Your first cruise ship

[George C]

I took Rotterdam in both 1977 and 1978 great ship, this ship made me a cruise addict.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, George C said:

I took Rotterdam in both 1977 and 1978 great ship, this ship made me a cruise addict.

 

If you ever get to Rotterdam, make it a point to visit Hotel Ship Rotterdam.  Maybe even stay there; wish I could have done so.  

[norboy76]

My first cruise was in 2007, mom an dad arranged this big 50th anniversary cruise, I think we had 6 cabins total on the Norwegian Spirit. For me it was a painful cruise as I fell sleep on the sun deck by the pool and ended up with major sunburn to both legs, took about a month for the legs to totally heal. Lets just say that made dining painful as had to wear pants in the dining room so imagine severe sunburn rubbing against pant legs. ouch. 

[Dothan1952]

Nordic Empress, Nov 1991. We thought the ship was huge especially when docked next to the Britanis. It got us hooked on cruising.

[gpnfish]

Song of America in1985.  It was to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  We scraped and scraped to save money to go, decided it was the only way to go, but never thought we would go on as many as we have.  There’s been a few others that aren’t around any more, like the Norway and the Nordic Prince, which I think is probably still our favorite.  It was to Bermuda ( the good side, St. George’s and Hamilton)!

[caribe123]

Carnival Holiday was my first cruise, after we got married. Fondly remember the “Little Ship That Could”

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, caribe123 said:

Carnival Holiday was my first cruise, after we got married. Fondly remember the “Little Ship That Could”

 

I recall seeing a short video a guest made on You Tube of the Farewell Song on Carnival Holiday.  That was the short song that the dining room staff sang close to the end of the final night's dinner.   

[KeepCalmBearOn]

22 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I recall seeing a short video a guest made on You Tube of the Farewell Song on Carnival Holiday.  That was the short song that the dining room staff sang close to the end of the final night's dinner.   

 

Is it not all Carnival ships?

 

 

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

Is it not all Carnival ships?

 

 

 

Of course.  I wonder if they still do it.  Masks need to be worn by crew?  

[donaldsc]

The Lewis R French.

 

DON

[Seanzie]

Carnival Celebration was my first as well. Maybe in the late 90s. I was young, so I don't quite remember. 

 

I see there's a new Celebration on the way!

[Bilge Rat 2]

My First  S.S. Flavia 1971 MIA 3 Day, around 200 more, next week MSC Meraviglia

                                                                                  from THE Bilge

[telebax51]

15 hours ago, Seanzie said:

Carnival Celebration was my first as well. Maybe in the late 90s. I was young, so I don't quite remember. 

 

I see there's a new Celebration on the way!

Will be on her this Nov. 6 T/A had too many cancellations ready to get back to Europe.

[Raiders4Life32]

1981 Sitmar Fairsea....I still remember our cabin number Riviera 254

[rdtpm64]

Summer of '79 on NCL M/S Sunward II.  I was 14.  My mom and I got SO seasick.  3 night cruise out of Miami, visiting Nassau and private island.  Didn't cruise again until 2004 with my husband, which was his first cruise (RCI Radiance of the Seas, 7 nights out of San Juan visiting St Thomas, Antigua, Sint Maarten, St Lucia, and Barbados).

[genian_travels]

Costa Romantica, 1995, transatlantic from Miami to Genoa. I was 14 and I was so sea sick on the way to the first port of Bermuda. Back in those days there weren’t any kids/teen clubs and there was only me and twin girls the same age on board. Took me a week to discover them and another few days before we actually spoke to each other!

 

Did another transatlantic on Costa Victoria in 1997 with my parents and then nothing until 2007 when I convinced my now-husband to give it a go on a 3nt cruise to the Bahamas. It gave him the bug and we’ve done 28 cruises since!

[FionaMG]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:01 AM, Raiders4Life32 said:

1981 Sitmar Fairsea....I still remember our cabin number Riviera 254

 

Back in the day, DH was a cabin steward on the old Sitmar line and he was actually working on board the Fairsea in 1981, although not on Riviera deck. Altogether, he worked on that particular ship for 6 years.

 

He still talks very fondly of those days (in fact, once he gets started, he doesn't have an "off" button! 😂).

[Raiders4Life32]

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

Back in the day, DH was a cabin steward on the old Sitmar line and he was actually working on board the Fairsea in 1981, although not on Riviera deck. Altogether, he worked on that particular ship for 6 years.

 

He still talks very fondly of those days (in fact, once he gets started, he doesn't have an "off" button! 😂).

Does he remember “Franco”? Franco was our cabin steward each time aboard. We always had the same cabin as it slept our family of four people. Sometimes we would drive down to San Pedro merely to say hello to Franco. Such a nice man and treated us like family!

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, Raiders4Life32 said:

Does he remember “Franco”? Franco was our cabin steward each time aboard. We always had the same cabin as it slept our family of four people. Sometimes we would drive down to San Pedro merely to say hello to Franco. Such a nice man and treated us like family!

 

He remembers a short Italian cabin steward called Franco, but apparently there were quite a lot of Francos so he can't be sure it's the same one.

 

And he says that although he wasn't on Riviera deck in 1981, he did work on that deck at one point and he remembers your cabin perfectly, as it was a big one.

 

Small world! 

[Raiders4Life32]

48 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

He remembers a short Italian cabin steward called Franco, but apparently there were quite a lot of Francos so he can't be sure it's the same one.

 

And he says that although he wasn't on Riviera deck in 1981, he did work on that deck at one point and he remembers your cabin perfectly, as it was a big one.

 

Small world! 

We were also on the maiden voyage for the Fairsky and we couldn't believe our eyes when Franco was also on that ship.  By that point, he had become a supervisor of some sort....I was too young to remember his actual title.  When I go visit my parents in a few months I will look through the old cruise pictures because I'm 100% certain we have pictures of our family with our friend Franco.  

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, FionaMG said:

He still talks very fondly of those days (in fact, once he gets started, he doesn't have an "off" button! 

 

Has he considered writing a book?  

[FionaMG]

On 3/23/2022 at 7:51 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

Has he considered writing a book?  

No, that would never have crossed his mind. Books and writing aren't his cup of tea, but he certainly has some stories to tell!

[rkacruiser]

21 hours ago, FionaMG said:

No, that would never have crossed his mind. Books and writing aren't his cup of tea, but he certainly has some stories to tell!

 

Maybe he could provide an oral history for some organization/library or to an author that could then actually do the writing.  Just trying to provide some ideas.  Such stories need to be preserved, if possible, before they are lost.  

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Maybe he could provide an oral history for some organization/library or to an author that could then actually do the writing.  Just trying to provide some ideas.  Such stories need to be preserved, if possible, before they are lost.  

That might actually be something we could look into for when we retire a few years from now. I could maybe even do the writing myself as it's something I've always enjoyed. Food for thought, indeed.

[Heidi13]

On 3/25/2022 at 1:28 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

Maybe he could provide an oral history for some organization/library or to an author that could then actually do the writing.  Just trying to provide some ideas.  Such stories need to be preserved, if possible, before they are lost.  

 

Unfortunately, many of the experiences we had on cruise ships in the 70's & 80's really can't be committed to writing. Even some of the stories from the Bridge shouldn't be shared, as it was a different world back then.

 

They were great times, but unfortunately few people these days could relate to, or even accept the experience. Even landlubbers, of my age, have no concept of the experience.

 

Any book I wrote just couldn't reflect the actual experience.