me in San Juan, Puerto Rico
My name is Lois. I love cruises. I’m writing my cruise stories for anyone else who loves cruises, or who wants to know what cruises are all about, or who just wants to read a good story. Enjoy! Cruising is a great way to travel. Unpack once and see a variety of places and getting there is as much fun as being there.
My Cruise Stories is somewhat unique among cruise ship blogs because it is just a blog about cruising by someone who loves to cruise. Other cruise ship blogs mainly seem to be written by either a travel agent, a cruise line, or a site that books cruises or has merchandise for sale. All opinions and experiences in this blog are genuine.
My earliest memory involves a fateful boat ride at age 2 that ended up with a coast guard rescue. It would take more than that to scare me away from boats. Read all about it in my guest blog at mommy adventures.
Pictures from an Alaskan adventure on Safari Quest of American Safari Cruises and from Caribbean cruises on Holland America Westerdam and Carnival Liberty. Also a few from Australia and a couple from Washington state (pack trip and river raft.)
Some “artsy” pictures from the Alaska cruise
can’t float this boat
Window on the World
Beached
Behind the Plastic Curtain
Pictures from Castillo San Cristobal in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Garita, Castillo San Cristobal
me at Castillo San Cristobal
iguana lawn mower
Garita at Castillo San Cristobal
Cruise Stories 
Awesome blog. Next time I plan a cruise I will make it a point to visit your blog for help.
You are right about most cruise sites written by cruise lines or travel agents. I have a passion for cruising too so I also made a site 🙂 That makes two of us. Mine is a wordpress site as well, but not really a blog. It is a place to ask questions and helping people with their first cruise. check it out: http://askcruisers.com
Hey Lois! Thanks for visiting, and “liking” my blog. It was fun to discover yours, and I will bookmark it for future reading. Have booked 2 Cruises in 2013 already – one in Caribbean and one in Europe
We haven’t been on a cruise yet but when we’re ready, maybe we’ll check with you and get your input!
Sure, I’d love to offer you any advice I can.
Great site and great photos! Thanks for visiting my site as well… I’ll check back often to see more of your adventures!
Never been on a cruise, but enjoyed your post about the “non-swimming” horses…thanks for your visit to my blog and your “like”!
Hay thanks for the like on my blog, you have a great blog here.
I like looking at the cruise brochures and planning the voyages I’d like to do; that tick off some of the place I haven’t been to, or places I’d like to visit (which is practically anywhere that I haven’t been).
Being able to ‘unpack once and see a variety of places’ sounds appealing; although I do travel light, so don’t have much to unpack.
Hi dearie, Congratulations I have nominated you for the “Versatile Blogger Award”
Great posts, love the towel animal tutorials! Can’t wait to read more 🙂
Hi! I really enjoy your blog and I’ve nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award and the Beautiful Blogger Award! Here’s the link: http://megtraveling.com/2012/08/19/a-second-year-of-travel/.
Great blog! I really enjoy reading your posts!
You sure do get around! I’ve read a number of your post and think, “Man, that looks
like such a great place to see.” Thanks for posting all the photo’s, it’s the next best thing to being there. JW
One of the benefits of cruising – unpack once and see a lot of places!
Thanks for stopping by to like one of my posts! I will explore yours – maybe I will be inspired to take a cruise.
Awsome pictures, awsome places. I can’t wait to check out the rest of your blog 🙂
hi Lois, thank you for stopping by and liking one of my posts. I didn’t even know someone had a blog dedicated to cruises….. I like some type of cruises so I will check out more of your blog! 🙂 we are off to Barbados in a couple of months, then a cruise of the Grenadines on board the Royal Clipper. So I will share my experience when we are back 🙂 ciao
Feel free to post photos from your cruise on my facebook page when you go. (There’s a link to it in the sidebar.) I’d love to see them and I’m sure other cruise fans would as well.
hi Lois. I don’t do FB…. I will probably post something in our blog after the cruise to the Grenadines, so you are most welcome to re-blog it or put it on your FB page from there…
Hi
I signed up to hear about your cruise stories. I have only had 3 cruises but I know it is something I want more of. I believe that reading your posts will inspire me
Thanks. That’s exactly what I want my posts to do.
I took my first cruise this New Year. We went on Carnival to Cozumel, Mexico. I am not sure if I like to be on ships for a long time but it was sure a very interesting experience. I look forward to reading your cruise stories and getting inspired to perhaps make another cruise trip one day!
Thanks for visiting my site, http://troupinaround.wordpress.com and liking my post.
Best,
Shru
I never think the cruise lasts long enough. There’s so much to do on a cruise ship.
Hi there!
