Conquest Review 3/8-3/15 w/ Pictures

[littlebird00]

This was me (23) and my boyfriend’s (26) first cruise, and we loved it. I wasn’t going to post a review but I remembered how much I liked looking at other peoples reviews, especially with pictures!

 

EMBARKMENT: We drove down the night before and stayed in Clear Lake at a relatives house. We woke up the morning of and drove down to Galveston. I hadn’t been to Galveston since Ike and there was still a lot of damage.

 

 

You can’t even drive up to the Flagship anymore! The whole concrete driveway is gone.

 

We drove until we saw the ship, it is really easy to find, even if you haven’t grown up going to Galveston. There it is!

 

 

We found EZ Cruise parking, which we had prepaid for $50 online. We got on the shuttle, and were at the terminal at probably 11:30, and on the ship by 12:00 or so. The line was long but went by really fast. We were there for probably half a minute before we had a drink in our hand :). We went to the pursers desk which had no line at all, and put money on our cards, then ATTEMPTED to go to our staterooms even though they said we couldn't. We totally got busted, so we went to the Lido Deck to look around. We were very excited at this point! We then went and got food from the buffet, well I didn't, I was seriously too excited to eat. After that, we went and got a bucket of beer while waiting until 1:30 when our rooms were ready.

 

Lido Deck

 

[littlebird00]

 

STATEROOMS: We had an inside cabin on the Main deck, 2402 I think. I did think it was big, but I would have much preferred a balcony, or at least a window! I would wake up several times and have no idea what time it was. I didn’t get any real good pictures of the room, here is one:

 

 

There was plenty of storage for our suitcases, and closet space. And the bathroom was good size as well, with plenty of counter and storage space. We arrived to our room at about 1:30 or 2:00 and already had two suitcases waiting outside, the rest arrived very shortly after. We unpacked a little, and got ready for the Muster drill. This was uneventful, and we were in the wrong station the whole time, but no one noticed :). After this we went back to our rooms, and walked to the Lido deck for sail away! We did a little more exploring of the somewhat confusing ship, and then went back to hang out and get dressed for dinner.

 

DINING: We had late seating in the Monet Dining room. We were by ourselves the first night and loved that. Our waiter was very funny, and nice. First night service was super fast, we were in and out, the second night was formal night, and I'm not sure if that is why service was so slow, but it was very slow. Overall, I would say the food in the dining room is alright. Nothing to spectacular, but we did only eat there twice, so I'm not the best judge.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: After dinner the first night we went to one of the bars to have a few drinks, then to the welcome aboard show. It was good, kinda cheesy, and we left before it was over. The Point and Click Show was just ridiculous, it didn't make any sense to us, so we left, and so did alot of other people. I thought the karaoke was hilarious though. The host was sooo funny. We didn't watch any other shows except a juggler and comedian, both were okay. I regret not going to more shows or activities. I did really enjoy the legends show that was funny.

 

After the Welcome Aboard Show we went to the Henris disco. This was a lot of fun but I did notice that it does not get crowded until really late. We got there at like 11 and left around 1:30 and there were still a ton of people there.

 

 

 

FIRST SEA DAY: We woke up and got breakfast at the Lido buffet, which we did every morning, and I thought the food was good the whole time. I wish we would have ate in the dining room fro breakfast at least once, but we never got around to it. Then we went outside to try to find a chair! That came be a pretty difficult task, if you want to be close to the stage, but eventually we found two, and spent most of the day laying out and drinking : ). They had a couple of shows, like the hairy chest contest that I thought were really funny, they also had a juggler and ice carving:

 

 

[littlebird00]

 

I’m sure my boyfriend went and got us lunch from the pool buffet, which we did a lot so we wouldn’t lose our seats. That night was the first formal night, and we were late to dinner cause we feel asleep, which was no big deal we thought because we didn’t have tablemates (so we thought) until we got there and there were people waiting on us. OOPS! This night we went to the Point and Click show, which made no sense, so we walked out and left, then I think we went to karaoke.

 

SECOND SEA DAY: The second day was pretty much the same as the first, ate at the buffet for breakfast, laid out on the deck, and drank, and listened to the Caribbean Band We got all of the souvenir glasses that cost WAY to much. I think this one was $18 each!

