Just back from the Carnival Conquest and I Have Lots To Talk About And to Show!!!

[MsJersey84]

We did a driver change around 4:30am and then another drive change because I hate driving in heavy rain around 7am. Just in time for DH to be like its not raining yet at New Smyrna Beach which is 15 mins away lets go watch the sunrise at the beach. He was right it wasn't raining once we arrived for all about 2 mins.. But a raining sunrise at the beach is better then a rainy day of work any day in my book. And we were off!! Along our way we past Port Canaveral where there was a Disney ship and a Carnival ship in port. We arrived at our first fun stop which was the Coco Beach Pier for breakfast around 8:30am. My husband found The Boardwalk Bar online a couple of weeks prior and thought it would be a nice place to stop and have breakfast along the way.. A little piece of advice if anyone wants to stop here, the pier parking charges you $15 but if you do hourly parking that is located on both sides of the pier you only pay $2.50 per hour so we paid for 2 hours. It was partly cloudy at the pier and windy but it was still a great morning view. The Boardwalk Bar is open air sitting, our server was Destiny. Nothing bad to say just your average friendly server. When we arrived at the Bar there were only 2 other couples there. By the time we left 2 hours later the place was packed and fully booming for Saturday breakfast.

 

Nick ordered a traditional Mimosa, Crab-cake Benedict with roasted red potatoes. I ordered a pineapple mimosa, with chicken and waffles. Nick loved his meal he said the crab was moist and tasted fresh. My chicken and waffles were bitter sweet.. LOL.. The chicken well seasoned hot and crispy. My waffles cold and tasteless.. All and all breakfast was good. The sun was coming out, tomorrow was cruise day and I was with my husband no complaints.

 

After breakfast we decided to take a long walk on the beach down the coast picking up shells and walking hand in hand. After about an hour we were off again.

Next stop Merritt Island

[MsJersey84]

"Our rainy Sunrise"

 

 

[MsJersey84]

 

 

 

[Florings]

Love the Conquest and looking forward to your review!

[MsJersey84]

Panoramic view of the Boardwalk Bar

 

 

 

 

Cheers!!!

[MsJersey84]

 

[JaniceB]

Nice beginning to your cruise review.

[CoasterGuy]

Was on the Conquest in May. good times.

[Lottacruises]

Glad you got the pics to work :-)

[MsJersey84]

We arrived at the Surf & Ski Water Sport around 11am that is when I decided that I need a nap before the Jetski's when I woke this is how I found DH. I hope he was in deep thought about planning our next cruise. Maybe a birthday cruise for next year!! Oh how I wonder!!

 

 

After my short nap we paid our fee for our one jet runner which was $65 for 30 mins. This was my first time doing Jetski's and I was too afraid to drive. Since our phones are not waterproof we didnt bring them but be sure I was holing on for dear life. I found a way to hook my big finger into Nick's life vest so if I went overboard he was coming with me.. Thankfully that never happened.. In certain areas the water was very very choppy so we stayed inland a little bit to be safe.. Nevertheless we had a great time.

 

Next Our Fairfield stay (Not much to say)

[momonthego17]

Love Conquest! Thank you for starting your great review! Next time you’re at Cocoa Beach Pier, check out “Rikki Tikki Tavern” at the end of the pier. Yummy food, great drinks and a wonderful view. Looking forward to more of your fun review[emoji106][emoji16]

 

 

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[MrFunInTheSun]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

 

 

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[lasvegascruising]

MsJersey84...I have been waiting to ask someone who has stayed at the Fairfield/Las Olas. How was your stay, was the hotel in an area that we could take a walk, and what was the area like? I have it booked for our over night stay next May. We will be arriving at 6:30pm on Saturday night and not boarding the ship until at earliest 3pm on Sunday(ship doesn't leave until 9pm Sunday night). I am trying to find out if the Fairfield would be a nice place to spend the evening on Saturday and have something to walk to on Sunday until we can get on our ship. What do you think?

[grandmarnnurse]

MsJersey84...I have been waiting to ask someone who has stayed at the Fairfield/Las Olas. How was your stay, was the hotel in an area that we could take a walk, and what was the area like? I have it booked for our over night stay next May. We will be arriving at 6:30pm on Saturday night and not boarding the ship until at earliest 3pm on Sunday(ship doesn't leave until 9pm Sunday night). I am trying to find out if the Fairfield would be a nice place to spend the evening on Saturday and have something to walk to on Sunday until we can get on our ship. What do you think?

Also a question I would like answered, as I’m looking for a hotel for a family cruise, and our usual hotels on 17st May be too pricey for some of my family.

[JaniceB]

How did you like the jet ski, did you drive, too?

[mlshum]

I love your sense and humor and your fun story! Can't wait for the rest! I have fond memories of sailing on Conquest in 2016.

 

I'm glued to your story!

 

Michelle

[MsJersey84]

How did you like the jet ski, did you drive, too?

