Christmas Cruising on the Conquest 2013 - Photo Review w/Fun Times

[sissyfromcab]

We just relaxed in our room until dinner. Tonight was our second formal night, so we dressed up for dinner.

 

For appetizers, I had the broccoli cheese soup and Travis had shrimp cocktail. Both were good.

 

For our main course, I had shrimp and Travis had chicken. I believe we both liked them.

 

Dessert was more warm chocolate melting cake.

 

After dinner, we went to the adult comedy show. I thought the comedian was funny, but Travis wasn't super impressed. His whole show was interacting with the audience and making funny comments. Two that I remember were a guy who worked for Kia in the maintenance department and he joked that Kias were so bad that they needed maintenance before they even left the factory. The other was a college age girl with the same name as a celebrity who was studying to be a proctologist and he was saying he was going to marry her, but then decided for the sake of his bum that he would find someone else.

 

We also got our nightly picture.

 

And met tonight's towel animal.

[Gingee]

I like your black and white dress. So pretty.

[sissyfromcab]

I like your black and white dress. So pretty.

 

Thanks!

[sissyfromcab]

[sissyfromcab]

Friday morning we got to sleep in a little, since we didn't arrive in Grand Turk until late morning. As we were walking back from breakfast, I noticed this on a room steward's cart and thought it was too cute.

 

We watched from our balcony as Grand Turk came into view.

 

And caught this shadow of the whale tail.

 

We got to see the famous sign from so many other reviews.

 

We made our way down to the gangway. Since we arrived later in the morning, it was crowded and took a while to get off, but we weren't in a huge hurry.

 

In the port area, we got not one, but two Christmas pictures! We got our traditional Christmas tree AND a blow up Santa with a Hawaiian shirt too!

[sissyfromcab]

I had read that there was great snorkeling in Grand Turk, so I booked a snorkeling excursion with Papa J's. I was a little worried about finding them, because our directions to meet them were something like "walk down the beach from the ship and find us." After all the trouble we had in St. Thomas and San Juan, I figured we were in for more trouble with the vague directions, but I was wrong. It was as easy as it seemed. We walked down the beach to the end of the port beach area and there was a group sitting there with Papa J's signs. I don't think we could have missed them if we tried!

 

We were the first ones there, so we waited about 10-15 minutes for everyone else to arrive. During that time, we were given flippers and snorkel vests. Once everyone had arrived for the snorkeling tour (there was also one to see sting rays), they loaded us in the boat.

 

We had debated about just booking with the ship, because it was basically the same price and Papa J's website seemed a little sketchy, but ended up being really glad we chose Papa J's. We could see the ship tour and it had at least 50 people on it, but we had exactly 7 people plus two guides!

 

As we drove out to the first snorkeling area, Travis spotted this boat that he decided was his back-up retirement plan if the one he picked out in Miami didn't work out.

 

We went to one snorkeling area and the guides looked in the water and talked with each other before deciding to head to another area. They didn't tell us at the time, but we asked later and they said it was too stirred up in the area and that we wouldn't have been able to see much.

We headed back toward the ship and they found a spot that was acceptable, so we all got in the water. There weren't many fish around, but the water was so clear! We could see down about 200 feet like it was right there!

[sissyfromcab]

Playing around in the water.

 

After a little while at the first snorkeling spot, we all got back into the boat to head to another spot. We could tell that the guides felt a little bad that there were no fish at the first spot, and hoped to find more fish for us at the second spot. We passed a couple scuba diving boats before picking a spot to stop at. One of the two guides quickly hopped in the water with bread to draw the fish to us. Before I could even get in the water, it looked like this.

 

By the time both Travis and I were in the water, there were so many fish that it was hard to swim!

[sissyfromcab]

There were so many fish!

 

We also had great views of the drop off (aka wall) at this spot.

 

More playing in the water.

[sissyfromcab]

A few more with all the fish.

 

And finally one of me with a fish!

 

After a while snorkeling at the second spot, we got back into the boat and headed back to the port area. We spotted this shipwreck on the beach. It reminded us both of the shipwreck in Roatan.

 

We also got to see the Conquest from behind.

 

Our tour was only about an hour and a half, but we both agreed that it was the best snorkeling we'd done on the whole trip. The water was crystal clear, even though the guides thought it was stirred up and cloudy, and they made sure we got to see lots of fish. It was amazing and kind of scary to be able to look down 200 feet into the water and see the sea floor just drop off into darkness. It was also awesome to have such a small group, so we didn't have to worry about 50 other people swimming around.

[sissyfromcab]

Back in the port area, we spent a little time on the beach and playing in the water.

 

The pirate ship bar in the port area.

 

The sand was so white and the water so clear - it was the perfect Caribbean beach that you picture. I can see why people love Grand Turk.

 

More toes in sand and water.

 

I was trying to be artistic and get a picture of footprints in the sand, but the waves kept washing them away before I could get a good picture.

 

We watched three girls ride these horses into the water. It looked like they were having a lot of fun!

[sissyfromcab]

We debated about what to do for lunch. Since the ship was right there, we decided to just get back on the ship, since lunch would be free there! Before getting back on the ship, I had to get a picture of the weather forecast sign.

