princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Just returned from the Mediterranean cruise on the RotS and it was great!! One of the most memorable times during the cruise was when Eric Lopez, Activities Director/Manager, joined a bunch of us for a while reminiscing the first cruise everyone has taken. What flashbcks!! My first cruise ever was on the Pacific Princess during those Love Boat years. Now, my first Royal Caribbean cruise was on the Song of Norway after her expansion and she was gorgeous during her time, even though she was a small ship. Can anyone else remeber their first cruise whether it was Royal Caribbean or not? Interesting to see whom else could remember such found memories!! ellcee, Skid and Sweety 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skid Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 13 minutes ago, princevaliantus said: Just returned from the Mediterranean cruise on the RotS and it was great!! One of the most memorable times during the cruise was when Eric Lopez, Activities Director/Manager, joined a bunch of us for a while reminiscing the first cruise everyone has taken. What flashbacks!! My first cruise ever was on the Pacific Princess during those Love Boat years. Now, my first Royal Caribbean cruise was on the Song of Norway after her expansion and she was gorgeous during her time, even though she was a small ship. Can anyone else remember their first cruise whether it was Royal Caribbean or not? Interesting to see whom else could remember such found memories!! What a fun topic/post! It really made me laugh because we actually watch Love Boat on a local cable station here. Gotta love the short shorts on the crew! The best line to me was when Capt. Steubing said "I am responsible for 600 people!" Haha---the crew alone is triple that now. Anyway, back to your question. First cruise was a 2 night/3 day cruise to nowhere on Carnival--forgot the ship name. Went from New York City to Atlantic City NJ and back. It was a test to see if we'd like cruising and we did. Next up was another Carnival cruise on Glory. Suffice it to say it was HORRIBLE. Wrote them a letter and their answer was basically "too bad, so sad". Not even an apology for the multiple issues. Anyway, then switched to Royal and never looked back. Next up, unless we book something in between, is Symphony in May. Thanks again for a fun post! princevaliantus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 My first cruise was on Grandeur. I was on the ship with my Mom. It was a graduation from college cruise. The memories flood me every time I get on the Lady G. I will be back on her in 18 days with my parents, husband, brother, niece and nephew. I also will be getting my third block. Boston Babe, OurTimetoCruise1128 and princevaliantus 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 21 minutes ago, Sweety said: My first cruise was on Grandeur. I was on the ship with my Mom. It was a graduation from college cruise. The memories flood me every time I get on the Lady G. I will be back on her in 18 days with my parents, husband, brother, niece and nephew. I also will be getting my third block. Wow !! This is awesome!! Sweety 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGTLH Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 For me my first cruise ever was on Carnival Inspiration in December of 2005 sailing into 2006. It was a change of plans for celebrating my 21st birthday, original plan was going to Biloxi. As you could imagine, the orginal plan was washed away... Sailed out of Tampa with Cozumel being the only port. Not knowing any better and now looking back, it was an interesting experience tendering in Cozumel. The fond memory, the "worm" ceiling. Other fun memory was seeing everyone trying to get that first bit of cell signal as we got close to the coast the wee hours of the final night/morning. Sweety 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 My first cruise ever was on the Disney Wonder back in 2004 for our honeymoon. Needless to say, my wife and I caught the bug on that cruise. Our first cruise on RC was back in 2010 on the Majesty of the Seas. My employer chartered the ship for our big annual recognition event/trip (Fortune 100 company) which I was so lucky to win/earn. That started our love for RC! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Our first cruise was on Navigator of the Seas in November 2009. We had a great time, but, I wish I had this site back then to better prepare for the trip. Being inexperienced newbies, we were so concerned about additional charges that we missed out on a lot of extras that we had no idea were included. Live & learn. We've been making up for what we missed out on our subsequent cruises! 236 days until we depart for San Juan! 237 days until we depart San Juan on Freedom OTS! princevaliantus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 7 hours ago, CGTLH said: For me my first cruise ever was on Carnival Inspiration in December of 2005 sailing into 2006. It was a change of plans for celebrating my 21st birthday, original plan was going to Biloxi. As you could imagine, the orginal plan was washed away... Sailed out of Tampa with Cozumel being the only port. Not knowing any better and now looking back, it was an interesting experience tendering in Cozumel. The fond memory, the "worm" ceiling. Other fun memory was seeing everyone trying to get that first bit of cell signal as we got close to the coast the wee hours of the final night/morning. Look at all those deserts! 