Review: Conquest Western Caribbean May 22-29, 2011

[GayleR]

maybe because I dont go to the tourist area they leave me pretty much alone. Iv had people trying to sell me junks, never offered weed, maybe I look too old? I never have had a problem in Jamaica and walked into town in Montego Bay twice by myself.. but hang out in the local areas, the local eateries and the local drug store and get online etc.

 

Totally off topic I know, but Fire, with over 50,000 posts, I wish your avatar was an actual picture of you. I've always wondered what you look like.

 

OP and Fire, you are both much braver than I am. We've been to Jamaica 3 times and I won't go into downtown Montego Bay....we usually just go to Sunset Beach.

[Pooh72]

Great Review !!! The pictures from the Pork Pit brought back instant memories. :)

[MicksMom]

Great review!!! Love The Conquest too, will be onboard in July for the 4th time.

 

Keep the pics coming!!!:D

[2addicted2xmas]

Great review, love the pics! We sail her again in 13 days!

[kittyness]

Georgetown, Grand Cayman, May 26

 

We woke up around 6:45 AM. We had put out a card for room service breakfast but it wasn't picked up and there was no food. We started getting dressed to go to the Lido instead. It was a good thing we had gotten up when we did because at 7:10 we heard some really loud noises from the anchor being lowered. Guess we didn't need an alarm clock that day after all.

 

On the way to the Lido, we stopped by the future cruise kiosk to get our tender sticker, as described in the Fun Times. They asked us if we were ready to get off the ship right this minute and we answered that we wanted to eat first. They told us to come back when we were ready to leave. OK, no problem. This was at 7:30 AM. We grabbed pastries only and came right back. It might have taken 10 minutes. A long line had formed in that short time. However, it moved really quickly. We were on a tender boat much faster than I expected. You can see a tender boat in the picture below.

 

 

Grand Cayman is a sharp contrast to Jamaica. There are high end luxury and jewelry stores. No one was pushy or offered illegal drugs. Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

We walked North along the main street a bit because none of the shops were open yet. I think it was just before 8:00 AM at this point. Once we got to a residential area, we turned around and came back. By that time, businesses were starting to open. We bought a lot of souvenirs including rum and rum cake. I bought some Big Black Dick rum simply for the name. I don't care what it tastes like. hahahaha They had a special going on so I bought that. Two 750 mL bottles for $24.99 USD and a free set of 4 mini bottles of various flavors. The shop attendant took our information so that it could be delivered to the ship.

 

 

More to come...

[kittyness]

(Georgetown, Grand Cayman continued)

 

As we walked and shopped, we came across the Elmslie Church. It's beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. It's surrounded by colorful flowering plants.

 

 

 

 

We found Cafe del Sol, which is a nice coffee shop. They have free wifi for customers so we bought a couple of coffees and checked email on my husband's cell phone.

 

For lunch, I had picked out a place called Seymour's Jerk Centre. I saw this on a website for the Cayman Islands. We like to try new foods and restaurants, especially when travelling. This place is more of a shack than anything. There is an open pit where they cook the food and a small shaded outdoor seating area. We walked about a mile from the main shopping area to get there. They supposedly opened at 11:00 AM. When we got there, three employees were sitting in the shaded area. I asked when they were going to open and the lady told me "At 11 but sometime's he's late." Alright then. Around 11:15 a van pulled up and unloaded some items. I noted that no one had started the pit. We had a choice of eating jerk chicken or waiting an undetermined amount of time for pork, fish, festival bread, or anything else on he menu. We chose to get the chicken. I think it might have been left over from the day before. For $20 USD, we got 2 orders of chicken, sliced white bread, and 2 moderately cool cans of soda. I wouldn't recommend going through all this effort for this place. I guess they really subscribe to the island stereotype of not getting in a hurry or being on time for anything. At least we can say we gave it a shot.

 

 

 

More to come... (probably not until tomorrow afternoon)

[Nanaimobound]

(Montego Bay, continued)

 

Rodney came to pick us up and take us back to the port at 1:30 PM. In my research of excursions and the sailing in general, I thought we would need to be back on the ship at 2:30 PM. It turned out that we didn't have to be back on the ship until 5:30 PM, meaning we had 4 hours to kill. Rodney said he could take us to downtown Montego Bay (tourist area) for $5 per person. Several of us decided to do that.

