J, 1980, FIRST CRUISE

 This image was taken with my first SLR, an Olympus OM-10, in 1980 on board Carnival Cruise Lines flagship TSS Festivale. We had just gotten to our cabin, an interior on the lowest deck, when I got this shot.

There is a story behind how we ended up onboard. A year earlier, my wife and I had been sitting in a local restaurant in Manassas, VA, and had started talking for the umpteenth time about taking a cruise. Since we were raising three children, it did not seem possible. At the end of our meal, she looked at me and said, "that was a nice talk but we will never do it." We walked out of there and I drove across the street to a travel agent and booked it that day!

We ended up leaving the kids with grandparents in Mississippi and, on the day of the cruise, we caught a flight to Miami. Which is another story. While waiting to board the plane in New Orleans, LA, a gate attendant asked if anyone wanted to get an earlier flight. My wife and I said sure and we ran down to another gate. As it turned out, a couple of passengers were late but got to the gate before us. We walked back to our original gate where the gate attendant told us to wait before boarding our coach seats. In the end, we flew first class to Miami and the start of our cruise.