30 mins extra at the gym !! monctonguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said: My first cruise ever was on the Disney Wonder back in 2004 for our honeymoon. Needless to say, my wife and I caught the bug on that cruise. Our first cruise on RC was back in 2010 on the Majesty of the Seas. My employer chartered the ship for our big annual recognition event/trip (Fortune 100 company) which I was so lucky to win/earn. That started our love for RC! Your boss chartered the ship? I bet he's your best friend now !! ☺ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitsmom Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Our first was in 1993 on the Majesty! It was our first and only inside cabin. Our daughter was 15 and didn't want to sleep on the "wall bed" as she called it, so Daddy got to sleep up there! Our cabin steward thought she slept up there and left her two chocolates on the pillow every night. We also would laugh and say that we had to go outside our room to change our mind because our room was so tiny! One night we had some rough waves and it was late so we were booking also. As we were walking down the hall back to our cabin, we couldn't even walk straight for the rough seas and it almost looked like we were staggering (to which my 15 year old said - "People will think I'm drunk!) To make it even crazier, we had just moved into our new home just 3 weeks prior. Needless to say, we were ready for some R&R! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Umm, my first was 2 months ago, on Freedom. I might have written something about it here, can't really remember. ellcee, twangster, Lovetocruise2002 and 3 others 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 My first proper cruise was on the Radisson Diamond, the first and only SWATH cruise ship in the world. At 18,500 tons and 350 passengers it seemed pretty big to me! We brought our own beer and wine boarding in San Juan. Our cooler tipped over going through the X-Ray machine covering the belt in ice cold water. Security didn't say a word. Lilly Tomlin was the comedian. She is now a gambling ship in China (Hong Kong) now and you can see here on the Apple TV screen saver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCdiGmNlp1I and at night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU2LQmFgSAE Going back farther to the late 80's I was on the Disko, a cargo ship converted to a passenger ship. At 2,100 tons she was small. Passengers bunks were in the former cargo holds at the very front. We cruised down Sonderstom Fjord in Greenland which was breath taking. A lot of my friends drank and drank (I didn't have that much). Once we hit the North Atlantic having left the narrow fjord where it was smooth, the open North Atlantic was rough. Very rough. It was so rough that my head was lifted of my pillow and was thrown back down into the bed as we rode over every wave. I couldn't sleep all night. I was very glad I had limited my consumption. My friends not so much and the combination of alcohol and sea sickness made them all turn very pale. http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=838706 First Royal Caribbean cruise was on the Oasis of the Seas. Prior to Oasis I had sailed Carnival, Disney and NCL. Since Oasis I've been Loyal2Royal. Boston Babe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boston Babe Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 I"m dating myself, my first cruse was the original Holland America Rotterdam, sailed o her twice. My first RC cruise was Song of Norway! The Viking Crown Lounge was the place to be! and all I remember is that we were at Carlos and Charlies in Cozumel and were some of the original dock runners to make it back in time before we missed the Ship! (no drinking was involved at all! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOnTheRun Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Our first cruise was on the Monarch of the Seas in 2005. It was a 4 night cruise from Long Beach, CA to Baja, Mexico. We had driven from San Diego to Las Vegas to drop our youngest child off with family and were heading to the Long Beach port the day of the cruise. We got lost and were cutting it super close to time of departure. When we finally got there, the rep checking us in, asked where my husbands birth certificate was. I had grabbed our youngest child's birth certificate instead of my husbands. (the child we dropped off in Las Vegas) The rep was awesome, asked some questions, and my husband was able to use his military id instead of the birth certificate. First thing I did once on board... had a drink! We had a great time! Our two older kids (10 & 14) loved it and ditched us quickly. On the last night the party was on the pool deck - one of our favorite memories is dancing under the stars! OurTimetoCruise1128 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWhoWaits Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 1998 - Song of America - New York to Bermuda Those were the days - docking in Bermuda meant being right downtown in St. George's (one night) and in Hamilton (two nights). Beach day at Tobacco Bay meant either a five minute bus ride ($1 per person) and two minute walk or a fifteen minute walk if you didn't mind the hills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Love this. Carnival Miracle in 2007. Friends and family. 