 

Rodney recommended the Pork Pit for food. For $8, Hubby got jerk chicken, bean & rice, and a Coke. The sauce was fabulous. It was a sweet red sauce with flavors of ginger, cloves, and allspice. It was a better deal and flavor than the jerk shack at the excursion.

 

 

 

 

More to come...

 

We loved the pork pit!

great review glad you had a great time!

[DKJJ]

I am so excited to read your review and the pictures are fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to write/post. We are sailing the Conquest in 19 days.

Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Sports Mama]

Great Review!!! :) I am looking forward to the rest of it!! We are sailing in July and have sailed her before a few years ago!! This just makes me look forward to our cruise even more. :D Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[CasualGeek]

BBD rum is pretty good in my opinion. Wish they sold it other places. Cruising in a couple weeks, but not to the Caymans, otherwise I would be picking up a few bottles myself. I love their vanilla rum mixed with coke. Tastes just like a vanilla coke..only better! :)

[crazychaperone]

Kittyness! Thank you so much for all your information. I am traveling next Sunday on the Conquest as a chaperone of 40 teenagers! I have been sending them "fun tips" everyday and you have given me some great information!

 

We were supposed to come to the cruise terminal on our own (others with parents, etc.) and meet at the buffet. Now that I have read what you said about not being able to board at the time you expected, I am thinking that we should all meet at the terminal.

 

Here's my question (finally) is there a place in the terminal that would be out of the way enough for us all to wait on each other?

 

Your Room: how would you have know if your room was ready or not when you went in?

 

Keep on typing! And Thanks!

[kittyness]

Kittyness! Thank you so much for all your information. I am traveling next Sunday on the Conquest as a chaperone of 40 teenagers! I have been sending them "fun tips" everyday and you have given me some great information!

 

We were supposed to come to the cruise terminal on our own (others with parents, etc.) and meet at the buffet. Now that I have read what you said about not being able to board at the time you expected, I am thinking that we should all meet at the terminal.

 

Here's my question (finally) is there a place in the terminal that would be out of the way enough for us all to wait on each other?

 

Your Room: how would you have know if your room was ready or not when you went in?

 

Keep on typing! And Thanks!

 

I would definitely meet inside the terminal and not the buffet. There are plenty of spots to meet inside the terminal.

 

I don't know how to tell if the room is ready! hahahaha Hopefully someone else can fill us both in.

[kittyness]

(Georgetown, Grand Cayman continued)

 

After our lunch, we had planned to go to Seven Mile Beach. We began walking that way and were quickly honked at by a van-bus. (This is normal, by the way. They honk and you respond with a nod or a wave off.) The van-bus already had 4 people in it and they were going to "the beach". For $5, he would take us there too. We hopped right on.

 

I don't know exactly where on Seven Mile Beach we ended up but I liked it. He dropped us off right at the beach. We only had to walk a few yards to the water. There was a bar with decent restrooms. There were also umbrellas for rent for $10. We got one because let's face it, I burn quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

While enjoying the beach, I bought a fresh coconut for $2 from a stand a few yards away. The juice was refreshing.

 

 

Before we left, I had to try the local beer from the bar.

 

 

More to come...

[kittyness]

(Georgetown, Grand Cayman continued)

 

Look at this beach. Simply gorgeous. There are actual pictures I took. The only changes I've made to these was to crop out people on the beach and resize them for posting on this thread. It literally looks like this. It took my breath away.

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing I didn't like was the sand. It's got a large percentage of tiny pulverized shells that can be a little sharp. I still loved it, though.

 

 

Here is a good shot of the boat anchored offshore.

 

More to come...

[kittyness]

(Georgetown, Grand Cayman continued)

 

We were told the last tender was at 3:00 PM so around 2:00 PM we packed up and caught the van-bus back to the dock area. We bought a few last minute souvenirs and tendered back to the ship. We were in our room by 3:15 PM.

 

We showered and ate a pizza snack around 4:15. We needed to keep the tradition going, ya know. Then I took a nap. I was pooped!

 

At 5:45 PM I got up and got dressed for our second elegant night. We ate dinner in the MDR at 6:15 PM. I had a Caesar salad, vegetarian Indian pot pie, and baked Alaska. Extra delicious. The hubs had shrimp cocktail, flat iron steak, and amaretto chocolate cake. All were of excellent quality, as we had come to expect.

 

About 7:30 PM, we went up to the fun shops. There was a watch seminar and raffle at 7:45. We didn't win anything, unfortunately. After that, we went back to the room to change into more comfortable clothes.

