing/dancing wait staff on the last night.

I, too, miss the music in the MDR. Not only piano players but sometimes string trios/quartets like European cafes.

I miss the greetings on embarkation and debarkation.

Thank you all for the memories.

Jim

[QuattroRomeo]

The little Passport to Fitness booklets.You got a stamp for doing some specified amount of laps around the deck, and there were trinkets awarded for so many stamps. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I miss the "house brand" Darjeeling tea and proper teapots in the dining room after a meal. 

 

I do not miss the interminable Master Chef dinners with the waiters juggling fruits or rolls. 

 

I agree with @*Miss G* that I prefer the view at the front of the Crows Nest without the four large screens. I like the information on them, but they do not need to be in that location. Put them on an inside wall!

[Vic The Parrot]

On 3/7/2023 at 3:47 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Sailing out of NYC!

 

You've made me verclempt. 😕 

 

I still have fond memories of my very first HAL cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam from NY.

 

It was a 10 day to Bermuda and the Caribbean. After that trip, I was hooked. Loved the ship, the food, that beautiful promenade deck. 

 

If I had a Tardis, I'd go back in a heartbeat!!

[BermudaBound2014]

I miss…

 

-skeet shooting- men were always shocked to find a woman who can shoot, especially 40 years ago.
 

-horse racing (I believe this was on Hal). Decorate a wooden horse and take it to the races. It’s one of the only times I won serious cash. 
 

-When lattes and cappuccino are were included after dinner.

 

-Small ships on all main stream lines. My first dozen or so cruises were on ships around 20K gross tons.

 

-sailing with my mom 
 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[RuthC]

2 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

horse racing (I believe this was on Hal). Decorate a wooden horse and take it to the races. It’s one of the only times I won serious cash. 

HAL had horse racing for many years. It was great fun, but wasn't always a derby where you purchased your horse and decorated it (and kept it in your cabin for a few days before the race). Sometimes it was just a race out on deck, with betting. 
Still remember those times fondly. 

[iceman93]

6 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said:

The little Passport to Fitness booklets.You got a stamp for doing some specified amount of laps around the deck, and there were trinkets awarded for so many stamps. 

My wife and I have kept ours (in the safe next to our REAL passports, of course!) in the hopes that someday they'll resuscitate this program.  Hey, don't burst our bubble!  🤣

[eroller]

My first HAL cruise was on the STATENDAM (b.1957) in July 1979.  New York to Bermuda.  What a great cruise, complete with rough seas.  We had an outside cabin on C-Deck and for a while our cabin was like a washing machine with the heavy seas rising and lowering over the portholes.  I was fascinated by it knowing sometimes our cabin was under water.  Eventually the steward came and closed the dead lights over the portholes, rendering our outside cabin an inside and eliminating my mesmerizing entertainment.  
 

Back then HAL was more lively with plenty of live music, a nightclub, and even games by the pool.  Plenty of families onboard so I had other kids to hang out with and made friends.  Attached is a picture I took of jousting over the pool on our return to NY.  This would never fly in todays times but I’m sure glad I have the memories participating.  
 

Our cabin was right by the cinema and the movie Hair was playing onboard.  I was fascinated by it and maybe watched it three times.  It had a couple risqué scenes with nudity and that was probably one of my first exposures to it.  Things sure are different today with kids and the internet and everything (good and bad) they have access to.  
 

in Bermuda (docked on Front Street) one evening myself and my new friends walked next door to Home Line’s DORIC.  She was STATENDAM’s biggest competition at the time and we wanted to check her out.  We literally just walked on, no questions asked and toured the ship.  We concluded we liked ours better but no doubt we were a bit biased. Those were the days!  

[eroller]

DORIC and STATENDAM docked on Front Street in Hamilton Bermuda.  I can’t take credit for this photograph as it’s a postcard I acquired on the cruise referenced in the previous post.  It is exactly how the two ships were docked on my STATENDAM cruise when we snuck onboard DORIC.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

@eroller, that brings back memories! My very first cruise was on Statendam to Bermuda, 1978. Back in those days, you could still have friends on board for bon voyage parties. What a great way for a cruise line to get people interested. Friends who later became our cruising buddies saw us off and she said, "Oh yeah, we're doing this some day!" 

 

Not HAL, but Home Lines memory. When I was maybe 6 or 7, we went to see friends off on a cruise. It was winter to the Caribbean for a neighbor's parents 50th anniversary, and their whole family was going. All I remember from that is being amazed that a ship could have a pool on it, and thinking it was weird to have to step over doorsills. And Mom telling Dad, "I want to go on a cruise some day!" And they did--HAL to Bermuda.