30 somethings to 60 somethings. We ran into neighbors who were a blast so it was so much fun. It was my birthday and my cousin told one of the Caribbean bands...knowing I'd flip out (I usually don't like any attention). They tried to make me get onto the dance floor. I fled. The band must have had a song for this because immediately it became "She runnin' she runnin' she runnin' away, Why you run away, Liiiiiiiiisa". Mortfication to the max. I loved it though. Next day we walk by the band - my friend missed the original performance and when I tried to go a different way she told me I was being silly and there was no way they'd remember me as we hear, "LISA, WHY YOU RUN AWAY?". A ridiculous amount of fun. princevaliantus, Boston Babe and whitsmom 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny260 Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 1995, NCL Sea or Seaward, left out of San Juan, 7 day Eastern Caribbean, it was 6 stops and 1 sea day, flew down the day of the cruise, got in so late that we had a police escort from the airport to the dock (Big bus load of people, not just us). I remember the midnight buffet the most, had a blast the whole week. Took 1 more NCL cruise, 1 Princess and have been loyal to Royal since. Boston Babe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 7 hours ago, princevaliantus said: Your boss chartered the ship? I bet he's your best friend now !! ☺ The corporation charters the ship... not my actual local boss... LOL! They must have a business relationship, like other large corporations I’m sure, with RC since the recognition trips (for my department which is nationwide, not just local) every 2-3 years tend to be a cruise on an RC ship... usually a smaller vessel since they book the ship for around 2,000+ employees, guests, and representative local and corporate leadership across the country. The other years in-between they do destinations like WDW, etc. I wish RC would offer a discount for us for personal travel... no such luck! princevaliantus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnUK Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Great idea for a topic. I have really enjoyed reading of other people's experiences. For us, our first cruise was a 4 night cruise on Carnival Ecstasy. We paid, what seemed at the time, an extravagant amount of money, to upgrade to an ocean view room. I think they put us into a broom cupboard by mistake! The port hole was small and we had to kneel on one of the twin beds (they couldn't put the beds together for us) in order to see out of it. The TV was mounted high up in one corner, virtually guaranteeing a pain in the neck. Disembarkation was an absolute nightmare; we were held on deck for hours under the heat of the LA sun, with no restrooms in service, and no refreshments. We then flew back to the UK and both of us were ill for the next couple of days. It was, in short, a disaster. We were put off cruising for the next 9 years until, almost on a whim, I booked the Explorer of the Seas in 2009, as a way of celebrating my wife's 50th birthday - mostly because it was sailing out of Port Bayonne and my wife had always wanted to see New York. Anyhow, without knowing any better (or the significance) we booked an Owners Suite. I was booking by price and I think the £/$ exchange rate was good at the time. Suffice to say, we were blown away when we entered our stateroom - all of that space, just for us! We had a superb cruise down to the Caribbean, which was a new experience for us, and we fell in love both with the destination and cruising. We haven't looked back since then (apart from reminiscing on happy memories). Boston Babe and OurTimetoCruise1128 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 48 minutes ago, JohnUK said: Great idea for a topic. I have really enjoyed reading of other people's experiences. For us, our first cruise was a 4 night cruise on Carnival Ecstasy. We paid, what seemed at the time, an extravagant amount of money, to upgrade to an ocean view room. I think they put us into a broom cupboard by mistake! The port hole was small and we had to kneel on one of the twin beds (they couldn't put the beds together for us) in order to see out of it. The TV was mounted high up in one corner, virtually guaranteeing a pain in the neck. Disembarkation was an absolute nightmare; we were held on deck for hours under the heat of the LA sun, with no restrooms in service, and no refreshments. We then flew back to the UK and both of us were ill for the next couple of days. It was, in short, a disaster. We were put off cruising for the next 9 years until, almost on a whim, I booked the Explorer of the Seas in 2009, as a way of celebrating my wife's 50th birthday - mostly because it was sailing out of Port Bayonne and my wife had always wanted to see New York. Anyhow, without knowing any better (or the significance) we booked an Owners Suite. I was booking by price and I think the £/$ exchange rate was good at the time. Suffice to say, we were blown away when we entered our stateroom - all of that space, just for us! We had a superb cruise down to the Caribbean, which was a new experience for us, and we fell in love both with the destination and cruising. We haven't looked back since then (apart from reminiscing on happy memories). I agree 100% about reading all the interesting experiences!