 

Love the jet ski, but too afraid to drive just sat back and let hubby do the driving the views were great.. Maybe be next time I will drive.

[MsJersey84]

Thank you everyone for all the great support!!

[MsJersey84]

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriot Las Olas check in:

We arrived at Fairfield Inn around 4:30pm.

To find where to park to do check in was a bit tricky because they are doing construction near by so the actual street that you must turn down to get to the hotel stated street closed.. Just ignore that and all the workers. lol. Check-in was simple and easy.. You also have to pay $20 if you want to park in there secure parking garage.. I am so sorry for some reason I dont have any pictures of the room because we were so sleepy and just wanted to take a nap before going out to dinner.. But I will try to be as detailed as possible.. Parking is on levels 1, 2, 3. Rooms are on levels 4-8. We stayed on the 4th floor right next to the roof top pool area. This hotel has only been open for about 3 mos so everything in the room with perfect.. The bathroom was spacious with granite counter tops. My only compliant about the bathroom is the water doesnt get very hot.. Hot enough for hubby but not me. The room has a coffee bar area which is complete with a Keurig, microwave, and mini fridge. There is a full length mirror along with a large writing desk and chair. A large dresser with a flat screen tv sitting on top. The room has a small closet which houses an iron board and iron. The beds where all white (sheets and comforter) and comfortable.. To me your regular hotel room nothing fancy.. But nice nevertheless.

 

Lets talk about the area around the hotel: The hotel itself is about 3 miles from the port but in Ft. Lauderdale traffic it took about 10 -15 mins to drive there. There is plenty of things to do within walking distance. There is a street called Las Olas Boulevard which is the next parallel street over.. It has all kinds of restaurants, coffee shops, bars, taverns, shopping. Its like a long New York City block just full or things to do.. All within a 5 to 6 min walk from the hotel. Everything stays open to atleast midnight. The area to me seem very safe everyone was out just enjoying an evening with friends.

 

If you need to know anything else about the hotel just let me know!!

 

Next: Our last event of the evening before Embark morning!!!

[MsJersey84]

MsJersey84...I have been waiting to ask someone who has stayed at the Fairfield/Las Olas. How was your stay, was the hotel in an area that we could take a walk, and what was the area like? I have it booked for our over night stay next May. We will be arriving at 6:30pm on Saturday night and not boarding the ship until at earliest 3pm on Sunday(ship doesn't leave until 9pm Sunday night). I am trying to find out if the Fairfield would be a nice place to spend the evening on Saturday and have something to walk to on Sunday until we can get on our ship. What do you think?

 

Hi Lasvegascruising,

 

Thank you for following along, I have made a post all about the hotel and its area below if you have any other questions please just let me know

[MsJersey84]

Also a question I would like answered, as I’m looking for a hotel for a family cruise, and our usual hotels on 17st May be too pricey for some of my family.

 

Hi Grandmarnnurse,

 

This hotel is great for families!! We saw many families with children all ages during our stay.. Many of those same families come to find out were cruising as well.. As far as pricing for this hotel I am not sure how affordable it is because I have a family member that works for Marriott so he took care of everything for us.

 

If you have any other questions you know where to find me.

[#55worktoplay]

Good review. Will be following.

[lasvegascruising]

Msjersey84....thank you for the detailed report on the Fairfield/Las Olas. It sounds like a nice place to stay and I will be keeping my reservation thanks to your report. I wanted a hotel that was nice and had some place to walk to in the evening and next morning. We are flying in and don't want to rent a car.

[Pellaz]

Looking forward to this. We liked the Conquest so much we cruised on her two years in a row. :)

[MsJersey84]

We woke up from our nap around 7:15pm because we had an 8:30pm reservation at The Shooters Waterfront Restaurant which according to google maps is about 15mins from our hotel. We were showered and dress and out the door by 8:10pm. We arrived at Shooters around 8:25 and paid $5 for valet parking. Shooter is a very popular waterfront restaurant with outside and inside sitting.

 

Upon check-in at shooters we found out that even though we have a 8:30 reservation for outside sitting on the waterfront there will still be a 20-30 min wait and that they would text the number our reservation was under. After 25-30 mins of me impatiently waiting I told DH we have waited long enough and what is the point of a reservation if you still have to wait a while for table. So he went back to the hostess stand about 10 feet away, where we found out that they actually forget we were even there.. REALLY LADY!!!! You are so lucky that DH walked up to the hostess stand and not ME! I am not one for yelling but she would have definitely heard a mouthful.. But I just closed my mouth let DH do the talking and reminded myself, you are on vacation do not let anyone take your joy.

We finally got our table on the waterfront.

 

Once finally at out table we were greeted right a way, by our young male server. As soon as he was done with his greeting and tell us the specials of the day and the new beers they had on draft I quickly took him I would like a mango mojito to help remind me we are on vacation. Nick decided that he would try the new draft LaRubia Beer. Once the server walked away Nick and I realized why the wait was so long. There were at least 3 tables with parties of 10 or more people in addition to the normal follow of business..