From hostmach on Conquest

[cullensmom]

9/29/10 around 4:00 pm central time

 

We're currently making 8.5 knots heading 260 degrees toward Grand Cayman. The winds are still 40+ knots across our bow.

As the system is moving north east at a meager 8 knots I'm afraid we'll be feeling it's effects for quite a while now.

Personally, I'd prefer that we cancel Cayman now and make way for Cozumel but I don't have a vote!

I've heard reports that a lot of passengers are sick and the evidence of that is in the hallways. Blue cotton bags stuffed full of bedding dot the corridor. Regardless, plenty of folks are enjoying the casino, the bars and the additional music that's being played by the bands on board.

I'll post as soon as I hear about our call in Cayman.

Hope someone is able to copy and paste over to Cruise Critic for me. I've tried posting there three times and get timed out on each occasion and that's gettin' EXPENSIVE!!!

- Mach

 

note - the times on Mach's posts to Carnival Funville are all wacky. I'm not sure what time zone that thing's set for...

[cullensmom]

Sat Sep 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM

 

 

Hello, all!!!

Host Mach from CruiseCritic.com here.

Tomorrow morning, my vastly better half, Stitch and I will be boarding the lovely Carnival Conquest. This will be my sixth voyage on her and Stitch's third.

We'll be joined by about 160 friends, collectively known as the Crazies, more accurately, the Committed Conquest Crazies. We love that ship and all things Carnival. We've been sailing together for three years and I can't see it ending.

Today, the Crazies converge on Galveston for our traditional pre-cruise party. Most of us will be at the Hilton, some at the Harbor House and the remainder scattered about the island. It will be a wonderful reunion, full of laughter, music, adult beverages and memories.

I hope y'all will come along with us. I'll be posting regularly on this thread as our voyage progresses.

Our ports of call are Montego Bay on Wednesday, Georgetown, Grand Cayman on Thursday and Cozumel, Mexico on Friday.

It's gonna be a great adventure!!!

 

-Mach

[flynnsport]

Ouch!

[cullensmom]

Tue Sep 28, 2010 at 01:55 PM

 

Aloha, all!

Mach here reporting in from the lovely Carnival Conquest!!!

Other than some irritations during the VIP boarding process EVERYTHING else has been close to perfect!! The Conquest is a lovely as I left her last year... or more correctly, this past March. The staff is wonderful! We met Captain Sammartano last night. He's a completely approachable guy, loves to chat and got a great kick out of getting his picture taken with our mascots. In fact, he wouldn't give them up for a bit.

As luck would have it, a friend from the past is the Hotel Director on the Conquest. It was great to run into Marvin again. The guy has a memory like the proverbial elephant!

Chris Jefferson is a very fine cruise director. Spontaneous on stage with a very quick wit he's been a pleasure to watch and work with.

The seas have been brilliantly flat with the exception of a little weather we enjoyed overnight.

The food has been consistently excellent. Last night was our first elegant evening. The lobster, although a bit on the small side, was very well prepared. Not over cooked and rubbery as lobster can be and perfectly sweet it won universal praise. One of our group ate three!!

Our Meet & Mingle yesterday was amazingly well attended. We filled Vincent's Lounge. Everyone introduced themselves as we have some new folks sailing with us this year. We swapped stories of how the Crazies came about nearly three years ago now, stories of loss, laughs and strong, lasting friendships.

We did a poker cabin crawl yesterday at 11 AM. Of course, there we shots and arcane concoctions involved. A few of our folks who failed to eat breakfast paid for that mistake as the day progressed but all seem to be fine today.

My vastly better half, Stitch, is out on deck at the moment enjoying breakfast and waiting for us to glide quietly past Cuba.

Today is our cocktail party, our past guest reception and a special event for some Crazies who had a problem saying a particular word on our thread on Cruise Critic. NO, not the F bomb... the M bomb! We don't say MONDAY unless we're on a cruise as NOTHING good ever happens on a Monday. It's for that reason that Crazies know Monday as the Day Who's Name We Dare Not Mention... DWNWDNM. Violators receive 'Ribbons of Shame' that will be distributed today along with Mojitos as we need to have some sympathy for the transgressors.

I'll be back later today with an update.

I'd like to thank Carnival for making these forums available for free. It's a brilliant service.

'Til a bit late, y'all be good... someone has to and it ain't US!!!

[MrPete]

I'm glad to be a landlubber this week!

[cullensmom]

Tue Sep 28, 2010 at 04:57 PM

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh... I feel so sorry for you kids... Here we are on a deep blue sea, skies are clearing and my double Bloody Mary was brilliant as was my perfectly cooked omelet!!!

I got stuck in an elevator with a gentleman who objected to the fact that I had not sailed and reported on Royal Caribbean ships. I ran through a list of reasons why I had no desire to sail on RCCL ships... he had no counter.

