My First Cruise
July 18, 2006 by Cruise Arizona
Filed under Reviews
Bon Vivant Cruise to Bahamas
The hardest part of writing this review is remembering exactly when the cuise was. I have now narrowed it down to either Christmas 1975 or just after New Years 1976. I know that we went down to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area to stay with extended family before the cruise. Some of the adults went to see the Orange Bowl on New Years day night and then we must have left the next day for the three day cruise to Nassau and Free Port.
From what I can tell the ship was owned by Chandris at the time, but these three day cruises out of Miami were run by something like Bahama American Cruise Lines.
This was my first cruise, and I remember loving every minute of it.
One of the things I remember most was the unusual configuration of our stateroom. It was sort of L shaped with two twin beds in one section and then the bunk bed in the other section.
I really only have vague recollections of this cruise, I mean I was only 8, so dont hold me too accountable.
Vague Remembrances:
Pass the Hat
For the welcome aboard evening activities the Cruise Director asked for any Veterans to come up and do the Pass The Hat drill. Dad, a former Airforce Reservist got up there and played this game with all the men where they had to pass their hat either forward or backward on the command of the drill seargent like cruise director.
Wooden Horse Races
One of the few onboard activities for kids to participate in was the wooden horseraces. The adults got to place bets on the horses as rolls of the dice determined which horse moved. The kids got involved by each being assigned a particular horse and moving it when the corresponding die was rolled.
Glass Bottom Boat Ride in Nassau
We had bought tickets to take a Glass Bottom boat from the port area to the central shopping area in town. The only problem was the tickets were transportation only, and did not include the glass bottom viewing area. That was like $5 extra per person, and so it ended up just being a boat ride, no glass bottom to be seen by us.
Casino in Freeport
OK, my parents were a little strange, but our excursion included a trip to the casino, and my sister and I were too young for the casino, so instead of skipping this portion of the tour, my parents went inside and left my sister and I to hang out on the lanai out in front. What were they thinking leaving their two girls, 10 and 8, to just hang out in front of the casino while they gambled? It seamed like they were in there forever, but who knows, it may have only be about 15 or 20 minutes.
Dressing up for Dinner
I do remember that one of the highlights of this cruise was dressing up for dinner. Im not sure what the dress code was, but we were all decked out every night in our fancy dresses. I remember thinking this was a lot of fun.
This was my first taste of cruising, and certainly the voyage that started my love for it. I wish I cold provide more details, but heck this was 30 years ago.
You can see more photos of this cruise in the photo gallery.
Loading ...
Suzanne,
We weren’t crazy. We were always very protective of our daughters. It was a different world back then.
Good memories!
Thanks.
~MOM
LOL, I wondered how long until Anne commented on this one…
Mr Papa
Thanks Gamble,
I’m glad you liked the site. I have recently found a few boxes of old slides from some of my cruises in in the 80′s and will be putting those up soon. I also have pictures from my 2006 Mexican Riviera Cruise that will be going up soon too. :cheerful:
My first experience of the “Bon Vivant” was in May 1977 when the ship was used as a “floating hotel” in the Creek, Dubai. I was on a three weeks stay to establish a market for a Lancashire UK tile manufacturing company and due to the shortage of hotels at that time in Dubai(!!) this was our home. We were very comfortable and the dining room staff were made up of Portuguese, Greek, Indian etc and we had great fun with them. We were on a limited budget and just had a sandwich and a small can of lager for lunch!! My colleague and I helped to set up a Hi Fi system in the dining room and that was chaos!!
I returned to the ship again in October 1977 and things were starting to move on the development outside the “Intercontinental” hotel. We had four large tiling contracts on Al Maktoum Road and it was an exciting time for us. I handed over to a young representative who worked in co-operation with A.W. Galadari – I was 50 years old at the time or I may have had a go at the job myself!! The humidity was horrendous though. I hope this will fill in a little bit more history of this friendly ship.
Thomas,
Thanks for sharing your memories of this ship. We had a wonderful time that first cruise. I didn’t know that she had served as a floating hotel in Dubai as well. I believe that the QE2 is currently on her way over there for the same purpose, but permanently, not temporarily. “Hi Fi”, now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a while. But very high tech in 1977. Take care and be sure to visit us again.
I was doing some searches on the web and happened to look up the Bon Vivant and ran across this site.
You have quite a memory or did some research on the Bon Vivant and where it worked out of. It worked out of the New Port of Miami, leased by Freeport Cruise Lines, and owned by Chandris.
It had quite a mixture of nationalities on board. The officers and engineers were Greeks, the crew hands (swabbed decks, painted, etc.) were Bangladesh, there were Koreans that mainly provided room service, Mexican entertainers, Jamaican waiters, the laundry rooms were run by Chinese, and many other nationalities doing various work. The majority nationalities had their own kitchens and dining areas in the lower part of the ship, where the majority of the crew stayed our of site.
I worked as a slot mechanic/casino manager on the ship for a year up to the last voyage in 1975 to 1976. I was offered a job on the ship when it was being transferred to Greece, but chose to stay with my now current wife that I met while working on the ship.
When I joined the ship it was running out of New Orleans and mainly going to South America locations (although my first voyage was rerouted to the Bahamas due to bad weather).
We did this for only 3 to 4 months before the ship transferred to Miami and started making 2 and 5 day runs to the Bahamas and some 7 day cruises to other locaitons like Port au Prince, Haiti.
I enjoyed reading your recollections and seeing the photos from the past. It brought back some fond memories.
Thank you, -Mike.
Mike thank you so much for sharing your memories with us. It is funny because those first pleasure cruise ships didn’t have much in the way of bells and whistles, but we sure had a great time. Please continue to visit us here at Cruise Talk.