Ok, ok, this question may appear weird or a bit silly because answers might be so evident, a bit too "existentialist", or simply off topic.
However, we, cruise talkers and readers, are here for various reasons, interests, passions, learning goals, things to share, fun, and so on... regarding all the very
different aspects of the wide cruise product.
Just wanted to know everyone's reasons, motivations and expectations. Why do we spend so much time here?
Thank you for your answers and for outlining your views, whatever they are.

2)I am particularly interested in the historic aspects of Ocean Liners

3)Until a year ago I was doing a lot of studying in my own time as well as having a full time job. I find that I have more free time to participate now.

AJL

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Originally posted by AJL:
P.S. I'd like to thank Malcolm for bringing humour here. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time...

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Thanks AJL, that's a very nice thing to say.
I hope that I make more people laugh than I upset?

I follow the forums because I am a SHIP
NUT !!!

Period.

Three years ago this month, I took my first cruise as an adult. Since then I've taken two more and leave 21 hours from now (I know, I should be packing) on my fourth.
I've rediscovered, in the middle of my life, what Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" meant by "Rosebud"; the metaphor whose meaning, once understood, explains much about the life that follows.

Ships aren't new to me - I grew up in a seaside town, had a sailboat as a kid and more importantly a next-door neighbor we saw only during hurricane season. Capt. Dan Burns was, and still is as he approaches the age of 90, one of the most remarkable men I knew with what, to an 8 year old seemed the coolest job in the world: Chief Captain of the Great White Fleet - the United Fruit Company's banana boats which carried "Chiquita" brand bananas and bulk sugar from Honduras, Guatamala and Cuba to New Orleans, New York and Boston. Don't go there: I know they worked with the CIA to foment revolutions and topple governments, exploited workers and gave rise to the term "banana republic." Just as all politics are local, all experience is ultimately personal: Dan and his late wife Marion had no children of their own and "adopted" us, in a sense, as the kids they never had. In so doing, they spoilt us rotten. Disneyworld may be the venue today's kids would prefer but imagine, if you can, the thrill an 8 year old felt on the bridge of the CHALOMA sailing through the Cape Cod Canal and down to New York City where, to add icing to an already well-frosted cake, my Dad met us and arranged an afternoon in Battery Park watching what seemed to me every great liner we now reminisce about sail by on it's way to or from Europe. It didn't for me get any better than this. You say "Rosebud." I say "CHALOMA."

Nothing I do on land inspires me as much as the feel of a deck moving under my feet or the sight of the sea at sunset. Having by now stayed in some of the world's best hotels and resorts, I can honestly say none of them has yet measured up to the level of service or cuisine found - at a considerably lower price - on the average ocean liner or cruise ship. Onboard the QE2 and the CARONIA I have met and enjoyed the company of people from all walks of life, all parts of the US and a fair number of foreign countries whose paths would have never crossed mine had we not been in the same line to board, sat next to each other at dinner or waited for a load of wash to dry in the laundromat. I expect no less (in fact considerably more, given her history) from a week on the NORWAY starting this Saturday.

I love ships, the sea and the people who share my passion for 'em - be it their history or design, life onboard, the business of running such an extraordinary piece of machinery or the ports, exotic or mundane, they visit.

My only fear, knowledge I wouldn't have had so many of you not invited me to share your voyages via this board, is that I started at the top, in a sense, and am now working my way down the passenger ship "food chain." My first cruise in 1998 and my second in 1999 was in the QE2's Queen's Grill class: then, if no longer, the pinnacle of life on an ocean wave. There are more luxurious ships -for all their passengers - not just the favored few and a catamaran has taken the Blue Ribband away from her but QE2 was for me "the cream of the crop, the top of the heap" as the song says; having made it there I could make it anywhere. And make it I have: still working every day but four cruises in three years with the promise, as long as the health and money hold out, of many more. With your stories, tidbits and tales, I've come to realize there's more to this than posh or swank, that just about any ship except the one with sewage in the halls is one I want to be on, going just about anywhere.

But real life intrudes and while I have to work to pay for the fun, a visit here every once in a while is almost as good as it gets on land - the company of like minds engaged in a discussion of a subject I love and who so generously give of themselves by sharing what they know.

To Malcolm for his humor, technical skills and commitment to making a go of this; to Paddy in Belfast; to my main man on the Eastern Shore, the inimitable Cambodge who in my cybersense is sorta like a Bob Dole who loves ships, especially the QE2; to Green and K&K and Desirod; to Rex who knows more about movies than I do; to Colin who gets paid to take the QE2 home and Scottylass who gets to ride AURORA all the way around; to Vickie who, even though she hails from Connecticut says "whinge" when we say "whine;" to TG, NAL, HAL and Vaccarro (Brenda?) and Trailhiker; to all our Continental correspondents and our antipodean authors and authoresses too and to all of you, named and unnamed, who daily add to the sum total of our combined wisdom, grace and knowledge, a big "thanks."

That's why I'm here and why I shall think of (and miss) each and every one of you while I relive the glory that was the SS FRANCE, the wonder of her age which is also mine, next week in the Caribbean. Having read this far you're probably muttering "will he ever go" but take heart: I'll be back next week with a full report.

TTFN,

Joan

First and foremost: Love of ships and cruising.

Secondly, and I think this may be the more important reason.

There seems to be a better "reality" check (for lack of a better phrase) on this forum than on others. Abilities to see the forest from the trees.

The engineering information gleaned from posters is just amazing. I often have to sit and read it over a couple of times... but eventually it makes sense to me! LOL

Lastly, the international participation is great!!!!!!!!

Bostom, (what a nice reply you provided!): No, I've no relation with the actress Brenda Vaccaro who stared in "The 747's survivors" (I don't know the exact title of this movie in US). I remember having seen her the first time in that movie when I was a child. But by the way, I would like to have at least a part of her bank account, so I may be able to afford at least one of these "cheap cruises to hell"!
Thanks everyone again.

Bye.

Credit MUST be given to both Joe and Malcolm for handling our views so diplomatically....
thanks,guys!!

I like this forum because I like to cruise. I don't know if I would call myself a cruise fanatic. I have a few friends that take at least two cruises a year. I have a passion for travel and I tend to use the form of travel that meets either my financial needs or my needs to explore a region. For example, I doubt if I would take a cruise to Australia because I doubt if I could experience such a large country in a few hours in port. (By the way, I spent several weeks in Australia in '99 and absolutely loved it!). But I love cruising in the Caribbean. I like to island hop and cruising is the most economical way to travel in the Caribbean. I also love the ocean and my favorite time on board is around sunset when the sun deck is quiet and I am standing at the rail with the sea spray and ocean breeze in my face, watching the colors of the sky change and hoping to catch the green flash.

Regards

Because the Internet is the only place I have found to talk to people as much as I want about ships and cruising without putting them to sleep, and this is the best forum on the Internet!

Gradually I have found that I don't really participate in any other forums anymore, this one is IT, the best out there bar none.

Thanks to all of you who post here, and of course to Joe and Malcom, for making this place so great.

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Originally posted by Cruiseny: Because the Internet is the only place I have found to talk to people as much as I want about ships and cruising without putting them to sleep, and this is the best forum on the Internet!

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Ditto

[ 07-05-2002: Message edited by: Britanis ]