A box of Chocolates

Does anyone know how many bottles of liquor we can legally bring back from the cruise? When you walk over the border bridge and then return from Mexico, you can only bring 1 liter bottle per adult. But, I've heard that coming back from this cruise we'll be allowed to bring 2 bottles per adult. Is that right?

Our understanding was that Texas residents are only allowed one liter per person. Residents of other states are allowed 2 liters tax free, but can bring a third if they pay duty on the third bottle. Some Texas people were actually looking for people to carry their excess through customs for them. I believe the rules are somewhere on the Carnival website.

Hey there (A Box Of Chocolates),

I see that your from Lake Charles. I live in Houston, Tx right now, but I am from Lake Charles (Moss Bluff). We are on the May 4th sailing on the Conquest. What excursions did you guys do?? We are going to Sunset Beach in Jamaica and Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel, but not sure what we are going to do in Grand Cayman. Any suggestions??? I am traveling with my DH and DD's ages 4 and 5. Thanks.:o

Hi Dane225,

Our daughter is engaged to a Moss Bluff boy:) Small world.

Actually, we read lots of CC posts and reviews, visited other travel websites, bought a couple travel guides at the bookstore and decided to do our own thing in the ports. It worked well for us.

In Jamaica, we traveled by JUTA (red car tag) taxi to Doctor's Cave Beach where we rented umbrellas, chairs and snorkel gear. Beautiful beach. Pretty fish. CLEAN facilities. They have food and beverage service on the beach. Tipped the lifeguards a little money and they watched our stuff. The admission charge was reasonable - don't remember exactly how much.

We took a short cab ride to Margaritaville for lunch, where we sat out on the balcony with a beautiful view of the ocean. Below us, catamarand party boats docked and let off passengers for quick lunch stops. There was also a water slide that dumped into a swimming area.

Shopped a little on the Hip Strip around Margaritaville. Bought my Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and a few other souvineers.

Headed back to the ship. There are stores in the little customs building where you pass through the inspection lines, before reboarding the ship. Bought a few more things there and reboarded. We dropped off our purchases and headed to the Lido deck where we took a few pictures of the sail away.

Grand Cayman was really nice. We waited until most of the rush was over before leaving the ship. The tender provided a good opportunity to take of the shorline, pirate ships and other large cruise ships in the water.

We walked to the Atlantis dock and purchased tickets for the semisubmersible sub. Some of the Conquest Excursion people were on the semisubmersible with us. There were underwater windows all around the lower deck of the ship and while we were stopped over the coral reefs, the captain, in scuba gear, jumped off and swam around the ship feeding the fish. All sizes, shapes and colors schooled around her. She made several laps past the windows. We all waved, took pictures and tried to see how many different fish we could identify. There were charts above the windows. This would be PERFECT for young children. They then took the boat/sub through areas with pieces of shipwrecks. The guides did a great job of narrating and pointing out interesting sealife and other points of interest on the tour.

Had lunch at Margaritaville. Good food. Happy music. Pretty view.

After that, we walked around the port area. There were many shops & restaurants. We saw several nice jewelry stores and bought our daughter a gorgeous pearl ring at a great price. My husband surprised me with another one I'd been looking at. He gave it to me before dinner that night:)

We took a break on a bench in the shopping area. It was next to a cage with two beautiful white cockatoos. Wrote a few postcards, walked to the post office to mailed them. I asked for pretty stamps, perhaps flowers, if they had any. The postal worker walked away and came back with an ancient looking expandable paper file box. It took about 5 minutes for her to carefully dig through it all. She then handed me an assortment of beautiful stamps, including one with an orchid. What a nice lady:)

After a little more sightseeing, we went back to the tender line to avoid the last minute rush.

Cozumel was a lot of fun too. We traveled by cab to Chankunaab Nature Park. A guide took us on a private tour through the replicas of ancient ruins. In one thatched hut, a woman cooked tortillas on a grill over a small fire, as had been done in ancient times. She filled them with a wonderful sauce and we devoured them. The guide demonstrated several instruments. The most impressive was a conch shell with a hole cut in the large end of it. He blew into the hole and made a sound as loud as a brass band instrument!!! . During the tour, he had us pose for several pictures and took them with our camera. We enjoyed the tour and got quite a history lesson, but that part might be a little long for small children.

The tour ended at the entrance to the beach. There were spotless facilities for changing into our swimwear. We put our clothes in lockers and headed off to sit in the big lounge chairs under the thatched coverings. It was just beautiful. I felt like I'd stepped into a postcard. We sat for a while and enjoyed the sea breeze and sound of the surf. Then, we went snorkeling. What BEAUTIFUL fish! They loved my husband's LSU (purple & gold) swim trunks and schooled around him. I wish we'd purchased one of those underwater cameras on the way off the ship. That's my only regret the whole cruise.

We again had lunch at Margaritaville, with another beautiful view from the deck. There was a guy with a guacamole cart. He came right up to the table and made our guacamole while we watched. We even had our choice of ingredients and seasonings. After lunch, I wound up in a conga line and a couple of line dances, all with the encouragement of some of the employees. They really worked to ensure the guests have a good time. My husband had a blast taking pictures.

After lunch, it was time to shop and just walk around. We bargained a bit in some of the small shops and then headed to the modern looking duty free stores. I bought a few clay lizards and some of the Mexican vanilla extract and beans. (SOOO good). We finished our shopping and headed back to the ship. I was exhausted. When we reached the long pier, we got into one of the rickshaw style bicycles. There are bunches of them and they give rides back to the ship for tips.

Wonderful trip. We will definitely cruise again!!!

I hope this is helpful! Have a great time!

Question about when the next date is that they do the 90 day immigration check of the crew. Someone on another thread said they just sailed on the Conquest from 4/13 to 4/20, and embarkation was a nightmare because of this. Sooo... going forward from 4/13, does this mean the next crew check is going to be on 7/13?

We were on the 4/6 to 4/13 cruise. I'd read posts on CC that said the 90 day inspection fell on the 6th and I'd worried about having to deal with that getting on the ship. It actually occurred on the 13th when we were getting off the ship. I'd guess there might be a little give or take with the exact date.

It did hold up things up for a few hours. People with early flights were allowed to get off the ship first. This was done on the honor system, so that might explain why it took so long for the rest of us.

We live within a few hours drive of Galveston and didn't have to rush off. If you don't have to rush, the best advice is to kick back on the lido deck and enjoy the view, lunch and a glass of iced tea or lemonade. It's also a good time to get a few final pictures of your favorite spots on the ship.

We spent some of the time sitting in the nice leather sofas by the sushi bar. We drifted to another spot when one of the mommies had a meltdown. :p Patience and a sense of humor makes the wait easier on everyone.

Not sure exactly what you mean.

 

Pizza place is aft on the sky deck

Burgers and hot dogs are aft on the sky deck

Deli is slightly aft of the lido buffet on the port side

chinese food slightly aft of the lido buffet on the starboard side

Sushi is forward of the casino on the port side

cafe fans(coffee and specialty desserts) is next to the sushi

cafe fans(coffee only) is in the lido buffet area on the aft starboard

The POinte(supper club) is midships deck 12

 

 

I think that covers it.

Love this post. I just printed it to take with me on the cruise. I'm sure they'll have maps, but what a great quick reference!!