We met a nice young couple — distant cousins, actually — a few days ago and in the course of conversation heard the story of three cruising rookies: Mom, Dad and six-year-old son. They were recruited for their maiden voyage last year by friends who also had a six-year-old and, frankly, they didn’t really know what to expect.
They were blown away.
It happened that their ship of choice (make that their friends’ ship of choice) was the Norwegian Star, and the cruise was down the Pacific Coast. On the surface, they wouldn’t know the Star from the Oasis of the Seas, unless somebody (like their distant cousins) told them the NCL ship was a peanut compared to the biggest cruise ship in the world.
They loved the kids’ program. They loved the food. They loved the atmosphere. In short, they loved the experience.
There were a few small “n” negatives. Paying for soda pop was a surprise, although none of them is much for sodas anyway. The kids’ pool could have been bigger, and had areas that they’d have preferred were less slippery. That was about it.
When you’re not a nice “young” couple and you’ve been on “a few” cruises, sometimes you forget what it was like the first time, as is the case with many things in life. So it’s refreshing to hear what first-time cruisers with no preconceived expectations and no vested interest have to say about their inaugural trip on the seas.
What these rookies say is…they’ll be back.