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My Review/ Conquest June 27th-July 4th!!!

WestTxCruiser

By WestTxCruiser,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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WestTxCruiser

WestTxCruiser

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I hope you enjoy my review, it will be detailed, with pictures....and most likely be very long!!!

 

We had a group of 9 people cruising with us, we are all from Odessa, Tx.

DH, Mike 48, 6th cruise (4th on Conquest)

Me, Julie 49, 6th cruise (4th on Conquest)

DS, Shane 15, 4th cruise (3rd on Conquest)

DD, Tara 8, 4th cruise (3rd on Conquest)

And our friends.....

Tina 40, Newbie

Olivia 18, Newbie

Marcy 31, 2nd cruise (1st on Ecstasy)

Heather 38, Newbie

Irene 49, Newbie

 

We left the house about 6am Sat morning. We took 2 vehicles since we had 9 people. We had to make a stop at the Stripes store for Mike's morning fountain coke.....he can't function without it:rolleyes:....unless he is at sea!

 

This stop proved to not be a good one for me.:mad:.....I kind of, sort of, didn't see this pole in the parking lot and BAM.....backed right into it

car001.jpg?t=1278696788

Needless to say, I was not a very happy cruiser at this point.....nor was my hubby.....but it could always be worse.

 

So off we go Southeast bound and down, put the peddle to the meddle and thing to the floor and 10 and 1/2 hours later we arrive in Galveston.

 

We stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites on Stewart Beach. It was fine for a pre-cruise stay for one night. Clean and easy access to the port.

 

They do let you park your car there but they charge $35....and you have to set up your own transportation to the port. We chose to just park at EZ Cruise.

 

Oh and we got there in time to see the Ecstasy sailing by as she headed out to sea!:)

 

We had some of my Crazies friends from Houston who met us at the hotel for some drinks, thank you Susan and Bill and thank you Elaina for the big surprise!! Elaina is from Dallas and surprised me by showing up in Galveston...they are good secret keepers cuz it seems like lots of folks knew, except me.

 

We were hanging out by the pool enjoying a few cold ones when Mike and Shane walked out and told me that they had just been approached by a woman in the hall....

she asked them "Are ya'll Mike and Shane?"

It kind of freaked them out at first......then I told him it had to be Pam and her son David from my Roll Call, and it was!!

I forgot to mention to them that I had posted their pictures on my Roll Call.:rolleyes:

 

We all headed off to The Spot where we met up with some more Crazies friends, TexmanAl and Pechez (Mary) for some dinner and a few drinks. Thank you guys for coming and Mary hope your arm is doing better. Can't wait til Feb so we can cruise with ya'll!!

 

Awwwww, tomorrow is Embarkation Day!!!!!

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WestTxCruiser

WestTxCruiser

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Embarkation Day!!

We got up about 6am and headed downstairs for some coffee and a quick look outside to see if our ship was headed in. We saw the Conquest off in the distance so we headed to the dock, which we Crazies refer to as The Patio.

Watching the ship sail in is a Sunday tradition with the Crazies, so I knew we had lots of company via the web cam on The Patio.

What a beautiful sight she is, and what excitement to know we are getting on her soon!!

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010023.jpg?t=1278700618

 

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010022.jpg?t=1278700670

 

After she did her little dance and was safely tucked in at the dock, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, load up and get some breakfast.

 

We loaded up the truck with all our luggage.... and did I mention we have 9 people, 7 of whom are WOMEN.....lots of luggage.

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010039.jpg?t=1278701001

 

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010040.jpg?t=1278701059

 

The hotel offered the traditional Continental Breakfast, but we decided to go to Denny's instead.

 

Now the time has come, we head to the Port. Pulled up about 9:50, dropped off luggage with a Porter, don't forget to tip him!

Mike and Shane take the vehicles to EZ Cruise for parking, which we booked ahead of time online, $50 for each car for the week.

We soon realized that one of the bags(the pink and white one in the back of the truck:p) was a carryon and it accidentally got sent with the Porter.

We asked a lady who was standing by the area where they take the bags in, if there was any way to get that bag. I had put luggage tags on all the bags, including the carryons, just in case.......so the lady was able to locate the bag and bring it to us.

Heather was happy, it was her bag.

 

We had 3 cases of water that we carried onboard with us. I had bought a collapsable dollie from Harbor Freight and it worked great, and easily fit in the suitcase for coming back home.

 

We also took 6 bottles of Champagne, bubblewrapped them and placed them in a rolling suitcase. Went through security with no problems, told them we had 6 adults over 21. Also had a couple bottles of Grapefruit Juice and some small cans of Pineapple Juice.

 

Now for the BIG question that I know some of you will have......did we smuggle and was it successful.......yes and no. Yes, we used rum runners and yes some of them made it and no, some of them didn't. I think it's pretty much a crap shoot whether they will or they won't.

 

We were upstairs waiting in the first waiting area about 10:15, shortly thereafter we went through security, got checked in and waiting in Zone 1.

They had 3 wedding parties to board first, then we boarded about 11:30.

