Review of Conquest 9-23

Okay, I am going to try to put my review here so if anyone has any questions about my experience then they can ask. I was a first time cruiser but I will be happy to answer any questions that I know the answers to and if I don't know then probably someone else may be able to help. I am also going to try to upload photos as I add in my reveiw by each day. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. Hold on to your hats this is going to be long. :D

Saturday : I experienced my first cruise with my daughter, her friend and her mom. The daughters celebrated their 30th birthdays and they were very sweet to invite their old moms along.

We booked our cruise four months earlier and none of us knew anything about cruising. I decided to do as much research as I could, to learn everything I could and found Cruise Critic on the Internet. I am so glad I did. I think the whole experience would have been different if I had not known as much information as I did. I decided, after reading everything I could about the Carnival Conquest, with all the help from the amazing Cruise Critic members that my cruise would be a great experience no matter what happened. As I write this review I am going to be putting the letters CC in parenthesis to let you know about something I knew about because of Cruise Critic and the information I learned.

I believe that our time is what we make of it. I knew there could be problems, that even dangerous situations could occur but I went into the whole cruise experience with the attitude that the week would be all about expectations, that I would expect to have an amazing time and I would have an amazing time and I think in retrospect it happened because Cruise Critic made it possible.

Our flight from Denver to Houston Hobby except for running about thirty minutes late was uneventful and the plane wasn't even very crowded. The flight didn't seem long at all mainly due to a little entertainment from two fellow passengers that were sitting behind us. They had apparently imbibed a bit too much before they boarded the plane and they let the whole plane know that they were "On vacation and they were going to Jamaica!" It didn't take much effort to discern that they were going to be on the same cruise we were and I almost wanted to share my excitement as loud as they did!

Denver Airport

We had our first bump in the road, so to speak, as we made our way to the shuttle area just out of the airport. When I saw that we were running a little late back in Denver I called Galveston Limousine Service (CC) to let them know. The lady who answered told me that I needn't worry that the driver would not leave us. After we landed in Houston we made our way out to Area 12 where the shuttle was supposed to pick us up but it was not to be found. I called GLS and the same lady I had talked to earlier said the fellow thought that we had decided not to come ??? and had left. I couldn't believe it. She finally said that he wasn't very far away and would be right back. This could have really started out our week really badly but thank goodness, my brother who lives in Katy had decided to come down to Galveston for a visit and he said, even though he was already down in Galveston at our motel, he would drive up to HH and pick us up. I called the GLS back and the lady said the fellow would be there in a little bit so I called my brother back and the shuttle driver finally arrived. The shuttle was completely empty and we had a pleasant air-conditioned drive down to Galveston.

The shuttle let us off at the Super 8 Motel. We checked in, put our bags in our room and then my brother loaded us all up and took us to The Fisherman's Wharf restaurant. I was so excited to recognize the area that I had seen on the Galveston web cam (CC) every Sunday as I watched the Carnival Conquest sail away. What a thrill to know that in just a few hours the Conquest would actually be docked right beside where we were eating!

Galveston

After we ate my brother dropped us off at our motel but we were too excited to sleep. We all walked down about a block to the seawall and walked a little on the beach. The smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves only made us more aware of our amazing journey that would start in only a few more hours.

I tried to submit the next day of our cruise and found that I am only allowed so many photos for each thread so I will start a new thread and label it DAY 1 of our Cruise - Sunday. Hopefully the threads won't get lost somewhere down the road. This will make it easier to ask questions about each individual day so that is probably better. Thanks for reading these.

I tried to submit the next day of our cruise and found that I am only allowed so many photos for each thread so I will start a new thread and label it DAY 1 of our Cruise - Sunday. Hopefully the threads won't get lost somewhere down the road. This will make it easier to ask questions about each individual day so that is probably better. Thanks for reading these.

Loved your review with the pics so far. :D Don't start a different thread....just keep posting the review in here. If you start a new thread for each day, it will get very confusing.

Okay, I think I figured it out... I already posted to day 1 on another thread but I will try to continue on from here. I had a problem because I was putting in too many photos but I think it will work now. Thanks for the help Sandi.