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirktheCat Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Great topic and ear worm! My first cruise was on Majesty of the Seas out of San Juan in 1999. We visited Aruba, Curaçao, Antigua (as a replacement for St. Maarten, which was too damaged from a hurricane to receive visitors) and St. John. In St. John, it was so windy that all the excursions were cancelled, except ours...a helicopter ride around the island. Apparently, you need wind to fly a helicopter. It was amazing, and scary at the same time. Since then, we’ve had our 2 daughters, and it’s time to get back into cruising. All four of us will be on Allure in August. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 3 hours ago, tiny260 said: 1995, NCL Sea or Seaward, left out of San Juan, 7 day Eastern Caribbean, it was 6 stops and 1 sea day, flew down the day of the cruise, got in so late that we had a police escort from the airport to the dock (Big bus load of people, not just us). I remember the midnight buffet the most, had a blast the whole week. Took 1 more NCL cruise, 1 Princess and have been loyal to Royal since. NCL still has that midnight chocolate extravaganza ?? Used to make me nauseus just smelling it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn T. Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Love this thread! Our first cruise was 3-night on the Disney Wonder, October 2002. Our kids were 5 and 8 at the time, and we loved it! Our first Royal cruise, also with the kids, was on the Freedom, July 2010. The kids have been on Oasis with us twice since then, each for high school graduation. We don't bring the kids with us any longer. princevaliantus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
June May Posted June 5, 2018 Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 First - and only - cruise was on Independence of the Seas, 7 night Western Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. Ex-husband and I were doing a "trip of a lifetime" because I'd come into some money from my mother's estate. The cruise was a bit of a splurge item after seeing a show (not even about RCI) on TLC about cruising. Chose the cruise because I wanted specifically to go to the Mayan site at Cozumel and that didn't disappoint - it will be one of my forever memories. That being said, the ex was generally a surly wet blanket most of the cruise (most of the whole trip) so for my next milestone birthday in 2022, I'm celebrating ditching the ex and planning on going back to Fort Lauderdale and doing another Western Caribbean cruise so I can truly enjoy it! Stretch goal - doing B2B and taking in the Eastern Caribbean as well. In the meantime, I've got Explorer of the Seas booked for March next year (South Pacific) and Ovation of the Seas in February 2020 (New Zealand). ellcee, Floski, JLMoran and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 4 hours ago, June May said: First - and only - cruise was on Independence of the Seas, 7 night Western Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. Ex-husband and I were doing a "trip of a lifetime" because I'd come into some money from my mother's estate. The cruise was a bit of a splurge item after seeing a show (not even about RCI) on TLC about cruising. Chose the cruise because I wanted specifically to go to the Mayan site at Cozumel and that didn't disappoint - it will be one of my forever memories. That being said, the ex was generally a surly wet blanket most of the cruise (most of the whole trip) so for my next milestone birthday in 2022, I'm celebrating ditching the ex and planning on going back to Fort Lauderdale and doing another Western Caribbean cruise so I can truly enjoy it! Stretch goal - doing B2B and taking in the Eastern Caribbean as well. In the meantime, I've got Explorer of the Seas booked for March next year (South Pacific) and Ovation of the Seas in February 2020 (New Zealand). Love it !! Time to really start living and let nothing stop you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLA Posted June 5, 2018 Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 My first cruise was a 5 night cruise on the Liberty of the Seas with my in laws (long before they were my in-laws) in 2015. ... then I became obsessed and now they think I'm crazy. I've been on 10 cruises since! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny260 Posted June 5, 2018 Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 16 hours ago, princevaliantus said: NCL still has that midnight chocolate extravaganza ?? Used to make me nauseus just smelling it ! Did you see the guys post about the MSC Seaside? Something about a chocolate fountain in the atrium, he said that was the only thing you could smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted June 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 1 hour ago, tiny260 said: Did you see the guys post about the MSC Seaside? Something about a chocolate fountain in the atrium, he said that was the only thing you could smell. That will definitely make me sick!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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