 

At 9:15 PM, we went to the Degas Lounge for the Punchliner comedy show. I don't know if I mentioned this previously but this place gets PACKED and packed EARLY. Even 30 minutes early, we got the absolute last 2 unsaved seats. I highly recommend getting there very early, especially if you have a large group. There are plenty of bar service attendants so you won't be bored. They also play music until the show starts.

 

The comedians from earlier in the week were gone and there were 2 new ones for the remainder of the trip. We saw Mark Simmons first this night. He was pretty funny. We stayed for the 11:00 PM show with Kim Harrison. She was funny at times. She did a lot of jokes about Columbia, South Carolina and the University of SC Gamecocks. Hubby and I lived there for a year so we got a lot of those jokes that most people didn't understand. Other than the "cock" jokes, she wasn't all that funny. Some people laughed like crazy so obviously someone thought she was funny. Different strokes for different folks.

 

We finally retired to our room around midnight and were met by this friendly face:

 

 

More to come...

[billsrobb]

(Georgetown, Grand Cayman continued)

 

We were told the last tender was at 3:00 PM so around 2:00 PM we packed up and caught the van-bus back to the dock area. We bought a few last minute souvenirs and tendered back to the ship. We were in our room by 3:15 PM.

 

We showered and ate a pizza snack around 4:15. We needed to keep the tradition going, ya know. Then I took a nap. I was pooped!

 

At 5:45 PM I got up and got dressed for our second elegant night. We ate dinner in the MDR at 6:15 PM. I had a Caesar salad, vegetarian Indian pot pie, and baked Alaska. Extra delicious. The hubs had shrimp cocktail, flat iron steak, and amaretto chocolate cake. All were of excellent quality, as we had come to expect.

 

About 7:30 PM, we went up to the fun shops. There was a watch seminar and raffle at 7:45. We didn't win anything, unfortunately. After that, we went back to the room to change into more comfortable clothes.

 

At 9:15 PM, we went to the Degas Lounge for the Punchliner comedy show. I don't know if I mentioned this previously but this place gets PACKED and packed EARLY. Even 30 minutes early, we got the absolute last 2 unsaved seats. I highly recommend getting there very early, especially if you have a large group. There are plenty of bar service attendants so you won't be bored. They also play music until the show starts.

 

The comedians from earlier in the week were gone and there were 2 new ones for the remainder of the trip. We saw Mark Simmons first this night. He was pretty funny. We stayed for the 11:00 PM show with Kim Harrison. She was funny at times. She did a lot of jokes about Columbia, South Carolina and the University of SC Gamecocks. Hubby and I lived there for a year so we got a lot of those jokes that most people didn't understand. Other than the "cock" jokes, she wasn't all that funny. Some people laughed like crazy so obviously someone thought she was funny. Different strokes for different folks.

 

We finally retired to our room around midnight and were met by this friendly face:

 

 

More to come...

 

Great review. I along with 100 or more crazies will be boarding for a great halloween cruise.

[kittyness]

Cozumel, Mexico, May 27

 

We woke up at 8:00 AM and got dressed. We grabbed breakfast on the Lido at 8:45 AM and went up to the Panorama deck to watch us pull into Cozumel. There were a number of small boats (military possibly?) that followed us very closely, dashing from one side of our wake to the other. It was a little odd but nothing came of it.

 

At 10:20 AM, we went down to deck 0 to get off the ship. There was hardly any line whatsoever. They had 4 photo opportunities to take photos when getting off the ship this day. The pier is a long concrete structure that looks relatively new. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue color.

 

 

 

As you approach the end of the pier, you come to an air-conditioned building. It's a huge duty-free shop. Liquor is in the front. There are probably 50 types of tequila for sale and sampling. You can get cheap tequila, expensive tequila, and everything in between. It was a little early for me to be doing shots of tequila (which is basically what the "tasting" amounted to) so I chose to only taste one. I ended up buying it. I also found some mini bottles of Patron silver for a good price and bought a few for gifts. Please note that they DO NOT deliver to the ship. So here I am, a few feet from the ship, and I have all this heavy liquor. They had a "locker" you could store your purchases in for free and we elected to use it. They also had a ton of other types of liquor for sale at good prices. As you continue to walk toward the exit, there is a section of perfume and cologne, watches and purses, and all sorts of things.