Day 2 of our cruise: It was truly amazing to wake up on a ship at sea. We all agreed that our beds were extremely comfy and the pillows were divine. We all ate breakfast on the Lido Deck and were amazed at all that was offered. They had toast, bagels, croissants, pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes, waffles, all kinds of cereals, fruit, milk, juices and coffee. The coffee was a little hard to take but otherwise everything tasted wonderful. This breakfast was offered every single day!

After breakfast we found Alfred's Bar and attended the morning trivia contest. We tried our best to win points for our team and to win a famous Ship on a Stick (CC) but there were some really smart people on that ship. We did get to meet Jessica face to face. She is a fairly new social director and we just fell in love with her. She is from Australia and she has such a fun laugh. She made the game so much fun that none of us cared if we won or lost. We just kept commenting that we were playing trivia on a cruise on a ship on the ocean. LOL

Jessica

One thing we had fun doing everyday is taking photos standing beside the huge map of our cruise journey. There were lights on the map showing how far we had traveled each day.

At 11:00 we made our way to the Travel & Adventure Talk in the Toulouse Lautrec Lounge. Butch Begovich gave the talk. He is the Cruise Director for the Conquest and has had the job for four years. He was truly amazing. The only cruise director that I knew about was Julie on "The Love Boat" and Butch beat her hands down. LOL The talk was really informative and especially so for first time cruisers like myself.

After the talk we trooped back up to the Lido Deck for lunch. We felt like old timers now and had no problem finding something good to eat. There is a hamburger station, an Asian station, a pasta station and a pizza station besides the huge buffet. (CC) Those in our party ate a lot of salad and fruit and it was always fresh and tasty.

At 2:30 we went back to Alfred's Bar and played trivia again. This time we were able to meet Randy. Again, I have to reiterate how fortunate Carnival is to have such a great bunch of fun talented people on their staff.

At 3:30, while the others in my group did some shopping, I decided to attend the Classical Music and Tea Time in Alfred's Bar. (CC) What a wonderful experience. The music was amazing and it was so delightful to spend time in such a quiet calming atmosphere. I had brought my journal with me and spent this time catching up and writing several pages of all that had occurred since we had started our adventure. I didn't want to leave. I think this time was what I really wanted my cruise experience to be like. The tea and treats on the desert trolley were fantastic but they weren't what made the experience special. It was just that I could sit there, enjoy the tranquility, sit and enjoy, sit and think on where I was and what was happening in my life. Tea Time was definitely one of the highlights of my cruise.

I chose not to attend any of the Formal Night activities so while my cruise mates dressed for dinner I explored some more of the ship and finally made my way up to the Lido Deck to take some pictures of the sunset and to have a bite to eat. I wasn't able to get a very good sunset shot as there were too many clouds so I went to the Cezanne Restaurant where the buffet is set up and where I had some watermelon and some of the amazing soft serve ice cream that I had heard all about. (CC)

I had just sat down and a couple next to me asked if I was a professional photographer. I told them no but then we started talking about me being a first time cruiser and they had cruised many, many times. That was the first of many wonderful conversations with people on the Conquest. I found it was great icebreaker in the elevators or to anyone sitting near just to ask if it is your first time to cruise and you could end up talking about anything and everything. People were so friendly on this cruise. Of course, again, I have nothing to compare it with but it seemed that way to me.

At about 7:30 I went to the Toulouse Lautrec Lounge to sit and wait for the Main Show of the night. I thought it started at 8:00 but found out later that it started at 8:30. This was a good thing for me. I was sitting in the almost dark theater when a young man and woman came in and made their way down to the front at the edge of the stage. They conversed in quiet tones for a bit and all of a sudden I realized that the young man was on his knee proposing to the young lady. That moment will always be burned into my heart. You could just feel the preciousness and specialness of what was taking place and knew the second that the young girl said yes. They hugged and kissed and then slowly made their way back up the aisle so sweet and loving. As they passed by where I was sitting I could see the young girl had tears streaming down her face. They smiled at me as they passed and after they left I reached up to realize that I too had tears rolling down my cheeks. I knew then without a doubt I had experienced something very momentous and unique on my cruise.

On Monday night we went back to our room to find the sweetest towel animal. We thought at first that it was a swan, then we said a peacock but it might have been a chicken or or turkey. Who knows! LOL We thought it was the most beautiful towel animal ever made.