I don't understand why people can't leave me alone on that topic. I can objectively review any ship without having sailed on some other line. That's like telling me I can't opine on steak because I don't eat chicken...

:)

- Mach

[cullensmom]

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 02:35 PM

 

WestTxCruiser:

Good Morning Crazies!!

We landlubbers are anxiously awaiting more updates.

How's the weather?

 

 

 

Aloha, Julie... the weather is foo... We ran through some seas overnight, not bad, about 10 feet or so but the sick sacks were out and the new cruisers were complaining about how rough it was... wandering back and forth from one wall of the hallway to the other.

Like Gov said, the Deck Party was a wash out... bummer. We wanted to go but didn't want to fight four or five hundred folks ganged together in the Casino.

It's gray, overcast and raining here in Jamaica and we've yet to make port... very close though as I can see the mountainous spine of the island from our very soggy balcony.

Dinner last night was excellent, as always. I had the Black Tiger Shrimp Cocktail (as always...) along with the Pumpkin Soup (EXCELLENT!!!) and Jerk Pork Loin. As I'm a MAJOR lover of spicy food the jerk was a bit mild for me but all the flavor was there and the pork was perfectly cooked.

Dessert was fig and something and something cake that reminded me of a carrot cake but much lighter with wonderful crunchy bits of caramelized fig scattered through out. It was truly delicious and that comes from someone who doesn't eat dessert.

The good news is that Crazies are always Crazies and we got a number of shout outs at the Past Guests reception yesterday and I swear there's not a person on board who doesn't know who we are.

The staff are all great to us taking care of everything we need. Some of our Crazies are doing brilliantly well in the casino. Our dear Melba is up $1000!!!!

There's some pictures of Crazies being just that and those will come along when we get home. Teri1... these kids have kept the pole dancing tradition alive for you!

Stitch is off for coffee and to find our folks.

I'll be back later to let you know what we're up to for the day. I can tell you that in the 28 years I've been visiting this island this is the first time I've ever seen a day like this. Just luck of the draw, I'm sure!

Later, folks!!!

- Mach

[cullensmom]

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 02:48 PM

 

 

Adiós, Jamaica!

Captain Sammartano just announced that we can't make into the port here in MoBay... MAJOR BUMMER!!!

The winds are still blowing 50 to 60 knots here and after three attempts to make it to the dock we're headed back out to sea.

FOO!

:(

Oh well, out of all the cruises I've been on this is the first time I've lost a port... had to happen.

[cullensmom]

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 07:02 PM

 

Aloha, folks!!

Well, conditions haven't improved in the least. The seas appear to be 16 to 18 at the moment and the spray from the bow is blowing horizontally past my balcony, midships on the Upper Deck. It's a pretty fair blow.

We had a movie in the Toulouse Lautrec Lounge, 'It's Complicated', not too bad, some pretty good laughs.

Of course, the pools are drained as the water was sloshing about pretty good but I can't say that I've seen anyone much worse the wear for the motion of the ship. The bars are packed.

We got a letter in our cabin announcing that we were being credited $9.74 for the taxes. The letter also details that we are headed directly to Grand Cayman, which takes us directly into the weather. Probably a good idea as a determination can be made about tendering there early perhaps allowing us two days at Cozumel.

Tonight 26 of us will be dining at the Point for dinner. Should be fantastic, as always.

I'll try to get some pictures of the conditions and post them here a bit later in the day.

- Mach

[WestTxCruiser]

I feel bad for all the sick folks, and the rooms stewards.:eek:

[chasinraynbowz]

9/29/10 around 4:00 pm central time

 

We're currently making 8.5 knots heading 260 degrees toward Grand Cayman. The winds are still 40+ knots across our bow.

As the system is moving north east at a meager 8 knots I'm afraid we'll be feeling it's effects for quite a while now.

Personally, I'd prefer that we cancel Cayman now and make way for Cozumel but I don't have a vote!

I've heard reports that a lot of passengers are sick and the evidence of that is in the hallways. Blue cotton bags stuffed full of bedding dot the corridor. Regardless, plenty of folks are enjoying the casino, the bars and the additional music that's being played by the bands on board.

I'll post as soon as I hear about our call in Cayman.

Hope someone is able to copy and paste over to Cruise Critic for me. I've tried posting there three times and get timed out on each occasion and that's gettin' EXPENSIVE!!!

- Mach

 

note - the times on Mach's posts to Carnival Funville are all wacky. I'm not sure what time zone that thing's set for...

 

I suspect he will get his wish since you have to tender at GC.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Hope you get smoother seas pretty soon. If it's still pretty rough, they will probably not be able to do Cayman.

 

Doug

[jetskier]

One thing about the Crazies is that they are going to have fun no matter what.

