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First Royal Caribbean cruise story


Matt

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For the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, we're going to be asking our listeners to share their stories about their first Royal Caribbean cruise and I wanted to extend that invitation here.  

 

Please share with us the details of your first Royal Caribbean cruise vacation, including which ship it was, which itinerary, why you chose Royal Caribbean and your experience (briefly).

 

Looking forward to reading everyone's responses and we may read them on the podcast too!

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Our first RCI cruise was the Majesty 4 night out of Miami.  It was something I had always wanted to do but my husband was leery because he thought he would be bored.  By the time we got off the ship, we were already planning our next trip (Bermuda) and another one that we would take the family.  These days, when I talk a new person into giving it a try, We book a short Majesty trip and get them hooked as well.  DH and I go on the longer trips for ourselves but I don't mind planning a shortie in between.

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My first cruise was in 2005 on Explorer of the Seas. I didn't know anything about cruising, wasn't a member of cruise critic, had never seen photos of the ship, deck plans or anything. I do a fair amount of planning, now, but when I first sailed I didn't plan anything, we just got on and went with the flow. And I will have to tell you it was an amazing experience, obviously, since I'm still cruising nearly 10 years later.

 

As I said before, I do plan things more now, but I don't over plan. I've been a member of cruise critic since 2005, and have read many posts about people planning every single detail of every minute of the day, and honestly, I think that is silly. It is a vacation after all, and yes some planning is involved, but not required, so just have fun with it. If you do too much it ends of feeling less like a vacation and more like work!

 

My advice for first time cruisers or newly repeat cruisers is to go with no expectations and just know that you're going to have a great time. Otherwise depending on your comfort level you might be disappointed. Treat the staff with respect and they will do the same to you.

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Dire emergency on Song of America out of Cozumel -- cruise aborted, limped back to Miami; so why is that memorable? Unbelievable Staff & Crew emergency response & management, and fantastic recovery for a fun filled trip back to Miami, albiet listing rather badly under one engine power. Early back in port = no dock space, no problem, drop anchor off-shore and party for two days with great Miami sky line view & flotila of local boaters checking us out. Just another RCCL (at the time) basic success story -- Staff & Crew excelled with front face like nothing happened! Been a RCL fan ever since.

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Majesty of the Seas. 4-Night Bahamas in June 2002. What hooked me was the Viking Crown Lounge. From the time I was a child, I always enjoyed watching. People-watching, animal-watching. Just sitting alone. But, as a child, I was banned from being unaccompanied in many good "watching" spots.

 

Enter Royal Caribbean's Viking Crown Lounge. I could walk up there on my own, and sit for hours without being bothered OR kicked out for being an unaccompanied minor. I'd order virgin Pina Coladas, and the bartenders adored me--would always randomly bring me pretzels and peanuts, etc. I was hooked--at the age of 13.

 

I still have a soft spot in my heart for Majesty. May hop back on-board in December.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 years later...

Our first was the Adventure of the Seas when she was brand new. We loved it so much we booked the alternate itenerary right away. We fell in love with cruising. We have cruise number 26 coming up in a few weeks. 20 of them have been on RCCL. We have one booked in December too on the Allure  

 

We’ve celebrated so many life events on board but my favorite was my parents 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated on the Independence with 17 family members. So many memories ?

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My first Royal Caribbean cruise was on the Viking Serenade in 1994. I was looking to go on a trip to propose to my now wife and was thinking of going to San Francisco. However, while waiting in the travel agent's office, noticed a last-minute fare offer for the upcoming cruise. Having grown up on The Love Boat, a cruise was always a form of travel that I had wanted to try. Knowing nothing about cruising, I booked the Viking Serenade and were sailing a couple of weeks later. At the time, I did not know about the different types of room, preferred locations, etc., so we ended up with a guarantee that placed us in a 90 square foot cabin that had twin bunks. While it was the smallest cabin I have ever experienced on a cruise, it was still a fabulous trip with wonderful service, wood and brass fixture, and great food. Unfortunately, the morning that we sailed was the same day as the devastating Northridge Earthquake, so I had actually thought that the cruise might be canceled. Fortunately, San Padro did not sustain significant damage nor did the freeways in the area, so the cruise departed as planned and the next day I proposed to my wife on Catalina Island.