Our first towel animal

Hi, I just finished reading your review of the Conquest. What a great reveiw, I am so glad you had a great trip. One question, you mentioned playing Mini Golf in your review on the Conquest. I was on the Conquest in August and did not see a mini golf course on board. Where was this at, and did they happen to mention when it was installed? Thanks.

Hi bbearden, I think it was just installed about a month ago. It is located back right up under the funnel and it is really fun. It seemed really odd to be up there playing golf but there wasn't much that seemed normal to us last week. :D We had such a great time. Thanks for the nice words.

Day 3 of our cruise: Tuesday was another full day at sea. At this point we were all amazed that we were even at sea at all. The only time I could feel the ship move was when I was still. If I was moving around I couldn't even feel the ocean at all. As the week went by more and more people told us that it was one of the smoothest sailing cruises they had ever experienced. We felt very fortunate and very glad.

Sunflower in the Monet Atrium

My daughter and I decided to have our breakfast in the dining room. We made our way to the Monet lower level where they served breakfast and we were seated with some other cruisers back by the windows. We were just starting to order when one of the waiters brought a young man and he sat down beside me. Imagine my surprise and delight when he introduced himself and told me that I had witnessed him proposing to his fiancé the night before.

I was pretty shocked but tickled that he remembered me as I would have thought that he had more important things on his mind. He went on to explain that his fiancé was sleeping late and then we learned that the world is truly a very small place when he told us that he was from Wyoming. My daughter graduated from the University of Wyoming and of all the places in the world to be from, of all the 3000 people on the ship to be seated beside, sometimes, it seems, some of us are just in the right place, just at the right time. LOL

The rest of the day was pretty much spent like the previous one. The day was full with shopping, trivia, eating and the girls even did some sunbathing. It was a fantastic relaxing enjoyable day.

One interesting thing my daughter and I did on Tuesday was take a tour of the galley. It is truly amazing what happens behind the scenes of these cruise ships and it was fun to see a little of that activity. Several of the chefs did demonstrations for us as we walked through.

The galley of the Conqust

It was a good thing that we were able to relax because that night we were in for a crazy night of Mardi Gras. LOL Everyone who wanted to participate met up at their designated place by team color. Being on the white team we met with Butch in Henri's Disco. After we had our cheeks painted white the Mardi Gras madness was kicked off with a twist dance contest Whoever danced the craziest with the most energy and spirit received points on their score cards we were given. Oh, my goodness... what fun was had by all.

The Madi Gras Party

As we danced and sang our hearts out we followed our Carnival Dancer leader to the next area and danced harder and sang louder than before. All the teams finally ended up way on top of deck 10, I think, and everyone came together for line dancing and the worlds longest conga dance. The Carnival Dancers really know how to stir up an exciting frenzy of a time. We finally drug ourselves off to bed with songs in our hearts. LOL

Your story about the proposal brought tears to my eyes!:o

People are going to really wonder about me at work because I always seem to be on the verge of tears or laughing when I'm reading CC.;)

Is there always a mardi gras party on Conquest?? Maybe we should bring some cute favors, etc??

Day 4 of our cruise: Today was the day we docked at Jamaica. We were all so excited to get off the ship and head out to our first excursion. I had read a lot about Jamaica on Cruise Critic so I was a little leery and more than a little concerned about getting off the ship here but the majority of the CC members told me there was nothing to worry about and sure enough they were right. We had signed up for the Dunn's River Falls and Dolphin Touch excursion at Dolphin Cove and because of CC knew that we had a long drive ahead of us so we were prepared. (CC) A Dolphin Cove employee met us as we made it into the customs building. We all lined up there for a few minutes and then we had a guide lead our line onto the bus. It was a nice newer bus with air conditioning and after stepping out into the heat and humidity off the ship it was more than welcome.

We had a wonderful guide named Sasha and she kind of told us about Jamaica as we made our way from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. There was a lot of construction and the drive took a lot longer than we thought it would but it didn't really matter, as there was plenty to look at. Sasha would explain things as we wound our way past all the construction. The fact that the bus driver was driving on the left side of the road, even thought it is the right side in Jamaica also kept us from getting board especially when semi's, gravel trucks and our bus would all try to get by each other at the same time on the extremely narrow road. LOL

Sasha our guide

About half way through the trip we stopped at a beach area called Columbus Park. There were souvenir stands set up, several historic signs and monuments and restrooms. We stopped there for about twenty minutes and then we were on our way again.