 

Once you exit, you are in the open-air port area. There are many shops and restaurants right here. You could easily stay here and enjoy your time.

 

 

 

We weren't entirely sure how to find the taxi station so we followed a group of excursion-ites. I figured they would need transportation so their guide should take them (and us) where we needed to go. I was right!

 

More to come...

[Payd]

Great review - thanks!! Looking forward to more!!

[comfortcat]

Great review. Dw and i are leaving on 6/19 on the conquest and your remarks have been very informative.:)

[kittyness]

(Cozumel, Mexico continued)

 

We found the taxi area easily. Fares to various places are posted on a conspicuous sign so there is no question as to how much you're going to pay. All prices matched the government-mandated prices I saw on the Cozumel website.

 

My husband doesn't drink and I only drink occasionally so an all-inclusive beach didn't make sense for us. Also, we have no kids so we didn't need a lot of water toys. We wanted a relaxing beach that wasn't too crowded. I researched and chose Playa Palancar (Palancar Beach). I knew it would be $20 USD each way for a taxi but it was worth it to me. (This beach is the farthest beach from the pier and therefore, has the highest taxi fare.)

 

 

 

The beach wasn't crowded at all. There may have been 20 people there, if that. There were wooden lounger chairs, hammocks, chairs and tables under a roof, and chairs and tables under thatched huts. All are free but they do expect you to buy some food or beverage. That was fine for us because we planned to eat lunch there.

 

By the time we left, we had ordered a bottle of water, a Coke, a Corona, a huge mango daiquiri, guacamole, chips, and pico de gallo. Portions were very generous and our grand total pre-tip was $24.50. I thought that was extremely reasonable.

 

 

 

 

Side note: Keep in mind all prices on the menu were in Mexican pesos but the check had it converted into USD. Before we sailed, I had made a little cheat sheet of conversions so I'd know what I was buying. For example, I converted 100 pesos to $, 500 pesos to $, etc. It came in very handy so I recommend doing that.

 

Service was great. Our waiter was attentive without being intrusive. The masseuse came by once and asked if we wanted a massage and she graciously accepted our decline. The only other bother we had (and it really wan't a bother at all) was a man selling handmade jewelry. He was very nice and approached us politely and quietly. He had necklace, bracelet, and earring sets made of semi-precious stones. I bought one for $15. I really like it and have already gotten complements on it. =)

 

Now on to a VERY important Public Service Announcement:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warning: If you see this thief, protect your food!!!

 

 

In the 2 seconds between the time our bowl of chips was placed on the table and my hand pulling out my first chip, this professional thief swooped in and took 3! I don't think this was his first job. He was really good and really fast. So watch out! hahahaha

 

As soon as he (she?) did it, I thought of an old Saturday Night Live skit with Tracey Morgan. He was dressed in a safari outfit and had a tv show about animals. He had a talking parrot on the show and he got mad at it saying "That bird stole my credit card!" I said "That bird stole my tortilla chip!"

 

More to come...

[smwc71alum]

Loved the Public Service Announcement !!! Enjoying your review !! I have sailed on the Conquest in November of 2010 and going again in October. Glad that you had such an awesome time.

[kittyness]

(Cozumel, Mexico continued)

 

I should also mention that Playa Palancar has a decent shower, changing, and restroom facility.

 

Here are some additional pictures of the beach area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come...

[newBell11]

Hi~ Just another thank you for your review! I have really enjoyed your comments and pictures! :o Love the one's in Cozumel especially. I haven't been there in years and can't wait to get back. We am leaving on the Conquest this Sunday :D Yay! We have a group of 10... it is going to be soooo much fun!

[kittyness]

(Cozumel, Mexico continued)

 

Once we had our fill of the beach, we decided to take a cab into downtown. There were several taxi drivers hanging out at the exit of the beach so we asked one of us to take us. Again, the fare was what I expected ($20 return + normal $7 fare to downtown = $27). The road is more like a highway and we cruised along at 120 km/hour according to the taxi's speedometer. :eek:

 

He dropped us off on the far end of the tourist shopping area so that we could walk back in the direction of the ship. We stayed in the shops that faced the main street for the most part. These places are air-conditioned and don't bargain down much. They are typically a little more than the un-air conditioned shops in the alleyways. I bought some souvenirs and Mexican vanilla. A teenage man caught my attention with some silver and abalone bracelets. His shop was in one of the alleyways. He said the normal price of he bracelet was $38 but "for me" it was only $35. I've bought similar items in the States for $25 so I wanted to pay less than $25... I knew we could bargain so I told him I'd think about it and I looked at the other items in his shop. I didn't see anything else I really wanted so I asked him if that was his best price. We went back and forth a bit with "how much do you want to pay?" and "how much is your best price?" and more "how much are you willing to pay?" hahahaha I finally offered $20. He countered with $23 and I told him I'd think about it and come back later. I then turned and headed toward the door. Suddenly $20 was a good price. hahahaha So I ended up only paying $20. I was satisfied with the transaction.

