My mother's was in 1983, on BRITANIS. They were in the cheap seats (inside upper/lower, painted steel bathroom, etc.), my mother got incredibly seasick, and was not very keen on taking cruises after that. She did not step foot aboard another cruise ship until HORIZON which my father and our friend who was a Chandris executive at the time convinced her would be different. (It was, and she didn't get seasick thanks to the "patch" - she was just nearly blind instead. Nowadays she uses sea-bands which seem to work for her and have no side effects of course.)

My father's first cruise was in 1963, on THE VICTORIA (this was way before Chandris owned her, she was an Incres ship at the time). This was a result of my grandparents having taken a cruise on NIEUW AMSTERDAM (the 1938 version, or "The GREAT NIEUW AMSTERDAM" as she is often known) in 1960, sans children. My grandfather insists (probably correctly) that the cruise industry has been going downhill ever since. Anyhow, back to my father's first cruise - Kennedy was assassinated either right before the cruise or during the first day or two - my grandfather still has slides of the Liberian flag flying at half-staff over her stern. We still have the daily programs and menus somewhere. The menus are quite a hoot to read - it was real haute cuisine, 1963 style.

[ 07-21-2003: Message edited by: cruiseny ]

[ 07-21-2003: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

Our Chief Purser was a holy terror on the newspaper, primarily in getting it out early for distribution to each passenger cabin. There were four of us Jr Pursers who each had responsibility for one page. I had dutifully completed my page along with the others (We got our news from the radio officers by morse code, had to type each page completely on Gestetner sheets, and then run them off on APL newspaper stock.) and the front page was a rather boring report that President Kennedy had arrived in Dallas for a political day.

Our Chief Purser called down in the morning frantically asking if the paper was out yet and we told him rather sarcastically that "of course, they are already with the bell boys to deliver." He told us to get them back, the the President had been shot. We really thought (as many did at the time) that that was a really bad joke and he was hassling us the day before arrival. Radio on, we found out so differently.

The paper was quite late that day, quite changed as to front page and also activities page and it was a very somber day on board on the day usually reserved for prearrival dinner and entertainment and a sad and quiet arrival in San Francisco the next day, the 24th.

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
My dad's first cruise was somewhere in the late 70's/early 80's. He was working onboard some cargo/passenger ship.

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Not exactly a cruise...

The ships had originally been built for Delta Lines, entering service in 1940 as the Delargentina and Delbrasil respectively. During World War II they served as troop carriers. After the war they were laid up and then acquired by Farrell Lines to replace tonnage lost in the war. In Farrell Lines service they originally carried 80 passengers but this was increased to 102 in 1951/2. They were listed as 7,977 GRT, length 468 feet, beam 66 feet.

In 1955 my father was sent by his company to run their South African subsidiary. The company booked the passage. My parents were in one double cabin on the port side, my 2 younger sisters were in an adjoining double and my brother and I had a double on the starboard side. All cabins were outside.

We sailed from Brooklyn, NY on August 10. We did not see land again until August 21 when we passed Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. About 3 miles south of Ascension Island we passed the African Endeavor which was bound for New York.

On August 23 we stopped at St. Helena for a few hours. This was our only port of call before Cape Town. My dad hired a cab in Jamestown and the 6 of us were driven to see the island's 2 most famous historical sites: Napoleon's original gravesite and Longwood House where Napoleon spent the last 6 years of his life.

On August 28, we arrived in Cape Town where the ship stayed overnight. The next day we sailed for Port Elizabeth, arriving on the afternoon of the 30th.
We lay at anchor in Algoa bay for 5 days before getting a berth. For the first 2 days noone could go ashore, but after numerous complaints from the passengers, the captain assigned a life boat to be used as a ship to shore tender.

On the Saturday evening (Sept 3) the chief engineer took some of my family on a tour of Union Castle's Arundel Castle which was still 3 years away from retirement. We all found this old ship to be somewhat drabby compared to the African Enterprise.

We finally left Port Elizabeth on Sept 5 and called at East London on the 6th and arrived in Durban on Sept 7 where we diembarked. It had been 28 days since we left New York.

On board we "kids" ate in a separate section of the dining room while the adults ate with the officers, but unlike many other ships we "kids" had the same menus. The food was excellent.

This voyage was responsible for my lifelong love of sea travel and also explains why I prefer transatlantic to cruising (because of the lack of ports of call).

