Southern Dan Posted April 11 Report Share Posted April 11 Hi all, I've been on these boards for a couple months now and I really have enjoyed this community so far. My name is Dan (duh!) and I'm originally from Long Island and moved to GA 6 years ago. Got married in November of '22 for the first time to the love of my life. I work in retail selling patio furniture, have done so forever. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's adventures in the Live Blogs board and I'm amazed at how many cruises people go on. I'm fortunate enough to have gone on cruises with my family growing up, then went on a handful of Jam Cruises from 2005 through 2019. There is nothing like the anticipation just before boarding and finally stepping foot on the ship to start your voyage! I waste a lot of time on the internet so I thought it would be fun to have a thread to talk about your cruising history, where you are from and what you do for a living. I'm going to list my past cruises but for many of you that might be difficult if you've been doing this for 20+ years and have over 100 cruises so maybe just say what your favorite cruise was if you like. I look forward to hearing your stories and getting to know everyone a little more! Anyways, enough babbling on my end...here's my cruise history... 1993, Nov 20 - Celebrity Zenith - can't find itinerary 1995, Jan 8 - Majesty of the Seas - 7 Night W Caribbean 1997, Jan 4 - Splendour of the Seas - 7 Night S Caribbean 1998, Jan 3 - Rhapsody of the Seas - 7 Night S Caribbean 1998, Dec 28 - Celebrity Horizon - can't find itinerary 2000, Jan 7 - Splendour of the Seas - 10 Night Circle the Caribbean 2005, Jan 6 - Carnival Celebration - Jam Cruise 3 2006, Jan 7 - MSC Lirica - Jam Cruise 4 2007, Jan 2 - MSC Opera - Jam Cruise 5 2012, Jan 9 - MSC Poesia - Jam Cruise 10 2016, Jan 6 - MSC Divinia - Jam Cruise 14 2019, Jan 15 - NCL Jade - Jam Cruise 17 Upcoming 2024, Aug 12 - NCL Jewel - 7 Night Alaska 2024, Nov 24 - Symphony of the Seas - 7 Night Caribbean 2025, Jul 7 - Voyager of the Seas - 7 Night Greek Isles JohnK6404 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAYNO Posted April 11 Report Share Posted April 11 I am relatively new to this cruise thing. Our first cruise was in 2016, and we just finished our 20th cruise. 19 were on Royal. Prior to that, I could not even imagine the cruise scene. I was completely uninterested. And now, I love it and could easily live aboard a ship. And if it's not evident, I am retired. Southern Dan, JohnK6404 and teddy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Dan Posted April 11 Author Report Share Posted April 11 What was your one non-Royal cruise and how was that experience? I cannot wait to retire...only 46 though so got another 16 years to go. Wife wants to retire when we are 55 but obviously we'll have to see how we are doing financially at that point. JohnK6404 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAYNO Posted April 11 Report Share Posted April 11 Just now, Southern Dan said: What was your one non-Royal cruise and how was that experience? I cannot wait to retire...only 46 though so got another 16 years to go. Wife wants to retire when we are 55 but obviously we'll have to see how we are doing financially at that point. Our one and only non-Royal cruise was aboard Norwegian Breakaway. A tremendous wonderful modern and beautiful ship, but it had no conventional promenade. The Promenade is my favorite place on a ship. Without the Promenade, there were just that many more bars. And that's fine too for the folks that prefer that. I'm just not one. I can already find plenty of bars to keep me happy. JohnK6404 and Southern Dan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasticbrain Posted April 11 Report Share Posted April 11 0! First one will be in July on Oasis Southern Dan and JohnK6404 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Dan Posted April 11 Author Report Share Posted April 11 3 minutes ago, Plasticbrain said: 0! First one will be in July on Oasis You picked a helluva first ship to go on! What ports will you be visiting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjweber3 Posted April 12 Report Share Posted April 12 Our cruises are in my signature block. I haven't counted in years. We're D+ on RC and Elite+ on Celebrity. Caught the bug 24 Februarys ago. Retired US military, retired contractor, current semiretired consultant. Southern Dan, JohnK6404 and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted April 12 Report Share Posted April 12 I had been on 4 cruises before we started cruising as a family in 2015. Big Red Boat, Norwegian, Carnival and RC. Since 2015, 14 cruises, 13 of them RC. 6 more on the docket between now and March 2026. Southern Dan, JohnK6404 and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted April 12 Report Share Posted April 12 I would say my current total is about 23 cruises. My first cruise was in 2012 on Carnival. I have done some river cruises in Europe, including one along the Nile. I am fairly young, 