Conquest 7/3- 7/11

[tymaboy1]

No I did not mess up on the date- we should have been back by 7/10 but thanks to Dennis we got an extra day. Soe people may have been happy about that but I personaly was SOO looking forward to get off the boat. Now don't get me wrong it was not awful but it was not what I expected after reading the post here (I was a 1st time cruiser). Maybe the choppy waters had something to do with it. If I remember right the 1st day & a half the waters was fine but that 2nd day the water started to get choppy & so did my stomach, but after I laid down for awhile I was fine.

 

The 1st night at dinner we found our table & made small talk with our nieghbors on the table next to us & they asked us if we would switch tables with their friends that was seated afew tables away. We agreed & after meeting our new waiter we were so glad we did. Our 1st waiter was just there & only did his job our new waiter was so much fun, we could joke around with him & he would joke around with us to. The food was never great- usually warm. After we ate at the Point the dinning room just did not seem the same afterwards.

 

I did not meet our Cabin guy until Monday, but he was awsume! My parents went on the cruise also & they were located on the floor below us & they did not have many good things to say about their cabin boy. Ours was in & out of our cabin all day long, never had to ask for ice. I had even put a bottle of pop or water in the ice bucket to keep it cold & when we came back to the cabin he had fresh ice in the bucket with the bottle buried as far down in the ice as possible. He alway gave us clean towels- even if we hung the towels back up. The one night I had to go back to the room cuz I felt sick & he was in the hall by the room & I told him that I hoped he did not need in there cuz I was going to be sick so he open the door for me & even asked me the next day if I was feeling better. I left him know that I really liked the towle animals so he woud ask m if there was any special one that I wanted- I told him to surprise me. My parents got 1 less animal then I did. They also had to get their own ice whenever they needed it. Needless to say I don't think their cabin boy much of a tip. My mom also said that he left an envolope in their room (not marked) but we did not so we figured it must have been for his tip. Our guy (Armon (sp?)) did not leave an envlope at our room so on the last day we slipped him a $20 (hope that was good).

 

The shows were not all that great. Most of them had the dancers. The women dancers were half dressed wearing a thong so you got a good shot of their a** almost every night. I did not think this was appropreate seeing that it was considered a family show, plus being a women I do not enjoy watching half dressed women on a regular bases. The midnight shows I enjoyed, they were R rated & usually a comiedian. We never seemed to get around to any of the daytime activities. I tthink it mainly had to do with the time we got up & the time we ate breakfast & lunch.

 

After the 2nd full day on the ship I was ready to get to Jamaca & get off the ship for awhile. Both DH & I agree that we have no desire to go back to Jamaca. It looks very run down & dirty. The people there are not affraid to ask for tipps. When we arrive back to the port there was a band playing next to the line with a hat set aside for tipps (this I can handle) but shortly after we got back on the ship I looked out the window to see a marching band there. At this time there is 2 lines to get back on the ship & the band had 4 kids at the begginning of the line holding bags open (2 for each line). Our tour guide had also made sure to let us know that it was required to leave a tip.

 

We skipped Grand Caymen due to Dennis (we were in Jamica the day before Dennis went threw) So we went straight to Cozumel (we arrived the night before we were schedueled) It was nice we were able to get off the ship that night & do some shopping (I was happy to to get off & do something different) DH & I had a good time for just those few hours that we were off the ship. The next day we went to Chankanaab Park for the Dolphin Swim & the Helmet Dive. I Reccomend both of these to anyone who has wanted to try either of these. I did not think the Helmet Dive would be that great (I wanted to do the Snuba but DH wear glasses so we had to go withthe Helmet Dive) I am so glad we did this- It is hard to say which was better. During the Hemet DIve our tour guide found a shrimp for us to hold & also a Sea horse. During the dive they also took our waterproof camera & took pictures of us- even with them making a video & taking pictures also. We bought both the dolphin & dive video. The video for the dolphin was abetter deal then buying the picture. They wanted $20 for the larger pictures (not as big as an 8X10) So we figured we can pull out a frame on the video of whatever pictures we want (the video was $35). The Helmet Dive video with the still shots was $55. When we were done we caught a taxi back to the port & by the time we got back it was pouring & the line wrapped all around the shopping center by the port. We noticed that the bike taxis by passed that whole line so we took on eof those through customs. The best part was they work for tips- I gave them the last $4 I had cuz I figured it was well worth not haveing to stand in that huge line for who how long.

 

When the ship left port the Captain went full speed trying to get to the Mississippi before it got closed cuz of Dennis. So the Captained also desided not to use the Levelers (not sure what they are called but they help the ship not to rock so much) Needless to say it was a rough day at sea & for nothing cuz buy that evening they closed the Mississippi so we went 21-22knots down to 6knots. The ship rocked more at 6knots then it did at any other speed. It was sorta funny wtaching people walk down the hall cuz it look like everyone was wasted. The crew was the only people that seemed to walk half way straight.

 

Since the Mississippi was closed many people missed their flights & had to rescheduele. DH & I had planed on spending the night in NO Sunday night & fly out Monday morning. The rumor was that each person got 5 free minutes on the satalite phone but they did not announce it, but we found out that it was more then 5 minutes & more then just 1 call a person. We had to make afew calls to try to cancel the hotel & possible change our flight. It seemed like half the calls that we were able to get threw on ended up getting disconnected so we had to call DH parent to have them make the calls for us. As it turned out we got extremely lucky cuz it would have cost us an extra $130 a ticket to change our flight. We disembarked Monday morning about 7:45 & was at the airport around 8:00. Our flight left at 9:30.

 

http://www.rbeggs.com/gallery/ The 1st two pages of our gallery are pictures taken from our trip. I do have some picture of the room & some of the rest of the ship in the gallery some where. The Jamica album is mainly of the houses. The Dolphin pictures where all taken from our disposible camera (I have not gotten to taking frames off of the video yet) So if you where wondering how the pictures turned out you can check out that album- the closer you are the better.

[Live_2_cruise05]

Great review! Nice pictures thanks for sharing! We were booked on the conquest for the July3 sailing..but we changed because of our works to the Elation our og Galveston..Glad we did! hehe :D

[nybumpkin]

Hi Guys - Glad you made your flight! We wondered whether you got out okay, given the schedule changes. We managed to get a cellphone signal once we got close to the Mississippi and were able to change our flight to a Monday afternoon flight out of NOLA. Never heard about the free phone time earlier. We managed a 12:15 flight out of NOLA, made it home around 9:00 pm. Haven't downloaded out pictures yet. Agree about Jamaica - our excursion leader made clear that tips were expected. (Since our two youngest managed to get carsick on the trip to Black River, we did tip well:eek: ) The whole adventure did made for interesting discussion at work. Hope your new job's going well! We really enjoyed meeting you.

 

We have a friend who's interested in cruising next year; who knows? We may be going back to Canada on Victory!

[eelyak]

The pictures are great! Thanks so much for sharing!

[sea_u_onboard]

Which dining room were you in? Which seating Main or late?

[Yazoo cruiser]

wanted to do the helmet dive, but because I am almost blind without my glasses have not done so. Can you wear your glasses, did you husband enjoy it, about how long did it last and could you describe exactly what you get to do on the dive. THANKS FOR ANY INFORMATION, we are going on 8-29.