Brian

[ 07-22-2003: Message edited by: Brian_O ]

I am constantly fascinated by RMS ST. HELENA and her voyages. And (this REALLY impresses me) they have REAL deck plans - TO SCALE with the layouts drawn in etc. I didn't think anyone had made those since Sitmar in the 1980s... But lo and behold, one day in my mailbox I got a fantastic surprise - bona fide, brand new deck plans that were everything a deck plan junkie like myself, long deprived of decent deck plans, could want!

I only know of one person who's been on RMS... OK, there's another I think is on her right now. I have never, ever read a "review" of her, never an article in a travel magazine, nothing on the whole wide web except for this one person (who was a crew member - I don't know if he'd even been on her as a passenger, and furthermore was a crew member on the PREVIOUS vessel!). But nevertheless it's just such a fascinating, tantalizing, time-warp proposition... A real Royal Mail Ship, on a REAL line voyage, and far more a "mode of transportation" than QE2 as it is the ONLY way to get to St. Helena - and from what I understand, the St. Helenians like it that way! It must be a really fascinating way to get from the UK to South Africa... And St. Helena must be an interesting place to tick off as having been there, though just what you'd do there for any length of time is beyond me. It sounds very quaint though. The whole proposition is a very quaint one! My first RMS brochure was quaint, too, but the latest one is decidedly glossier and more "cruise"-ish lookng... But nonetheless they still can't avoid quaint terms here and there, simply because of the nature of the whole thing!

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Originally posted by cruiseny:
Now Brian... Have you ever been back to St. Helena?

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No, but I have been to Corsica to see Napoleon's place of birth (Maison Bonaparte at 24 Rue St. Charles in Ajaccio). I was there on October 11, 1984

Yes. St. Helena is hard to get to these days, but not as hard as Tristan Da Cuhna. Once a year, RMS St. Helena calls at Tristan, so you could visit both on the same voyage if (and it is a BIG if) you can get a booking. Preference is given to those who NEED to get there, so there might not be space for someone who only WANTS to get there.

There was an article about a voyage on the current RMS St. Helena a few years ago in either Ships Monthly or Sea Breezes. There was also a BBC-produced special that was shown on PBS about a trip on the first RMS St. Helena to both St. Helena and Tristan Da Cuhna back in the late 80's or early 90's.

[ 07-22-2003: Message edited by: Brian_O ]

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The paper was quite late that day, quite changed as to front page...

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Welcome to my world, nevadaflip! When there is big news happening, there's no better place to be than a newsroom.

My first cruise was as a schoolboy on the SS Uganda. All in dormitories but travelling abroad for the first time, a memorable experience.

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Cruiseny said:
Not exactly a cruise...

I'd be interested to hear more about that - what ship, etc.?

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Originally posted by Keitaro:
I would like to hear more too.

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I recall that there was a group of American tourists aboard and as a sign of Soviet-American friendship an American young woman was crowned Miss Cruise. I miss those classy competitions aboard cruise ships.

The ports of call were fascinating to me. To this day I believe that the Crimea is one of the most beautiful and under-represented / under-marketed cruising regions in the world. I would strongly advise anyone to visit it for a change from the “tired” usual Mediterranean ports.

[ 07-25-2003: Message edited by: Thad ]

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nevadaflip wrote:

I also was on a ship, the PRESIDENT WILSON,

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My father was a bartender on the Wilson from early to mid 60's to early 70's. While there he met my mother and they have been married ever since.

My first cruise was with my mom (dad refused cruising until about 1989, said he was tired of ships) in August of 1980, Sitmar Cruises, TSS Fairsky, in the Caribbean.

My memories include the 4 channel "radio" in our inside stateroom, the pizzaria where I would walk in myself and order my own pizza (that was a big deal for me...I was 10)and the midnight buffets that were every night, not just one like nowadays.

While I was in the kids center, one of the activities was to write messages and place them in empty wine bottles (taken from the bars the night before)and throw them overboard. That was fun, there was about 50 of us throwing bottles off the side. It was so much fun I asked for an empty bottle the next three days and sent more messages overboard.

[ 08-10-2003: Message edited by: MagnmPI ]

Interesting about the bottles in the water. Did you ever get any replies?

I probably knew your father as we Jr Pursers did spend a bit of time at the bar!