 

 

We probably ate pizza or something today, and skipped dinner tonight. The Mardi Gras party was this night and that was a lot of fun. It seems like everyone on the boat was out for this! They had a live band, and the biggest congo line I have ever seen!

 

 

 

JAMAICA: We were VERY excited to see land when we got to the buffet in the morning! And so excited to be in Jamaica!

 

 

[littlebird00]

 

 

First of all Jamaica was our favorite port, and I’m glad I didn’t listen to a lot of what people had to say, and that we did get off the boat. We booked through AZ Planners Mayfield Falls, and Margaritaville. It was $40pp and well worth it. When we got off the boat, we found Mark waiting for us in the terminal. I was a little, okay a lot nervous because we were the only ones booked on this excursion, I didn’t expect that. Mayfield Falls is about an hours drive though mountains. A very nerve racking drive, steep mountains and narrow roads, but you could tell Mark had done this before. He told us a lot about the country and entertained us with lame jokes all the way there J

 

 

Top of Mayfield Falls:

 

 

Our driver walked us down to the falls and gave us a guide. This guide (I can’t remember his name) was very nice too, and took pictures and had us pose for pictures the entire time. The falls are beautiful! It was refreshing and a workout all at the same time!

 

 

[littlebird00]

We jumped off the trees, and cliffs too!

When we were done, we found our guide, and walked up that horrific mountain, back to the car. He gave us the option of stopping at a coconut stand on the way back, and we did. The lady running the stand was so nice, we bought a few souvenirs and tried coconut milk.

Then we drove into town and had lunch at the Pork Pit, it was really cheap, like $12 for the both of us. We both had jerk chicken and it was realllly good. Then he dropped us off at Margaritaville, where we stayed about and hour and a half.

That slide is ridiculous! It shoots you out so fast!

[littlebird00]

Mark was waiting for us outside, and took us back to the terminal. We were both sad to leave L

GRAND CAYMAN: We ordered room service since we got there so early. We book the Reef Rays and Rum Point tour through Nativeway. We waited what seemed like forever to get on the tender, and Nativeway was waiting for us outside. There were probably 12 people on this tour. They took us to the boat in an air conditioned bus. We got on the boat and met our captain Chris, I think? There was plenty of room for all of us on the boat, and we headed to Stingray City. I almost cancelled this excusion cause I had huge second thoughts about swimming with stingrays! But we got there, and I was scared to death to get in. Eventually the captain literally carried my into the water. I will say I eventually got a little more comfortable, but it was still a weird experience. I finally touched one, and they feel really weird! I’m glad I did it, but do not think I will do it again, once is enough for me!

We left here and went to a reef to do some snorkeling. The waves were kinda rough, and this was my first time snorkeling ever, and I loved it! When we got back on the boat we ordered our lunch to have waiting for us when we got to Rum Point. It was waiting for us when when we got there. Rum Point is sooo pretty!

Rum Point

[littlebird00]

We were here about an hour and a half, got back on the boat and headed back to the terminal area. We had time to go to Margaritaville, Senor Frogs, and a few other places before going to wait in that awful tender line. Heres a picture of the Conquest from line:

This night was another formal night but we ended up just drinking at the Lido Bar, we were really sunburned and just didn’t feel like dressing up.

COZUMEL: We booked the Royal Swim at Chankaab. We caught a taxi very easily and took the five minute ride to the park. This park is beautiful too!

[littlebird00]

The dolphin swim was amazing! We had a small group so we got to spend a lot of time with the dolphins individually, and do the foot push twice.

[littlebird00]

After the swim we ate at one of the restaurants, and rented snorkel gear, the snorkeling was much easier here, and we saw a lot more fish:

There are statues underwater, and this one was pretty creepy to swim up on!

We stayed here most of the day, and then shared a cab back to the pier, and did some shopping before leaving.

Pier

I think there might have been a comedian tonight or juggler, and we didn’t really like either one too much. We kept meaning to watch one of the movies outside at night but that never happened. I wish we would have done that.

LAST SEA DAY: At this point, it sounds ridiculous to say now, but we were pretty much ready to be home. We were sunburned, so didn’t want to lay by the pool, so we played mini-golf, which lasted about two seconds, and ended up drinking and laying out again. I wish there were more deck games, and activities.But I think they did have triva on the big screen. We hung around then tried to look at our pictures. Its stupid to try and wait til the last day to look at all your pictures cause your not gonna find them without some serious digging. Then we went to the Legends show which was very funny, then back to our room to pack L.