 

Cozumel shopping is between Jamaica and Grand Cayman. There are certainly many people calling out to you in an attempt to get you to go into their store. But they aren't nearly as pushy or aggressive and they all smile. Not all the Jamaicans smiled or took no for an answer. Also, the shops are nicer than in Jamaica but they don't have the luxury shops like Grand Cayman.

 

At this point, the chips and guacamole had worn off and my husband was getting hungry. We came to a restaurant called Tiki Tok. The menu was posted outside (in Mexican pesos-remember your conversion cheat sheet!) and prices were decent so we decided to eat there.

 

 

We decided to eat upstairs. The edge of the second floor has sand like at the beach. It was cheesy but I liked it.

 

 

 

I ordered fish tacos and an iced tea. Hubs ordered the special coconut shrimp and a Coke. Chips and salsa were free. The total for this pre-tip was $34. I thought the shrimp were a bit overpriced at $20. The cost was clear on the menu but because they were advertised as "special" shrimp, we were really expecting more. My fish tacos were only $8 and there were 3 large ones with guacamole and beans so I thought that was fair.

 

 

 

More to come...

[kittyness]

(Cozumel, Mexico continued)

 

After a couple more shops, we were hot and tired. We easily got another taxi and headed back to the pier area. There are lots of shops and restaurants at the pier area so you really don't have to leave if you don't want to venture too far. Hubby noticed the coffee shop had free wifi so he parked his behind (and all my bags!) there and browsed on his phone while I walked around and shopped some more. Once Hubby and I were done, we headed back to the ship. It was about 3:30 PM and there was very little line to get on.

 

We showered, changed, and rested before dinner. We again went to the MDR around 6:15 PM. I had the mozzarella, tomato and basil appetizer, penne with vodka cream sauce, and apple pie. Hubby had fried shrimp, flat iron steak and chocolate raspberry cake. All delicious, as usual.

 

At 7:30 PM we found and bought our pictures in the photo gallery. Then we went to watch the Battle of the Sexes game at 8:30. I had no idea what to expect. I thought a few men and women would go on stage and answer some trivia questions. I was wrong. The game leader told the women to sit on one side and men on the other. Uh, oh. I wasn't excited about splitting up from the hubs and sit by myself. He wasn't either. I'm glad we did. The game was SO FUN! We both really got into it. Each team elects a leader who goes into the audience and get the answer from the team. I was the only woman who knew the answer to one of the questions so I was proud to represent the girls. =) We ended up winning but only because we had a lot of help in the final round. When it was over and my husband and I met up again, there was a lot of light-hearted banter about whose questions were easier and whatnot. Hubs told me that we are definitely participating in more games on our next cruise. Yay!

 

After that, we stayed for the Showtime show. The entertainer's name was Micheal James. He was OK, I guess. He did some juggling and unicycle stuff. He also stood on a single ladder and did some juggling. There was a lot of talking and build-up and not a lot of tricks. I respect the effort and time it took to learn all those skills but I thought it moved a bit slow.

 

After that, we played some bingo. I don't normally play bingo because I think it's overpriced at $10 per card, $20 per triple card, and $5 per pull-tab instant game. They were running a special that night where you would get 2 free pull-tab instant games if you bought a triple card so we did that. We didn't even come close on the bingo card but both of our pull-tab games were winners! One was $5 and the other was $25. Not too shabby! (You take them to the casino and they give you CASH. Imagine that. I figured I'd get OBC or something similar.)

 

 

I believe there was also some pizza and calzone-eating involved at this time. We went to the midnight comedy show with Mark Simmons again. He repeated some of the material from the previous night, which was a bit of a disappointment but I guess he did that so that more people could see the show. It was still very funny and we enjoyed it.

 

Cursory towel animal shot:

 

More to come...(tomorrow)