38, to have cruised as much as I have. I started sailing Royal in 2019 and I have been on 17 cruises since then, I have a B2B2B on Freedom in May that will bring me to 20, it will also be the first time I cruise during my birthday. I have 6 cruises scheduled after Freedom, including my first Alaskan cruise in Sept and a Celebrity cruise on the docket for 2025 that will probably get moved to 2026. JohnK6404, Southern Dan and WAYNO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted April 13 Report Share Posted April 13 I started cruising in 2007 when my mom got the cruise bug. We started with Carnival. After almost 10 cruises going to the same places over and over again I wanted a break from it and to get to use my time off for other things and other types of vacations. I did another cruise with a friend in 2011 on NCL through a casino offer. My mother and brother kept going after their Carnival stint and they tried other cruise lines and eventually ended up loyal to Royal. They lured me back to cruising in 2014 with an Alaska cruisetour which was on Radiance. From there they kept enticing me with itineraries that went to different places and then my mother decided to start spending my inheritance and sailing in the fancy cabins, so came along for the ride. My brother was involved with the Royal Caribbean Blog community and one of those next sailings happened to be on a RoyalCaribbeanBlog Group Cruise in 2018. I joined the message boards and had a good time on the cruise with the group and have only missed one group cruise since then. I also started taking up my mother's offer to sail with them as much as possible and I became loyal to Royal, with a couple of NCL diversions for music charters here and there. My mother and brother hit Pinnacle and "graduated" to trying out Celebrity, so I've taken one of those as well. I'm now at 37 sailings with Royal alone with most of those after the pandemic restart. I have 13 more scheduled through 2025. I do live in Florida, so a lot of those are short sailings since they work with my schedule better (less time off). I also have two NCL music charters coming up and another Celebrity sailing. I've now occupied myself with cruising as the only form of vacation. I end up traveling solo a lot and I'm super comfortable going alone on cruises so I stick with it. JohnK6404, WAAAYTOOO, Ampurp85 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasticbrain Posted April 13 Report Share Posted April 13 On 4/11/2024 at 10:28 PM, Southern Dan said: You picked a helluva first ship to go on! What ports will you be visiting? I hope it will be good! Starting in Barcelona, visiting Mallorca, Marseille, Florence/Pisa, Rome (Civitavecchia) and Naples. WAAAYTOOO, JohnK6404 and Southern Dan 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted April 13 Report Share Posted April 13 For my wife and I, next month's Icon sailing will be our 10th cruise (first with DCL, all others with Royal). With a little help from those double C&A points following the startup, we'll be Diamond after this next sailing. Only one more on the schedule for next year (Royal of course )... our first Mediterranean cruise (same itinerary as @Plasticbrain ! Trying to book at least one cruise per year. We can't sail nearly as much as we'd like to due to the usual factors including my wife's limited time off since changing employers. We've got some time before retirement (10-15 years), but the current plan is to relocate possibly to Florida to be closer to our good friends and all of the ports, parks, etc. Plasticbrain and Southern Dan 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cakemeister Posted April 14 Report Share Posted April 14 18, 15 on Royal. 14 out of the 15 out of Galveston. WAYNO and Southern Dan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBryant Posted April 15 Report Share Posted April 15 28 cruises with Royal, 3 with Carnival and 1 on the Dolphin IV on a cruise line that no longer exists. All of them out of FL! We have 1 scheduled for May on Wonder. Southern Dan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Cooper Posted April 18 Report Share Posted April 18 Our next cruise on Symphony in October will be our tenth. They'll probably be a once a year type of vacation for us going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted April 19 Report Share Posted April 19 21 hours ago, DB Cooper said: Our next cruise on Symphony in October will be our tenth. They'll probably be a once a year type of vacation for us going forward. Do you board the ships using the gangway or do you parachute onto the pool deck from a Boeing 727 with bundles of cash strapped to you? smokeybandit and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Cooper Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago Sorry I am a noob and can't figure out the quote function. But I do always wear my cool shades when I go on a cruise. WAAAYTOOO and Southern Dan 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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