DISEMBARKMENT: This was annoying to me. I didn’t really know what to expect and wish we would have done the self assist. We were one of the last groups called, and got off the boat extremely fast but waited in the customs line forever! When we got out of the terminal, we found the shuttle and got back to our car.

OVERALL: It was a GREAT time. Next time, I will not plan so much to do in the ports, and will mainly relax at a beach. Many days we were sooo tired from all of the things we

[LambKnuckles]

WOW!!! How wonderful!!!

Thank you for taking me along with you!!! The narrative and the photos were great!!!

I'll be onboard in a month!! It's great to see the seaside theatre and the spas... I will have a Main deck too... Were you center of the ship or aft or forward??? We are all the way forward on Main...

Oooooo... THANK YOU!!!!

I'll peek back here every so often!!!

[oldpatrol]

Thanks for the review. we go in June and can't wait.:D Seems like you had an awesome time even though you got a little sunburned.

[kwbound]

Little Bird - Thanks for posting. Your pictures are beautiful. We did this itinerary last fall and had a wonderful time also. We've been on several cruises but I've still never swam with dolphins...I think I'm going to have to put that on my list of things to do.

[littlebird00]

Thank you I'm glad you liked it. We were kinda in the middle, but more aft than forward, we had a good cabin right by the stairs and elevators. Our luggage tags said aft. We booked a guarantee inside, and got a good one!

 

WOW!!! How wonderful!!!

 

Thank you for taking me along with you!!! The narrative and the photos were great!!!

 

I'll be onboard in a month!! It's great to see the seaside theatre and the spas... I will have a Main deck too... Were you center of the ship or aft or forward??? We are all the way forward on Main...

 

Oooooo... THANK YOU!!!!

 

I'll peek back here every so often!!!

[littlebird00]

Yes you should! It is well worth the money, they are so friendly!

 

Little Bird - Thanks for posting. Your pictures are beautiful. We did this itinerary last fall and had a wonderful time also. We've been on several cruises but I've still never swam with dolphins...I think I'm going to have to put that on my list of things to do.

[Snoozeman]

Very nice review.

[tantoria2]

Thanks, very helpful:D

[ACSoCarCruiser]

Great review and pictures. Felt like I was right back on her. As you can see from my past cruises that Conquest is the only ship that I have sailed on. That will change this coming September but she will always be my favorite.

[sheri18]

great review...love the pics.....

[iluvstz]

We will be sailing on the Conquest next month. I was excited. Now I really can't wait. I've booked the stingray excursion. Nice to hear I'm not the only one a little nervous about the stingrays.

I just want to do something different-make it a memorable vacation.

(Don't know when I'll be able to cruise again.) Sounds like yours was fun and exciting. Great pictures!!

[waitin4acruise]

Great Review!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time..It is time to book again and do all the stuff you just did not do..;)

[littlebird00]

Thank you! I just wanted to do a review because I have learned so much from this board, everyone is so helpful. And it is definitely time to book another one!

 

Great Review!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time..It is time to book again and do all the stuff you just did not do..;)

[littlebird00]

I felt like I was the only one scared too! Chances are someone on your excursion will be scared too, there was another little girl, probably 12 that didn't get in the water. I'm glad I did it, but I was reallllly nervous, those things are pretty creepy looking :eek:. I did alot of things I never thought I would be comfortable doing, definitely memorable!

 

We will be sailing on the Conquest next month. I was excited. Now I really can't wait. I've booked the stingray excursion. Nice to hear I'm not the only one a little nervous about the stingrays.

I just want to do something different-make it a memorable vacation.

(Don't know when I'll be able to cruise again.) Sounds like yours was fun and exciting. Great pictures!!

[happybooker1]

And so helpful. DS (12) & I will be going on that same cruise June 28. I have GOT to show him the pics of Margaritaville and the Falls you went to. I think he would LOVE that. He loves jumping out of trees anyway (into water at least) and the slide would be right up his alley.

 

We are already booked for the stingray city sail & really am looking forward to that. Last time we cruised we went to Cozumel also so we already did the dolphin thing. It was great -- a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[cruisinsly]

Great review and beautiful pictures!! Thanks for sharing.

[KOOLBEANS]

Thank you for posting such a great review. I loved looking at the photos as well. Brings back so many memories....thanks again!