1977 was a pivital year for me

Think back throughout your life and see if you can recall a pivotal moment or experience that may have set the course for your future. It's a challenge, but everyone must have that one special moment in time that earmarks the beginning of a journey. For me it was in 1977 when I traveled with my family to California for a vacation. I distinctly recall that my father had planned to have us stay at a hotel right near Universal Studios, but the hotel was full, so he suggested we stay at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. I know my brother and I were in the back seat of the car and we both thought that would be fun to stay on a ship. I'm trying to remember what I knew about the Queen Mary, before I ever saw the ship for the first time in 1977, but cannot recall exactly, other than I knew it was a big ship. Our family stayed on the Queen Mary Hotel for two nights, and I have faint memories of exploring the ship with my brother Paul. I remember seeing the Jacques Cousteau Museum on the Queen Mary, where there was a large tank with real sharks swimming in it, and visitors could touch an iceberg. There was a tour where visitors went from section to section for various presentations, and one of those presentations was by what seemed to be a robot that would answer questions from the audience. During our particular visit to the Queen Mary there was a film crew shooting scenes for a TV show about Nancy Drew, and my brother and I got to meet the actress, Pamela Sue Martin, who was in the original Poseidon Adventure, and on Dynasty.

I don't remember much else from that first visit to the Queen Mary in 1977, but what happened after we returned home from our California vacation changed the course of my life. It was a slow process, but I began reading some of the booklets my Dad purchased while on the Queen Mary and I built a model of the ship from a plastic kit. Reading about the Queen Mary and her illustrious history fascinated me, however, I think I was mostly intrigued by the size of the ship and the size of the machinery that propelled her through the ocean during her regular trans-Atlantic schedule. My fascination for the Queen Mary snowballed into an obsession for more information about the ship. I visited the library and checked out books about the Queen Mary and other ocean liners, and at age 13 I became a student of the history of ocean liners. It was a strange obsession for a land-locked 13 year-old to have, living in Minnesota, but it was an obsession that would eventually cause me to seek some sort of career related to liners or cruise ships. That was 30 years ago!

I think I'm very fortunate to say that I followed my dream and set out to fully embrace this passion for liners and ships by moving to California to attend a college near the Queen Mary in Long Beach. I made numerous trips to Miami to visit the cruise ships. I had an amazing opportunity in 1979 to visit the mothballed SS United States in Norfolk, Virginia, while the ship was still in it's original condition. I made special trips to Miami just to visit the SS Norway, which was originally the France. My father brought me to New York to see the QE2, and of course I made a number of trips to California to see the Queen Mary, before attending college in 1985.

Another venue that would feed my quest to fully understand the history of ocean liners was a book called "The Only Way To Cross" by John Maxtone-Graham. I read the book numerous times and recall daydreaming about someday crossing the Atlantic ocean on a liner. At this time in my life there was only one ocean liner making regular trans-Atlantic crossings and this liner was the QE2. I wanted to experience first-hand what ot was like to cross the Atlantic on the QE2, and after reading the many books about liners, I could almost feel what it was like, and I was drawn into the lifestyle of being at sea on a liner. I collected brochures & posters of the QE2 and other cruise ships. Although our family had the means to perhaps make a crossing on the QE2 or go on a cruise, my parents didn't share the same passion I had for experiencing life at sea, so as a young man living with my parents, I never was able to cruise or cross. If I was to ever make my way on a cruise or a crossing I was just going to have to do it myself. My very first experience with being on a cruise at sea wasn't until 1984 when I orchestrated a plan to be a stow-away aboard the Caribe....but that's another story.

Cruise Beginnings

What is it about stepping across the threshold from solid land onto the teak deck of a large floating structure that seems to cool the senses, churn-up feelings of adventure and romance, and magnify the urge to kick-back on a deckchair with a good book? Those were the days, in the late seventies and early eighties, when I set aside reality, and made numerous journey's to Miami for short visits aboard these lovely white cruise ships. At an early age, I developed a unique passion for cruise ships, but unfortunately, as a young man, living in my parent's house, I could not afford on my own to go on a cruise and my folks, although well traveled, were not about to take a cruise as a family vacation. I would, however, make my way to Miami on an occasional weekend trip to visit the cruise ships, but this only teased and fueled my desire to one day go to sea on one of these ships. To me it was like stepping into a fantasy world even as a visitor on these early cruise ships, and it was so hard to leave the ship, knowing all these passengers were going to live-out what I only dreamed of doing. The idea of "the voyage" and cruising to exotic destinations, and being on a ship at sea was so intriguing to me. I still recall the many times I would fly into Miami, rent a car, and immediately make my way to where the cruise ships docked. I loved the humidity in the air, and driving over that bridge seeing cruise ship row with several ships docked. I remember the haze in the air with the cruise ships in the distance, and I could hardly wait to park my car and get on the ship. My home was Minnesota, so seeing these big cruise ships lined-up was so exciting for me. The ships were bigger-than-life from my point of view, and I would just be giddy as I made my way into the cruise terminal to register as a visitor and go aboard to look around. In these days it was rather easy to obtain a visitor's pass and go aboard the ships for a look around. Of course I always enjoyed the free lunch usually served onboard for the passengers that were boarding the ship that day to begin their week-long vacation. The atmosphere was always festive, and all these lucky passengers were also giddy with anticipation as they familiarized themselves with their ship and home for the next seven days or more.

It seemed I was always a visitor and never an actual passenger. Sometimes I would explore one ship then move on down the line to the next ship, and the next...I would often visit three ships in one day. What I found interesting was even though I would go from one cruise ship and one cruise line to another, there was always that same festive feeling of anticipation onboard. Now back then in the late 70's and early 80's most of the ships were around the same size, about 20 - 30 thousand tons. I think what really made my ship visits special was the fact that some of these cruise ships were real ships, older ships or liners converted for cruising. The moment I stepped aboard I felt I was on a ship. I can still recall that familiar smell mixed in with the humidity and the airconditioning onboard the ship, with hints of fresh paint, sea air and fresh luggage stacked in the corridors, I knew I was in my element and those smells were invigorating for me. It was ships like the Mardi Gras or the Festivale, the Emerald Seas, and even the newer Nordic Prince that were really fun to explore and those ships had such an interesting charm. My interest in ships started with ocean liners which is why the older ships were so appealing to me...but that's another story.

I would spend hours on a ship exploring the public rooms, hanging out by the pool and the lido area where the food was, I took many pictures and sometimes I met with friends in Miami and brought them aboard with me for a tour. I really couldn't get enough of these ships and wished that someday I could be a passenger. After a full day of hanging out on the ships, I would usually jump in my rental car and head out across the channel and towards the beach where I would watch the ships leave the port of Miami and cruise out into the sunset off on another voyage full of eager passengers. You can't help but wave at the ships as they pass by. There truly was something romantic and exciting about seeing these ships that were bigger-than-life cruise by and out to sea. The longing inside me to one day stand on the deck of one of those ships as a passenger was tremendous and I brought that feeling all the way home with me back to Minneapolis and back to reality.

I have so many adventures on cruise ships to share so I thought that I would start this blog and share the passion and re-live the journey which lead me from an observer to a member of the crew, to running my own cruise business. Join me on this journey. I may even dig out my old journals and share personal stories, photos and events that happened in my life aboard the ships.