What Was Your First Ever Cruise & Why Did You Choose It?

[BaLA 5]

My first cruise - British India Steamship 1960 a month to get to Singapore

Shooting balloons off the stern great fun

[Jaczs 701]

Airtours Carousel was my first cruise to the Caribbean she was a beautiful ship still miss her and the staff now.

[Paul3349 5]

Hi mine was in the early 70's on the Canberra...old design ship, but the services was amazing....that was cruising at its best !

[Paul3349 5]

Hi mine was in the early 70's on the Canberra...old design ship, but the services was amazing....that was cruising at its best !

[cruise chef 865]

Mine was a Thomson ship like HTurtle onboard the Emerald following a hurricane around the Caribbean, it was a great introduction that would send you one way or the other. I decided at that point I didnt mind rough seas!!!!

[Captain Kidd II 797]

All this brings back memories. My first cruise was 1974 on the schools cruise ship Navasa. The cruise was round the Eastern Med, sailing from Venice. I must keep a straight face when I say it was free! It was the first cruise of an assigment which lasted many months. I must go into the loft and get photos down to see how much rhings have changed.

[Falmouthgirl 195]

Yes, the dear old Uganda and Nevasa, well known in Falmouth   I believe they were both laid up here many times, long gone now but many school children had fond memories of them,  there is a Uganda room on board the Aurora, Uganda was a BI  ship [british India] originally , I can tell you a story regarding her.

 

We  were on the world cruise in 2008 on the Aurora, we came upon the port presenter [ Graham who became a good friend]  he called us over and introduced us to a couple in their late 40's she had a sick husband confined to a wheel chair almost completely dependent on her, Graham  told us that the lady had been talking about the Nevasa   which she had sailed on  during a school cruise,  her wish was to sail on a tug .

 

Knowing we were from Falmouth   he asked if it was possible, my OH said it was as my son was the Engineer on the  tug  Ankorva   in Falmouth, to cut along story short , they came to Falmouth she went out in the tug even docked a ship, had her photo taken and was treated royally while we looked after her OH,  we kept in touch but sadly she passed away suddenly 3 years ago,  we were so glad we were able to grant her wish. CG

[SueH 2]

A bit late to reply to a post of 2015, but we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on Arcadia for my 70th birthday.  We have since, 2 and a bit years later, been to the Norwegian fjords for our Golden Wedding, again on Arcadia, and a Med cruise last year on Oceana.  We are branching out this year and sailing the inside passage from Vancouver with Holland America.  It’s a bigger ship, so we’ll have to see how we like it!   Back to P & O for 2019 to the Baltic, again on Arcadia.  As you can see, we have truly got the cruising bug!! 

Edited January 1, 2018 by SueH

[sheilaandmike 48]

my first cruise was on a proper ship, something that looked like a ship and not a load of containers welded to a deck. In them days cruising had some magic, some grandeur about it, people dressed properly for dinner, ladies wore smart evenng dress/ballgowns, all the men in tux or full dinner suit.

Manners were pleantiful, behaviour was impeccable, sad to say all that has gone, the cruising buble has burst big time. Ok you may say there are more cruise ships, and a lot of passanger/people still going that as maybe, but its lost all the things I said in the first paragraph.

I could go on but wont bother, as cruising is not what it used to be, but I dont want to spoil it for others, just sadly all the newbies to cruising will never again experience what PROPER cruising was all about where you were treated with dignity and respect, not just another number like today, roll em on roll em off next please.

[Liza 0]

Our first cruise, was on Arcadia, her maiden voyage year, to celebrate my Husbands 50th Birthday in 2005,  We booked the Caribbean because it had an overnight stay in New Orleans, sadly, Hurricane Katrina put a stop to that and we ended up with an over night in Fort Lauderdale.  

Since then we have both been hooked.

For the couple doing your first cruise on Arcadia, you will enjoy her she is a fantastic ship, by far my favorite, but i think your first always is.

[Oldworldtraveller 2222]

On 01/01/2018 at 1:07 PM, sheilaandmike said:

my first cruise was on a proper ship, something that looked like a ship and not a load of containers welded to a deck. In them days cruising had some magic, some grandeur about it, people dressed properly for dinner, ladies wore smart evenng dress/ballgowns, all the men in tux or full dinner suit.