Having loved Royal Caribbean so much, we wanted to honeymoon on a cruise, too, but wanted to do so on a "mega ship" (about 80,000 GRT at the time). Unfortunately, our TA recommended a Carnival cruise for us, not listening to all of the reasons why we liked our Royal Caribbean cruise. However, it was a horrible experience and paled in comparison, bringing us back to Royal Caribbean time and time again. It was also on a Royal Caribbean cruise (Legend of the Seas out of Tampa) where we came to the decision that it was time to start a family and now my son has been on a number of Royal Caribbean cruises and we have taken twice as many cruises since having a child as we did before having a child.

Kris

P.S. I'm an educator with a Ph.D. (pile higher and deeper), so I don't know what "brief" means. ;)

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We first took a Royal Caribbean cruise on Explorer from Port Bayonne in March 2009. We had previously been on a Carnival cruise from Los Angeles some 9 years before and it was such a bad experience that it nearly put us off cruising for life. However, we wanted to visit New York and also go to the Caribbean as a 50th birthday celebration (for Sue, my wife). As it transpired, the best way to achieve both objectives was to take a cruise, so we took a chance - but not on Carnival!

It was brilliant. We had managed to get an Owners Suite (without really knowing what that was) at a very good price and everything, apart from the transfer from the hotel to the ship at the beginning, was just fantastic. It set the pattern for the future and we have now taken 24 cruises with Royal Caribbean. Strangely, despite having been on newer and bigger ships, we still have a soft spot for Explorer, so it will be great to welcome her back to the UK next year.

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Love this blast from the past!

Our first RC cruise (and first cruise ever) was on Adventure of the Seas in 2002. We were looking at St. Lucia as a honeymoon destination but the cost of throwing a wedding with 300+ guests and having getting married young with hardly any money, well this made St. Lucia pretty out of reach.

Our TA at the time suggested that we try out a Southern Caribbean cruise that had St. Lucia as a port of call. She thought we would love RC's Adventure of Seas because it was a new ship at the time and it had a "younger demographic" like us, but not "tacky" like Carnival. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the cost of the cruise and airfare to San Juan was about half the cost of travelling to St. Lucia. So off we went, total newbies, knew nothing about cruising or RCI and we completely fell in love ? 

This July will be our 12th cruise (not all RCI, wandered a bit for different reasons) and we're celebrating our 16th anniversary.  We try to sail every year near or on our anniversary.  Wish we could cruise more often but work schedules and travel distance to a port prevent us from doing so. Still love the RCI product although things have changed a bit. Looking forward to many more years with Royal. 

I'm teacher too so I don't know the definition of "brief" either ?

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Our first cruise was on the three month old Majesty of the Seas in August 1992.  It was our honeymoon and we wanted to do something special, but wasn't sure what.  We visited a travel agent who suggested we try a cruise, that it's perfect for honeymooners.  Not sure how we picked Majesty over any other ship or cruise line, it may have been as simple as she left on the right day.  I remember getting picked up at our hotel at 5:45 am for the ride to the airport, flying to Florida the day of the cruise.  Majesty was huge, still smelled new.  It was an amazing trip and we were instantly hooked on cruising.  We had an inside cabin and had no idea what we were missing by not being able to see the ocean.  The entertainment was fantastic; the Fifth Dimension performed one night, and Jerry Van Dyke was our headliner.  We were so excited to sit near him and his wife one day in the dining room.  We were very impressed by the nightly midnight buffet, the towel animals and the big honeymooners party the ship threw for the group.  We made friends with the strangers we were seated with at dinner, all much older than us, and exchanged addresses so we could keep in touch after the cruise.  We did exchange holiday cards for quite a few years with them.  By the end of the week, we were thinking about where we wanted to cruise for our one year anniversary. Over twenty-five years later...cruising has changed dramatically but at the same time has changed so little.  We still love it and will continue to cruise for as long as we can. 

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First cruise was on Oasis of the seas, we took the Eastern Caribbean mainly because that was one of the only ones that departed at the time that we needed because we were on a very tight schedule.  

Main reason we chose RCCL was because the wife had several bad experiences with another cruise line and she simply refused to sail that line again!  We both are glad that she  did after the first few days!  We both work in healthcare and and worked right up until we left for the cruise.  When we got onboard we were exhausted but felt the stress begin to melt away the minute we got onboard!  We were amazed at the "Wow" factor and our jaws hit the floor the minute we got onboard and saw how amazing and beautiful the ship was!  The service that we received as well as the wonderful time that we had are the reasons that we remain loyal to Royal and can not wait for our next cruise on June 22! 

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