Souvenirs at Columbus Park

As we neared the Dunn's River Falls area Sasha explained in great detail the do's and don'ts about what we should and should not do once we got off the bus. Even though I had read about a lot of it on CC, I was surprised that she told us the same information. For instance she told us to not go down to the craft market and not to make eye contact with all the people selling things. We were to come directly back to the bus as soon as we had finished at the falls. She said if anyone tried to sell us anything just to tell them no thank you. We all headed her advice and everything went smoothly there.

The girls of our cruising group climbed the falls. The moms just stood on the platforms and took the pictures. We were glad we did. We think the climbing would have been a little much for us. The girls really enjoyed the climb but they had some amazing bruises a few days later.

The girls climbing the falls

After we were through at the falls we piled back in the bus and the driver took us a few minutes away to Dolphin Cove. There are two different excursions you can do here, the Touch and the Swim. We had signed up for the Touch. We were lined up on a wooden platform and a dolphin named Peppi did tricks for us.

As the dolphin trainer lined us up he commented to the mom in my group and myself who were the only ones on our excursion who had not climbed the falls and who were not wet that we would get wet and he was right. He had the dolphin swim around and make a huge splash on my cruise partner and I and literally soaked us to the skin. We laughed so hard and were glad for the cooling off.

The dolphin did tricks for about ten or fifteen minutes and then we went over to a buffet they had set up on the beach. There was live music so the atmosphere was pure Jamaician and really neat. We were really enjoying ourselves a lot until we got our plate and went to sit down to eat. We all realized that all the meat that the fellow who had dished it out to us and had called it bar-b-que had hairs all over it. It made me really queasy and even though I didn't want to offend anyone we just couldn't eat the food. Another little bump for us but it sure didn't ruin our day.

We went up to the souvenir shop to look at our pictures that they had taken of us kissing the dolphin and each one of us bought one. We bought a few other things and then made our way back to the bus. The drive back to the ship didn't take as long as the earlier trip because the construction didn't seem as bad and we didn't stop at Columbus Park. One interesting thing we saw was that all the policemen had M-16's in their laps as they drove around.

I am glad that I had read up about Jamaica on Cruise Critic or I think I would have been scared to death. We arrived back on the ship just in time for sail away and my daughter and I ran up to an upper deck to take photos of the wonderful sunset.

Photos of Dolphin Cove

Your story about the proposal brought tears to my eyes!:o

People are going to really wonder about me at work because I always seem to be on the verge of tears or laughing when I'm reading CC.;)

Hi Charming01,

Well, you should just tell them about CC and then they will be crying and laughing with you. :D Thanks so much for reading my review. This is almost as much fun as going on the cruise.

Is there always a mardi gras party on Conquest?? Maybe we should bring some cute favors, etc??

Hi bnsilly, I think they do the Mardi Gras every week. You should bring your mardi gras beads with you if you have them. I saw several people with them on. Also, something I saw was that people would dress up in their team colors. One large group wore their white Carnival bathrobes but they shedded them pretty quickly as it was so hot. It was so much fun, not something I would do in my everyday life but that is what cruising is all about right! :D

Day 5 of our cruise: Thursday was the day we docked at Georgetown in the Grand Cayman Islands. We didn't actually dock at the island; we had to take large boats called tenders from the ship to the pier because of the reefs around the island. I had read about tendering on Cruise Critic so I knew just what to do and was able to get on and off with no problem.

The tender out our window in our room

The girls signed up to do the sting-ray excursion and the other mom in my group and I rode the Trolley Roger trolley and did the island tour. We had a really great tour guide named Captain Splash who was dressed up like a pirate.

Captain Splash

Captain Splash was very informative and was eager to share his knowledge of anything we wanted to know. He was actually from Canada and has lived in Georgetown for four years under a work visa. He said a person could live there for seven years and then had to move away for a year or so before they could come back. You could tell he really loved it there. One of the interesting things about the island is the fact that there are so many chickens running around. Captain Splash told us that they are considered pests much like our pigeons. They are too tough to eat just get in the way and annoy people. We also saw a small lizard that we were told were very plentiful. They were a little odd with curled up tails. Another interesting thing, which was such a contrast to Jamaica, was that the policemen in Georgetown don't carry guns. Captain Splash said they have little to no crime there at all. Georgetown is so beautiful and we enjoyed our tour thoroughly.