Manners were pleantiful, behaviour was impeccable, sad to say all that has gone, the cruising buble has burst big time. Ok you may say there are more cruise ships, and a lot of passanger/people still going that as maybe, but its lost all the things I said in the first paragraph.

I could go on but wont bother, as cruising is not what it used to be, but I dont want to spoil it for others, just sadly all the newbies to cruising will never again experience what PROPER cruising was all about where you were treated with dignity and respect, not just another number like today, roll em on roll em off next please.

What was your first ship sheilaandmike?

[terrierian 26]

My first cruise was on a proper ship HMS Eagle 1967. With a flight deck a quarter of a mile long, she was a great ship.

With a cruise line it was on the Queen Victoria 2009. 

[afcandrew 361]

Thanks for resurrecting an old but very interesting thread.  My first cruise was a Transatlantic Crossing aboard Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1995, which we did for my partner's 40th birthday.  We did some touring in the USA and then sailed back to Southampton from New York.  It was a fantastic experience and I had saved long and hard so that we could go 'First Class'.  That wasn't the top level then as two levels of 'Grill Class' were above us.  It meant that we were in the Coronia Restaurant on single, open seating dining, rather than in the Mauretania Restaurant which held two sittings.  It really was elegant and I can recall ladies in the Ballroom wearing ballgowns that were wired to give a scalloped edge - they must have had them a number of years!  Strange the things you remember.  Two years later, we went on a Med Cruise aboard P&O's Victoria.  She was a lovely old Ocean Liner and I still miss her today.  No alternative dining other than a Lido Buffet for lunch, which was semi-alfresco.  It did, however, still feel elegant and sophisticated for its time.  We were hooked on cruising after that.

I am so pleased we started doing this as it has given me an easy way of travelling alone since Tony died in 2012.  Yes, it is very different now and I miss a lot of the old ways.  Of course there are some improvements but I do still hanker after the smaller ships and old-style ways of cruising.

Andrew

Edited January 14, 2018 by afcandrew

[Warlegan 0]

First cruise was to the Fjords and most disappointing. Was expecting days cruising up Fjords, with the pleasure that would bring. But we cruised up the Fjords by night, in the main, and moored up for excursions by day. I am not against shore excursions, they are a most important part of the experience, but the balance was wrong. I know, I should have read the itinerary closer, but it was misleading in my opinion.

 I had wanted to see the Fjords all my adult life, so the good news is that there is a cruise, again with P&O to the Fjords, with daylight cruising up 6/7 Fjords, which I have booked, in July 2019. Hurrah. Cannot wait to see the wonderful beautiful scenery, camera to the ready.

 

[mitch 325]

other than an enforced "cruise" to the falklands the first cruise proper was 1994 when i left the army in a way a honeymoon 20 years after the event on cunard countess a fly cruise for 2 weeks out of san juan. we then enjoyed all sorts of different companies up until the wife passed away in 2003 only 44. i started again last year as i can not fly at the moment.

[Jenjen 232]

I think it was 1985 /86 on QW2 the build up to cruise was exciting buying clothes for what I thought would be a fabulous experence, It was very second was just wonderful my husband and I went with my Mother and Father, who had cruised for some time, the day after we disembarked we booked another one, for the following year, in those days only one cruise a year.

[Gill57 15]

My first cruise was on P&O's Sea Princess (which later became Victoria) in 1992.

I seem to recall Ian Fraser was the Cruise Director.

It was booked through Bolsover - they and the ship were recommended to us. It was to be a one off experience - 26 years later and i am still cruising with P&O and still booking through Bolsover!!!

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

Our first was with RCI ( Song of America ) in the late 80's to the Caribbean followed by a week at Disney, came home and booked the second one again with RCI to Alaska followed by a week driving through the Rockies which was amazing, we then discovered Cunard (QE2) and sailed with them mostly through the 90's with the odd cruise with P&O ( Sea Princess/Oriana ) then when Aurora was launched P&O became a firm favourite and we stayed loyal to P&O until about 8 years ago when we decided standards were dropping below what we found acceptable so returned to Cunard .. each time I step aboard one of the Queens I ask myself the same question - why did we ever leave them in the first place !! 

[sammy sun 1084]

Great to see this older thread resurface and such a nice topic to discuss.