 

Once we got back on the ship, we changed out of our wet swimsuits and got some lunch. After we ate, we got back off the ship and went shopping in the port area. We each found a t-shirt and a Grand Turk magnet. We also found a nice magnet with all of the islands of the Caribbean labeled. After that we got back on the ship before the big rush.

 

We got to see a nice sunset over the island.

 

About the time of all aboard, we were watching the last stragglers getting on the ship and the preparations for the ship to leave and I noticed a large sea turtle right by the dock! He swam around for a few minutes and then dove back to the depths.

 

Right before we sailed away, we got to see the island all lit up. There was a bar down the beach from the port and we joked that all the guides were down there spending their tips from the day!

[sissyfromcab]

As we left Grand Turk we got to see the last bit of sunset, so I took some pictures.

 

I thought this one was kind of neat with the door framing the view.

 

Before dinner, we went to see the second Hasbro show.

 

Between the two games, they showed some old Hasbro commercials.

[sissyfromcab]

The rest of the Hasbro show.

This kid told the audience that he'd just had his first beer on Grand Turk that day. :)

 

I enjoyed both of the shows, but only having one per night made the timing awkward. It didn't start quite late enough to be after early dinner and we had to rush as soon as they finished to make it to late dinner. On other ships, I've seen that they do it in the afternoon and that seems like a better option, so people don't have to rush their dinner to see it. I also wish it didn't replace the main show. (Not that the playlist productions were worth seeing, but that's another point altogether.)

[sissyfromcab]

After the Hasbro show, we headed to dinner.

 

For appetizers, I had the soup and Travis had the shrimp. The soup was tasty, but filling, so I didn't eat a lot of it. The shrimp actually had the good batter on them this night, so they were pretty tasty.

 

For entrees, I tried the seafood Newberg and Travis had another steak. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect with mine, but ended up not being a huge fan of the sauce. I wanted to swap and get the turkey farfalle, but it ended up taking forever, so I didn't end up eating much of that either.

 

For dessert, Travis had another melting cake, but I decided to just get orange sherbet tonight.

[sissyfromcab]

We had to get our nightly picture.

 

The reason I only got sherbet and not a warm chocolate melting cake was that I wanted to get one of the giant sliced of chocolate cake from the coffee shop. I have drooled over them on every cruise and never gotten one, so I was determined that tonight would be the night I would finally do it! It was SOOOO rich! I ate some right away and kept eating bites for the next day and a half, but still was only able to eat about half of the piece!

 

Tonight's towel monkey and Fun Times.

 

As we were getting ready for bed, Travis decided that two of our previous towel animals were having a staring contest across the room.

[MrsChef]

I'm sailing on the Conquest in November and love your pics. We have a differnet itinerary (West Carribean). Thank you for the review!!

 

If you don't mind- which hotel did you stay at Miami that had the park and cruise package?

Edited June 19, 2014 by MrsChef

[SteelerCruiser]

I'm sailing on the Conquest in November and love your pics. We have a differnet itinerary (West Carribean). Thank you for the review!!

 

If you don't mind- which hotel did you stay at Miami that had the park and cruise package?

 

I can tell you that we have stayed at the LaQuinta Inn Miami Airport East 2 times that we needed a Park and Stay option. Not too much to look at on the outside but rooms were clean and car was fine upon return. I will say they also had a free shuttle to the port as well both times we stayed. We just caught a cab back to the hotel after the cruise.

[sissyfromcab]

I'm sailing on the Conquest in November and love your pics. We have a differnet itinerary (West Carribean). Thank you for the review!!

 

If you don't mind- which hotel did you stay at Miami that had the park and cruise package?

 

We stayed at a Hampton Inn near the Miami Airport. We booked as a park and cruise through stay123.

[marylena713]

This was an excellent review. We are doing Christmas on the Conquest this year with the same itinerary, so all this info is super helpful, especially for a first time cruiser :). Thanks for taking the time!

 

 

Marylena

*NEW* to Cruising, but well traveled!

Planned: Conquest, Christmas 2014

[triciasrv]

10:23 pm here in Tampa. I am supposed to be sleeping as I have a Formal Observation of my teaching tomorrow morning! Instead, I search Christmas on Carnival and find your review of the Conquest with the exact itinerary we are taking.

 

This is all to say that this runner will not be getting up for a run tomorrow, but am totally posting so that I will be able to find your thread tomorrow afternoon.

 

THANK YOU!!!! You are providing me all the info that I have been looking for these last few days.

[triciasrv]

can't wait for more - heading out on Conquest for Christmas 2014 - almost identical itinerary. Will be our first cruise. Subscribing. Keep the pictures coming!

 

We will be on that one too!! Dang it, I still did not log off and go to sleep. Someone, PLEASE, send me to bed. ;)

[triciasrv]

Thank you! It was a great review! I am off to bed now.

 

Hopefully, some other Christmas on the Conquest cruisers will see this thread and get some great information too.

[sissyfromcab]

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry I never got to finish - working full time plus grad school full time doesn't leave a lot of free time. If you have any questions, let me know!

[triciasrv]

Did you happen to see if Santa handed out gifts to children? Just curious as I have read that he does, but I wonder what kind of gifts.

[sissyfromcab]

Did you happen to see if Santa handed out gifts to children? Just curious as I have read that he does, but I wonder what kind of gifts.

 

I'm not sure. My husband saw that he was in the dining rom greeting kids, but didn't go in to investigate, since we don't have kids.