View of the Conquest from our trolley

After the tour we walked around the shops a bit and did some souvenir shopping. The girls finished up their sting-ray excursion and we all met up at Margaritaville. My daughter and I shared an amazing cheeseburger and our other cruise partners had the fajitas. All the food was really good and it was fun being in such a famous place. As we were leaving there was a group of people doing the Cupid Shuffle on stage. (CC) It was fun seeing it done live and in person after watching it on You Tube.

A place to take a photo in Grand Cayman

After we ate the girls did a little more shopping while I found the post office to mail some postcards. I made my way back to the ship and stood in line for a while to wait for the tender.

The post office

I met a group of girls in the line and told them all about Cruise Critic. They said they would be sure and go on the site when they got home. On of the most enjoyable things I found of my cruise time was talking to all the people, finding out where they were from, learning about their experiences, favorite cruise destinations and how many cruises they have been on. The line to the tenders went really quickly and I was back on the ship to get some great pictures of the Coast Guard ship that was docked there for my dad.

Coast Guard ship

I figured out that I can only post six photos at a time so I will post some random photos every once in a while. If anyone has any questions about them just ask. Thanks for staying with me this long. LOL

A towel man in our bed (if you notice, the light is broken, it is supposed to have a lamp shade on it. It was broken when we got to the room but by Wednesday they had fixed it and we received an apology letter from Carnival. LOL)

In the back of the bus going to Ocho Rios. Don't know what the cardboard was for?

A photo of the funnel with Jamaica in the background

Waiters dancing on the tables in the lower level of the Monet dining room

Jerk Pork served in the dining room

If you are looking for the DAY 1 thread here it is:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=639294

Day 6 of our cruise: On day 6 we docked in Cozumel. My daughter and I had decided to rent a car here and have a fun mother daughter day. Because of Cruise Critic we had a great time. We got off the ship on a huge pier and made our way to the customs area. I had already made a reservation with Executive Rental Cars (CC) so we made our way over to where the rental car people were and a fellow told us to follow him to the Executive office in the mall. The mall is gorgeous and huge. It is very fancy and has every kind of souvenir, jewelry and household goods shop you can imagine.

The Executive guy took us to the office on the second level and told us to show the reservation confirmation to the fellow behind the counter and he would take care of us. We showed him the confirmation, filled out a form and then were told to go down the stairs and out the back and Jose would take us to the car. We did what he said and sure enough there was Jose ready to help us. He took us all around the car to check for damage and then Jose told us about getting gas. We were to be sure make sure that when we got gas at the gas station that we checked that the pumps were set on zero and we were to get the green gas. In other words, we were to get the gas that was labeled in green. We were also told not to park in any place that was painted red or yellow and then we were off.

Our little car in Cozumel - an Atos

We made our way carefully south out of town. The air conditioner was amazing and we were so thankful for the cold air as the heat and humidity was again extremely hot to us. My daughter was driving and she learned very quickly that the car didn't have power steering or power anything. We didn't really care, though, we were just glad for the air conditioning. LOL

Driving around Cozumel

We drove around the island, making a few stops as we went around and then made our way to a really neat restaurant called Coconuts. This is considered the highest point on the island so we took photos and decided to eat lunch there. We shared a plate of scrumptious quesadillas and we each had a huge virgin pina colada. We had such a fun time at this place.

The restaurant was completely open all around and had a large thatched roof. There were funny signs hanging everywhere as well as all kinds, shapes and sizes of underwear and t-shirts that had been signed by fellow patrons. There was a rooster who was quite at home walking around under the tables, two dogs, a huge fat cat, a chameleon and a parrot. The people who worked there were very friendly and gave us plenty to eat and seemed very glad to have us there.