[eroller]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

@eroller, that brings back memories! My very first cruise was on Statendam to Bermuda, 1978. Back in those days, you could still have friends on board for bon voyage parties. What a great way for a cruise line to get people interested. Friends who later became our cruising buddies saw us off and she said, "Oh yeah, we're doing this some day!" 

 

Not HAL, but Home Lines memory. When I was maybe 6 or 7, we went to see friends off on a cruise. It was winter to the Caribbean for a neighbor's parents 50th anniversary, and their whole family was going. All I remember from that is being amazed that a ship could have a pool on it, and thinking it was weird to have to step over doorsills. And Mom telling Dad, "I want to go on a cruise some day!" And they did--HAL to Bermuda.

 

Love these stories and yes I miss the days of visitors.  I visited many ships in NY just by paying $1 to the seaman’s fund.  
 

My grandmother loved OCEANIC and ROTTERDAM V immensely so I got to sail on both several times.  I loved them too.  
 

Sailed on the brand new NIEUW AMSTERDAM in August 1983 (first revenue cruise) and had my dad, mom, and sister onboard to see us off.  So much fun to have the ship filled with visitors.  Very festive.  Even better when you get to sail and they have to leave!   lol.  Attached are a couple pics from that inaugural sailing.  Yup you could visit the Bridge in those days … for free!  Everything wasn’t revenue driven.  Different times.  

[OlsSalt]

Leaving Auckland NZ on the Lloyd-Triestino Gallieo in 1977, we had miles of serpentine to throw down at the visitors on the dock, while the band played The Maori Farewell  (tune Now is the Hour)- not a dry eye in the entire crowd, nor one now decades later as I write this.

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by OlsSalt

[eroller]

5 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Leaving Auckland NZ on the Lloyd-Triestino Gallieo in 1977, we had miles of serpentine to throw down at the visitors on the dock, while the band played The Maori Farewell  (tune Now is the Hour)- not a dry eye in the entire crowd, nor one now decades later as I write this.

 

 

 

 

Lovely.  I sailed on GALLIEO a few times on short cruises under Chandris Fantasy Cruises.  What a fantastic classic liner.  Loved the ship, but admittedly I have a soft spot for Italian liners.  LEONARDO DA VINCI was my first ever cruise and ship.  What a way to start out 45 years of cruising and still going!  

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, eroller said:

 Even better when you get to sail and they have to leave!   lol.

 

It's fun to feel smug!

 

Our second QE2 was a transcanal, leaving from San Diego. Since the ship was sailing late, we killed time in the morning by going to see the lighthouse at Point Loma. There were lots of people sitting around in lawn chairs and clutching binoculars and cameras. And then we realized that they were waiting to see QE2 arrive! It was only her second call there, so people were excited. I said to DH, "They can look all they want, but WE get to sail on her!" Like the other folks in the park, I got some great pictures.

[cruisingrob21]

I recall the Noordam/Niuew Amsterdam twins had a radio turner and volume knobs on the bed headboard.  There was no connection to outside radio per-se, but you could listen to a few stations on the ship that included a classical station.

 

I also remember how the topsides of ships were pretty boring places for a long time - the fan tails were where the pools and buffets were.  Most ships have gone to topside pool decks these days, and occasionally have an aft pool but rarely are they at the bottom of several tiered observation decks.

[Sir PMP]

On 3/7/2023 at 3:47 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Dutch night in the MDR. I still make the mashed potatoes with carrots and onions in them.

 

Sailing out of NYC!

 

There were pool games. I can live without those.

You mean, hutspot?

[Sir PMP]

On 3/15/2023 at 3:33 PM, jeh10641 said:

My first HAL cruise was a transatlantic in June 1959 followed by a Caribbean cruise on the same ship in 1966 (1938 version of the Nieuw Amsterdam). More recently, we were on Westerdam, Oosterdam and Rotterdam.

I do not miss three classes (first, cabin, tourist) that said you could NOT attend venues in the classes above yours.

I do not miss smokers everywhere (although I WAS ONE on my first 2 cruises!).

I do not miss mandatory dress codes (too much to pack at 80+ years old).

I miss the Midnight/Chocolate Buffets (although I would not be able to do those now because of the time and dietary issues).

I miss the singing/dancing wait staff on the last night.

I, too, miss the music in the MDR. Not only piano players but sometimes string trios/quartets like European cafes.

I miss the greetings on embarkation and debarkation.

Thank you all for the memories.

Jim

And you're only 42 years old?

[3rdGenCunarder]

23 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

You mean, hutspot?

Yes!!!