We wanted to let you know that we have just nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award! By the way, you don’t have to participate, but it’s pretty fun if you choose to 🙂
~TheWeeklyDay
Thanks for the nomination. You can view my post on this award at https://mycruisestories.com/2013/09/25/the-liebster-blog-award/
I have always wanted to go on an island cruise, and have taken a few local ones. Looking forward to reading more. Don’t forget to include the good, the bad, and the ugly in your experiences!
Hi Lois, This is fascinating. I’ve never been on a cruise and wondered what it would be like. ~ Dennis
I think cruising is a great way to take a vacation. It’s like going to an all-inclusive resort….but the resort goes places!
Thanks for stopping by our blog.
Hi Lois,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’m glad you liked it. I haven’t done much cruising (yet) but I’m sure I’d like to go.
I did go on a windjammer cruise years ago and LOVED it. The company has since gone out of business, (too bad) but I’ve seen other sailing cruises.
Have you been on any of those? Or only the big ships?
I have seen the sailing cruise ships a few times at port stops. I haven’t been on one of those cruises, but I did take a one week trip on a 101 foot sailboat when I was young and had a great time. I have done a small-ship adventure cruise that went mainly to wild areas rather than city ports had a lot of fun there too.
Hi, nice to meet you! I like you blog and look forward to new interesting post! Bye. Kamila
Cheers to your love for cruising … and we enjoy it as well. Before finalizing our next one, we are waiting for our niece to set her wedding!
A wedding on a ship would be lots of fun!
We suggested that to our nephew, but he passed. 😦
Too bad. Think how convenient the honeymoon would be.
My dementia stricken wife and I sat at lunch with you on an MSC cruise and enjoyed the conversation. I look forward to your new posts on this site even though our cruise adventures are nearing their end due to our situation. I have a wealth of boat-venture memories on numerous boats from tiny to the super cruise ships of today.
I remember that lunch. We thought how wonderful it was that you took such loving care of her. If you ever feel like writing an interesting memory into a blog story for a guest post let me know.
I really enjoyed meeting you and John on the recent Carnival Splendor cruise. Cannot wait to read more stories from you about the trip.
Happy Holidays to you and thanks for the goodness that you share here with your global community. Cheers to cruising!
I’ve never joined a proper cruise, I’ve only done “one day cruise” tour, and it was enjoyable.
Wonderfully written and a valuable resource for those of us who have never taken a cruise. Will be checking back for more stories.
Nice writeup, Lois. It takes an awesome vacation, or the back of a horse to get you to cooperate for a photo! 🙂 Seriously, though. Nicely done. Barbara
Excellent blog Lois! Well done!
Great… I personally can’t do cruise as I will have a motion sickness but I always in awe of cruisehip and people who do cruise on their holiday. So, I look forward to read you blog and experience it from your eyes.
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoy the blog. I actually have motion sickness issues too, but so far have not had any problems on a cruise ship.
oh wouw… lucky you. Did you take any medicine? I tried several times cruising but I am still not good with it.
I brought Dramamine when I first started cruising because of prior carsick and seasick issues. Initially I took some if the seas got rough as a preventative, but since I never had any issues I went to just bringing it along in case I had problems rather than taking any to prevent them and somewhere along the way stopped even bringing any since I had never needed it on such large ships. Ship’s crew does tend to put out barf bags by the elevators when the sea gets rough and they do disappear from there so not everyone is as fortunate as I’ve been in that regard.
aha.. thanks for the info. It is interesting. I also have carsick if taking bus or other public transport, but it is okay if private car or taxi. ha..ha..
I (laura) is a new cruiser, but David has been cruising for a long time. We both agree pack once see it all. Have you ever done a transatlantic cruise, we want to do one, but I think David would go crazy and be really bored.
If you’re good at entertaining yourself, or enjoy the activities onboard a cruise ship then ocean crossings make great cruises. We love them, and have done transatlantic cruises on Carnival’s Breeze and Vista as well as transpacific cruises on P&O Arcadia and Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas.
Thanks, I think you have to be happy with laid back lifestyles, as long as I have internet I’ll be fine. So of those four choices, which was your favorite?
We enjoyed them all. Each had something unique to offer. Overall we liked the transpacific cruises better. Both had lots of sea days and just a few port stops. We enjoy lots of days at sea, but people who prefer port days might get bored. Both ships were lines we hadn’t sailed on before so we found new things to do onboard. On shorter cruises we usually do the anytime dining, but on longer ones we’ll have a set dining time because it is fun to meet new people and talk about what everyone did that day over dinner. Choose a cruise that fits your likes both in what the ship has to offer and the ratio of port stops to sea days and you’ll have fun, especially if it is going somewhere that you want to see.
Thanks excellent advice, and much appreciated.
Such a very Helpful article for travel