Photos around Coconuts

After we enjoyed our lunch we left and headed around the rest of the island. After arriving back in town we found a gas station, filled up the car and then returned it back to Jose who was waiting for us in the parking lot. He checked the car over and said he would vacuum out the sand for us and sent us on our way. We did some shopping for vanilla at a local grocery store near the pier. (CC) It was fun shopping there and we also bought some bottled water. The people running the store didn't speak any English but we managed to buy our purchases with no problem. We made our way back to the mall area and found a post office where I was able to mail some more post cards and then we made our way back to the ship. We went up to an upper deck and enjoyed sailing away from Cozumel, my favorite port of call.

I love your review! Sounds like you all had a great time. Great pics, too. Can't wait to read and see more. Thanks for sharing.

Oops. Double post.

Day 7 of our cruise: Saturday was our last full cruise day and our last day at sea. People seemed quieter on Saturday and everyone seemed to be contemplating that this was our last day. We finished up our photo shopping, and shopped for any last souvenirs we wanted to get for loved ones back home. We enjoyed one last game of trivia and my daughter and I attended a towel folding class and learned to make an Eskimo and an elephant simply by folding two towels and putting them together.

Towel folding class in the Toulouse Lautrec Lounge

We also played a round of miniature golf or rather three of our group played while I took pictures. The course is a lot of fun and quite challenging. Late in the afternoon we took some time to pack our suitcases and get ready for embarkation the next day. We had a wonderful day trying to enjoy every minute.

Miniature Golf under the funnel

Right before our last show we had a sort of Goodbye to our Carnival Cruise Team. We were able to say goodbye to our Captain and all the heads of staff.

Captain Massimo Marino, Butch Begovich and head of staff

The last show of the week was called "Legends" and it was a lot of fun. People on the cruise could attend the try outs each night and other cruisers voted on the person that they thought did the best and then the winners all dressed up in costumes provided by the Carnival Dancers and the dancers also provided the back up singing and dancing. What a hoot. Some of the stars that the cruise winners portrayed were Elton John, Brittney Spears, Elvis, James Brown and Frank Sinatra. Some of these people were amazing and some not so but all was done in fun and was extremely entertaining. A great way to close out our last day of cruising.

After the show we made our way back to our room and put out our suitcases for the embarkation process the next day. It was sad to know that this was the last day we would sleep in those cozy comfy beds.

Day 8 of our cruise: Because of Cruise Critic (I seemed to have used that phrase often) I knew a little of what was expected of our embarkation process. We attended the embarkation talk so that helped, also. Our group got up around 7:00 and after we got dressed and packed up our carry-ons we made our way up to the Lido deck for our last meal on the ship. A waiter up took our picture for us.

We ate and then had plenty of time to just sit and wait for our zone number to be called.

Last day sadness

Waiting for our zone to be called

Since we had a late flight out of Houston we were pretty far down the list but once we were called we made our way off the ship and out to the large building where we had come in only a very short week ago.

Oops... forgot that we aren't supposed to take photos in here!

We slowly made our way through the line and too quickly we were out the door into the real world. I really think the only thing left to do at this point is book another cruise. Maybe I will see you there!

String ray excursion in Grand Caymans

One of our towel creatures

Butch leading the disco line dance class

The bus to Ocho Rios

A lizard at Coconuts in Cozumel

Is it March yet????? :confused: :o

Thanks for posting your review with the photos. It was fun to read and helped me to remember our cruise (August 2007). I had to chuckle at your description of the Mardi Gras party. We did the same thing complete with the war paint. It was so much fun... especially the dancing part and I don't normally do that. We also had Vaida (from Lithuania) for our waiter but we were in the Renoir so maybe its not the same person (Ugede was her assistant). We really enjoyed her so maybe she was just having an off week (what a bummer it was your week!)

I also got a kick out of all the photos by the board with the lights on it. I checked the board daily and tried to move the dots back to prolong the cruise. :p

Thanks again for the review.

Oh my gosh!! I loved your review!! I loved all the pictures. Now it just makes me ready to board her on 10/14 (Like I wasn't already! :p )!! Thanks for writing such a great review.

Paige

Great review! I still need to write mine; I've been procratinating.

Here's a link to my pictures:

http://www.noprivilege.com/gallery/cruise2007

Me, the GF and my friend Kate were at the Towel Animal Folding deal as well. I can see my friend Kate just barely in one of the pics you posted. :)

Richard...