My first cruise was on Royal Carribean for a 5 day cruise off the California Coast on Viking Serenade. I figured I wouldn't like it and we could at least get off the ship and rent a car to come home from San Diego. Surprised when I did like it - the room was so tiny.

We had a waiter named Cyril who I will never forget and his busboy Wing. Cyril was from one of the Carribbean Islands and Wing was from one of the Asian countries. They were as good as any you'd see on RSSC.

Anyway, it was formal night and we were at our table and all of the sudden Cyril shouted at the top of his lungs repeatedly: WHALE! WHALE! WHALE! It was a moment I will never forget. We were glad we were in his section, since we had a view out the windows.

The entire dining room of guests and servers RAN to the windows to see the Whales. No one ate - we were all staring and marveling at the whales who were going by the ship and almost seemed to be playing with us. All those lobster tails and the melted butter got cold.

I thought for certain he'd be reprimanded or something. But several years later I won some miles that let me take the weekend version the same cruise and Cyril was still there. He remembered that day well. I still think it was funny to see all these dressed up people running to the windows and leaving their lobster tails behind.