 

Dave

[WestTxCruiser]

Here's another post from the Funville thread from one of our Crazie friends.

Just wanted to stop by and say hello to everyone! Today has been an interesting one, to say the least! Rockin' and rollin' all day long! Luckily, it doesn't bother me one little bit and I love feeling the ship roll. It just reminds me I'm not on dry land!

Our cabin is on deck 6 at the very front of the ship. We have a window looking out over the "secret" deck and I've had a great time sitting up in the window taking video and watching the waves. You can feel the ship go up and down, up and down and then all of a sudden, we have a big drop and the water slams into the bottom of the ship. It'll wake you up from a nap, I'll tell you that! The wind was howling across the deck in front of the window and the rain blowing sideways. I couldn't see the horizon for quite a while. Pretty cool. We all should have some great pictures and videos to share when we get back!

I'm with Mach-I wish we'd just skip Cayman and head towards Cozumel, so we can spend a couple of days there. But, where ever we end up, the Crazies will make it fun! And hey, I'm on a boat!

[marshhawk]

Grand Cayman is for calm sea tendering, but these are the Crazies, and it sounds like they are having fun amidst the fury of mother nature. I hope they have a good dinner tonight.

I would be praying for Cozumel!

[JRock59]

I'm sure ya'll are having a great time as you have each other to keep busy even on crappy days. :) I sail Saturday on the Ecstasy and fingers crossed it's passed by then and we have smooth seas and sunshine. But if not there's 6 of us ladies and the Mexican Train Domino game is packed! :D So if you could please sent the weather your having east, really-REALLY East we sure would appreciate it! ;)

[LHP]

News just reported 2 dead in Jamaica and 12 missing from the flood waters....

 

sounds like it was a really bad storm....

[DGP1111]

I'm glad to be a landlubber this week!

 

Ditto that, Pete!! :)

But let us not forget that "a day of high winds, rough seas, missed ports, and the smell of vomit laundry in the hallways is still way better than your best day at work."

[WestTxCruiser]

Here's the latest update from Mach

Good morning from Grand Cayman... or at least off shore at Grand Cayman. We arrived here several hours ago and have been steaming along the island since. The interactive system on the TV reports seas are 7.5 to 12 feet, pretty much ruling out tendering, our only option to make the port. Although there has been no notification I suspect that we'll be waving good bye to the Cayman Islands shortly.

24 of the 28 Crazies scheduled to dine at the Point last night made it. I fear the long exposure to 'the motion of the ocean' has taken it's toll on some. Dinner, however, was excellent, as is always the case in the steakhouses on board. I had the 18 oz prime rib chop, cooked rare and it was stunning! Stitch had the Fillet... a beautiful piece of meat. Food *** to follow!!

Despite missing Jamaica, and probably Grand Cayman, spirits remain high. As Kyle Post said about this group last year... Crazies know how to cruise.

I'll check in later en route to Cozumel!!!

Ciao!

 

- Mach

 

 

Aloha, folks!

We're making another pass at Grand Cayman. Don't know if we'll be able to tender as the waves are still in the 4 to 7 foot range.

I'll keep y'all updated!

:)

- Mach

[WestTxCruiser]

Ditto that, Pete!! :)

 

But let us not forget that "a day of high winds, rough seas, missed ports, and the smell of vomit laundry in the hallways is still way better than your best day at work."

Thanks for cracking me up this morning!:D:p AND I do agree!!

[GoofyDog]

And the latest from Machman!!!

 

The Port of Grand Cayman authorities have closed the port to tender operations so we're headed, slowly, off the Cozumel.

 

I'm sure there'll be some very unhappy folks but trust the Crazies to be upbeat and help the others to come along with us.

 

I'll check in later during our trek to Coz!

 

Ciao!

 

- Mach

[WestTxCruiser]

Hopefully the seas will be calmer today as they make their way to Cozumel.

[MrPete]

One thing about the Crazies is that they are going to have fun no matter what.

 

Dave

 

The crazies may, but the non crazies may not, who will undoubtedly be more crazy than crazie!

[JRock59]

Maybe they should show the video coming out of Jamica and Grand Cayman on the big screen and in every cabin on the tv's. If folks could see "what they missed" they might change their minds....they'd still want something for nothing but it "might" help a few have a different view. :o

[msbambam1]

Back in October of 2006 on the Conquest. We had 16-18 ft seas. A tropical depression was coming thru the Gulf. The first 2 days were miserable. Even many of the crew were sick. Luckily by Tuesday we had clear blue skys and had a blast.

 

When you book a curise during hurrican season, you just never know haw the weather will be. just think, things could be worse and you could be at work like I am!!!

 

But sure would be nice if all these storms would move out before we leave on the 10th!!!!