Our First Cruise
Ship: RCL Nordic Empress Date: July 1992 Ports: Miami FL, Nassau Bahamas, Freeport Bahamas, Miami
Our bug for traveling hit as soon as we were married. I had gone on my first cruise in 1987 during my Senior Year of High School. And then when we became engaged I knew a cruise is what I wanted to do for our Honeymoon. So we saved our pennies and were able to spend our Honeymoon on a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas. And what a first cruise it was!
We were booked on Royal Caribbean’s Nordic Empress. In order to afford the cruise, our travel agent scored us a ‘great deal’ as she called it. She booked us as part of a ‘group’, but assured us that we didn’t have to participate in the group. We didn’t know any better and were just excited to be spending our honeymoon on a cruise!
Our plans were to fly out early Monday morning and catch the ship in Miami that afternoon. But as we were taking off, our plane blew an exhaust hose and filled the cabin with smoke. Everyone was somewhat calm until the flight attendant came running down the aisle screaming ‘We need another fire extinguisher’! The takeoff was aborted and our plane had to be towed back to the terminal. There were some minor burn injuries but nothing serious. But we had to wait while a new plane had to be flown in. As a perk, they did give us free drinks once we boarded – which was much needed.
We finally took off and landed in Miami with no issues. I’ll always remember the gentleman sitting next to me on that flight though. He was obviously someone who had flown often but when we finally landed in Miami it was a rather hard landing and he jumped and grabbed my hand that was on the chair arm. We both smiled and he then gave me a key chain with a crystal ball on it to remember the experience. I kept that keychain for years until it finally broke.
However, our little mechanical issue caused us to be over 2hrs late arriving in Miami. Luckily we were not the only cruise passengers AND our airfare had been booked through the cruise ship – so they waited on us. It was a running joke through the week that we were the ones that held up the ship.
Once we boarded, our first dinner with our ‘group’ tablemates was quite the surprise. We quickly learned that our travel agent had booked us as part of a ‘Singles Group’. So these 20-something newlyweds would be spending our honeymoon dining with a group of middle-aged divorcees. They were wonderful and kind and we all got a good laugh out of it all. They also were eager to give us great advice – although since they were all divorced I made a point to not really pay attention. They included us in their daily ‘group’ newsletter if we wanted to join, but we had…um…other things to do.
Our cabin. Oh, our lovely little cabin. Our closet-sized interior room was right next to the anchor which served as our wake-up call every morning when we arrived at the port. I can still hear the chain falling and the big splash that woke up us early in the mornings.
I believe our ports were Nassau, Freeport and maybe a private Coco Kay before it became a Perfect Day. But honestly, I don’t remember.
Despite all that – we were both bitten by the cruising bug and haven’t stopped yet.
We’ve now completed over 17+ cruises all around the Caribbean and are beginning to explorer longer and more adventurous cruises. After our daughter’s successful venture of blogging her travels around the world, we thought now would be the perfect time to start our own blog of our travels.
We’re glad you’ve decided to join us as we document our travel journeys