 

When we boarded I think the girls mouths dropped open in Awww of what they saw. I remember Olivia telling me it wasn't anything like she expected, I asked her if that was a good thing or a bad thing......it was a good thing!!

 

We headed straight to the Lido Deck, found a corner table and a place to stash our carryons until we could get into our cabins.

We were immediately greeted by a bar waiter Suresh, but he said to call him Sushi. He brought us our first DOD's

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010048.jpg?t=1278703293

 

Awww Life is Good!!

 

We hung out and drank DOD's and Bucket's of Beer until 1:30, then headed off to check out our cabins.

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WestTxCruiser

WestTxCruiser

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We had originally booked a balcony cabin on Deck 6 for Mike and I and we had 2 Upper/Lower 1A's on Deck 6 for Shane, Tina and Olivia.

Well, being the OCD Rate checker that I am, I was able to do some Upgrades and got us moved to the Panorama Deck.

Mike and I had Cabin 1047, Tina and Olivia had 1051, which both were balconies, Shane was in 1049, inside right across the hall from us.

Marcy, Heather and Irene had an inside on Deck 7, 7210.

On paper we were booked 2 people in 1049 and 2 in 1047, but we told our room steward that Tara would be in the balcony cabin with us. He said no problem, he would make the bed out for her while we were at dinner.

We were unable to get her Sail N Sign card keyed for that room though, the Pursors desk (just can't seem to call them Guest Services) said the room was only for 2 people so they couldn't do it. No biggie though, cuz she is too young to need a room key anyway.

We were celebrating Tara's birthday on this cruise, so I had a little surprise for her when we boarded

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010082.jpg?t=1278705601

 

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010084.jpg?t=1278705658

 

She loved it!!

We were also celebrating Olivia's Graduation from High School, so I had her cabin decorated with Congratulations.

AND....I wanted this cruise to be special for everyone so I had Marcy, Heather and Irene's cabin decorated with Bon Voyage decs.

I'm a softy, what can I say!!!

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WestTxCruiser

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After we checked out our cabins, we headed down to see the Maitre' D. We had our group of 9, plus our new CC Roll Call friends, Pam and David who wanted to join us for dinner.

I did a little pre-cruise footwork through a dear friend of mine, who was able to contact the CD, who contacted the Maitre' D to link all our dining times.

As soon as I told the Maitre'D my name he had everything right there in his computer, Table 428, Monet Dining Room, Late Dining.

Life is Good!!!!

We then headed to the Pursors' Desk to switch some room keys around and also add some cash for Gratuities for some of the girl.

That was also when we found out they would not key Tara's card for our cabin.

They also questioned about Shane being in the cabin by himself, but that was quickly resolved. He's been in his own cabin for every cruise....and he is right across the hall from us.

At 3, we had our Roll Call Meet N Greet at the Aft Pool, right by the Pizza place. It was fun to meet people you've been talking to for so long.

Shortly after that was Muster, no life jackets!!! It was short and painless.

Off to Lido for Sailaway!!!!

I have to take a moment and say that during this day I was in constant contact with my Crazies friends via text message.

It is kind of a tradition with Crazies who are cruising to keep the ones that are landlocked updated on our progress, leading up to sailaway.

Texts like

Zone 1 waiting

Boarding 11:30

1st DOD

2nd DOD

Muster

Thrusters

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WestTxCruiser

WestTxCruiser

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Great review so far, Julie! Bummer about the pole....:rolleyes:

I have a different kind of a pole picture to post later.:p

 

 

Julie so glad you are writing a review!!!! :)

I love doing it, just gonna take a little while to get it done.

 

Great review so far! Sorry about the car.:( Keep it coming!

Thanks and how bout that Junebug at Daytona!!:D I saw it on replay.

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We celebrated Sailaway on the Lido Deck for a while, then I decided it was time to unpack.

I was just a tad bit stressed because I am usually unpacked and have everything settled in its place before we ever go to Muster.

We had our luggage, just too much stuff going on.

 

So off to the cabin, and I informed Mike and Tara......STAY OUTTA MY WAY.....so they parked it on the Balcony.:p

 

Got us unpacked and realized we had some stuff missing......a toiletry bag. Mike's shaving stuff, our toothbrushes, shampoo,etc....no biggie, sure it will be there when we get back from dinner.

 

So we shower and get ready for our first dinner. As I said before we had 11 people at Table 428, in the Monet Dining Room.

Our waiters were John and his Asst Bagus. They were wonderful all week long.

John always referred to Tara as Princess, as did the Maitre'D.

I don't remember what we ate that night, but I can tell you it was good. There was very little that any of us did not care for. Our food was served promptly every night.

The bar waiter was always there to take our order, he knew that David drank a coke every night so automatically brought that.

I have heard many complaints about the bar waiters in the MDR being slow or never showing up.....we did not experience that at all.

As for the Attire for that night, it was very casual. We allowed our son to wear nice shorts and a polo shirt. Mike wore khaki pants and his Hawaiian shirts on non formal nights.

I was not affected by anything that anybody wore, or did not wear......never even noticed to be honest.

ConquestJune27thtoJuly4th2010032.jpg?t=1278714336

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