ONTD Original: Celebrity Cruise Ship Godparents

[squirrels_oh_no]

Did you know that it is a tradition for ships to have a godmother (or, more recently, godparent given that now men are being invited to serve in the role)? This is true for most ships - in many Navies around the world, ships have a sponsor and Godmother, often someone related to the person the ship is named for or with connections to the place it

Comments

[kindpaddington]

These posts make me want to go on cruises again! Do you have a favorite cruise line, OP?

[squirrels_oh_no]

Lol Celebrity but i once creepily watched the Scarlet Lady's deck activities from the next ship over and i want to try them. But their pool is tiny. Plus: it's adults only, but lbr my Celebrity cruise had 6 kids on it and i only ever saw 2. Celebrity is not really a family line.

[kindpaddington]

Celebrity was my first cruise and I LOVED it, although I think part of that was all the people I was with (I was in my 20s at the time). I've only ever actually sailed on one other cruise, with Royal Caribbean, and had a great time there too.

I am so out of the cruising loop I had to look up the Scarlet Lady. I love the idea of an adults only cruise.

[squirrels_oh_no]

Virgin is also very left-wing you might say in its entertainment and theme. They appeal to younger people who are educated, affluent, and don't vote Trump. Think drag queens, sexy shows, a tattoo studio onboard, and stuff that appeals to hip young city folk. Celebrity leans older but also classy. NCL i got into an argument in a hot tub with a MAGA guy before my mom dragged me away and he wasn't alone. Also my celebrity ship was their second oldest and not renovated but i still had a grand time and stuffed my face with lobster and steak and beef wellington and baked alaska.

ETA i will have to do it on my computer and not phone but i have a weird story about my childhood that always made Celebrity my favorite even before i ever took a cruise.

[kindpaddington]

Well, I'm middle-aged and not affluent or hip, but it sounds fun! 😂

I felt like NCL was a line you'd pick if they had either an amazing deal, or the best destination access (like that US flagged ship to the Hawaiian islands).

[squirrels_oh_no]

Lol yes we went on NCL because for the time period we chose it was about $500 per person cheaper than Celebrity and was 11 nights instead of 10. And this was before the drinks package and the wifi and stuff. It ended up being about $1700 cheaper than Celebrity, but we ended up not even using part of the package because NCL flights are terrible and we booked our own and flew to Miami early. I wish we had splurged and gone on Celebrity again tbh.

[kindpaddington]

Oy! Well, lesson learned, and you have a hot tub near-fight story :)

I must have been typing my previous comment when you edited the one I was replying to, but I look forward to when you can tell your weird Celebrity story.

ETA: you just posted it of course! 😂

[squirrels_oh_no]

Oh, re: the Pride of America - that is a very special case ship because it was the only active big cruise ship built in the US (mostly - there is a long story there given that they dragged the hull to Germany to finish it) and since it's registered in the US so it can cruise only around Hawaii without having to visit a foreign port, it has to obey American maritime and labor laws, so it is a LOT more expensive than any other NCL cruise. And no casino.

My old coworker used to work on the Pride of Hawaii which they reflagged and it's now the Norwegian Sky and no longer subject to American maritime law. The Jones Act is fun /s (it means shipping stuff from the mainland to outlying states and territories is fucking expensive since the ships have to be registered in the US and with American crews - which is what caused cost-cutting that led to the El Faro disaster which is not a cruise ship but all the crew died).

[squirrels_oh_no]

Ok so the story. When I was like 6 or 7 (so 1993 ish), I saw my first cruise ship, which was Celebrity's FIRST ship, the Meridian. This was when it was doing short cruises to Bermuda and before 9/11 so we could go up to it and I was enamored. I grew up with boats since my dad has been into waterskiing since long before I was born and I was raised on the water, and I loved seeing a giant boat that was actually a resort and it could go to cool places while you slept!

We went to see my grandparents not too long after, turns out they had cruised on this ship in the 80s before Celebrity existed (also to Bermuda - their only ever cruise, paid for by my uncle randomly as a present).

Note: This is indeed what cruising used to be. Balconies weren't popular until the late 90s! There are still two Carnival ships left that barely have any, for example. Plus, the Meridian was a converted ocean liner built in 1963. The X actually stands for the Greek letter Chi, which references the Chandris Line, which became Celebrity (it was a Greek company,

[kindpaddington]

I love your story - and that video! I love nostalgia trips like that.

That Sea Diamond trip must have been so scary for everyone. :(

I think someone took cruise ships being called floating resorts and did cocaine about it, and that's how we ended up with Royal Caribbean today.

[squirrels_oh_no]

I didn't see this when I made this post but now I feel like my writing this post and talking about a specific ship's medical center where I spent a long time in November cursed this dude who just died on said ship >.> https://variety.com/2024/music/news/mojo-nixon-elvis-is-everywhere-dead-1235901773/ yesterday.

[kindpaddington]

Oh no! Mojo sounded like quite the personality. 66 is too young, but it sounds like he was doing what he loved. :(

[squirrels_oh_no]

LOL I realize I replied to myself with my Celebrity story (oops) but since I had to find that video in that story, it led me to find some other promo ones. These, by the way, were sent on VHS tape to people who requested them! Like how you used to be able to order brochures and fancy booklets about destinations and ships and stuff. Here is a fun Carnival one, along with a follow-up...

[piratesswoop]

my mom and i did the transatlantic on the queen mary 2 last summer and it was so much fun. i feel like it's a cruise for when you want to be fancy for a few days--there's no water slides or ice rinks, though they do have a huge planetarium that also hosts a series of insight talks--we had a broadway writer on our cruise and over his four talks, he discussed a lot of broadway shows from the past to modern shows like hamilton and come from away.

most of the passengers are like 55 and older but it was so chill and enjoyable. i've also heard good things about virgin and ncl. i recommend watching some youtube reviews for people who basically are lucky enough to get to cruise for a living lmao. i really like cruise with ben and david, emma cruises, the shiplife and tips for travellers (he's older but i feel like he has a great perspective on certain lines!)

[squirrels_oh_no]

I found out the other day that Gary from Tips for Travelers used to be a senior VP in marketing for Johnson and Johnson before he retired and that makes a lot of sense as to how he can afford to basically be THE cruise youtuber for higher-end cruises. But LMAO his first Royal Caribbean cruise... He has some finer tastes.

[piratesswoop]

OH LMAO that 100% makes sense because that many is always booking the top suites in his videos, and he's been at it for years--like i feel like some of the newer cruisers are people who are sponsored by lines for promo, but gary definitely gives off those upper class vibes lmao