9/13 Review of Conquest with pics

[wildcats82]

Who was cruisin'

I'm Kim (44), my husband Scott (45), my sister, Kendra (42), her husband, Scott (43). This is the first cruise for all of us. We are from El Dorado, Ks, which is near Wichita. We don't really have any idea what to expect, all we know is whatever happens it's going to be good, because we are on VACASHUN!! Yippee!!!

Pre-Cruise

We drove down to Stillwater, OK to drop off my sisters 20 month old little boy with his other aunt. We decided to go childless on this first cruise. lol We got to Stillwater about 5:30 pm and went to eat at Eskimo Joe's. And of course, I had to get a couple of t-shirts.

After that we went back to Scott's sisters and spent the night. We had an early flight out of Oklahoma City the next morning at 6:30 am. We were out the door at 4:30am to make the hour drive to OK city. Got to the airport in plenty of time to weigh our luggage and find out we packed way too much!! I had to do a quick reorganizing of clothes. My bag was 5 lbs over and my husbands was 6 under, so I put some of my stuff in his bag and we were ready to go!! Thank goodness I didn't have to spend my shopping money on overweight luggage. Next time I'm only taking 2 daytime outfits and 2 nighttime outfits and then I'll shop for the rest. haha

Our plane took off on time, 6:30 am and landed in Houston at 7:51 am. We had the whole day to explore Galveston. The only problem was the transportation company that was supposed to pick us up wasn't there.
Scott gave her a call and she was there within 45 minutes. She said this happens sometimes when people don't prepay for transportation. But, when we called to make the reservation she told us it wasn't necessary to prepay. Oh well, all is well, she picked us up and we are off to Galveston. Woo Hoo. Nothing will spoil our mood because we are on VACASHUN!!


At the OK City Airport. Excited about our trip!!
My sister and her husband and us behind them, butting in on their pic. haha They didn't even know what we were doing.

[wildcats82]

Galveston

We got to Galveston about 10:00 am. We were staying at the La Quinta at 8710 Seawall. Our check-in time wasn't until 2:30pm. So we asked the lady at the desk if it would be possible to put our luggage somewhere so we didn't have to drag it around all day. She told us we could put it in their back room. Yeah!! No lugging all that stuff around all day!! Time to check out Galveston. We haven't had anything to eat so off to get some food. OK, we are in the 87th block of Seawall and the closest eating place is 20 blocks away. Oh well, time to get some exercise. We walk the 20 blocks and find a Golden Corral and have breakfast. At this point I think we would have eaten anything, we were sooooo hungary! And did I mention it was a little rainy. Oh well, we are on vacation!! We decided to do a little shopping on the way back to the hotel. We stopped at a surf shop and got our son a couple of shirts, then off to Wal Mart. We had to get mountain dew bc my brother-in-law is addicted to do stuff and you can't get it on the ship. We got the dew and headed outside, it's really raining by this time, so my husband tracks down a cab and we ride back to the hotel. It still wasn't check-in time, so we sit around in the lobby and surf the net on my computer.

At about 2:30 they let us have our room. The hotels not bad, but it's in the end of the island where there is nothing. Next time I will stay near the other end, more to do that way.

We were amazed at the view. We paid extra for a view and this is what we got.
Looking straight out at the Holiday Inn. haha

[flynnsport]

nice!

[wildcats82]

If you look over the balcony, you can see the ocean. There it is. lol
And if you look to the left this is the view. VACASHUN!! We just got a big chuckle about this. We didn't care. We were only going to sleep there anyway.

We decided we were all tired from being up at 3:30 am, so we all took a nap. We got up about 4:30 and got ready to check out the town some more and find somewhere to eat some dinner. It was pretty humid so we changed into shorts and headed out again. There was still some destruction from the hurricane last year. The fishing pier across the street from our hotel still had a truck on it, but most of the pier was gone.
We did a little shopping, had to buy a Galveston t-shirt. Then we went back and to the hotel and asked the lady at the desk where would be a good place to eat. She suggested we go to the Strand. So off we went. We didn't really even know what it was, but we were game for anything. We took a cab, it was at the other end of the island. It cost us about $20 both ways for 4 of us.

We walked around down there, alot of old shops very nice. Then we found the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant. We decided to eat there. It was very busy, but very good. We didn't know until the next day that that is where the ship is docked. Me and my sister had the tuna sandwich, her first fish, I think she liked it. My husband had the grouper and my sisters husband had the half dozen oysters and the half shell and the steak, I think.
Fisherman's Wharf
The 4 of us waiting for dinner.
Kendra and Scott
Checking out the seawall

[wildcats82]

We walked around the Strand for awhile, went and had an ice cream cone at the soda fountain. I don't know where we found the room to put ice cream after eating all that dinner, but we managed somehow. We called for a taxi and headed back to the hotel to try and get some sleep.

We woke up and were sooooooo excited. We headed down to get some breakfast. This hotel had complimentary breakfast. Waffles, you make yourself in the shape of Texas of course, fruit, bagels, juice. I was so excited I had a hard time eating.
Texas shaped waffle.

The sign up for the shuttle didn't start until 9:00 so we sat at the desk until then. Everybody was very nice during shuttle check-in. They let us go first because we had set there for so long. We were number 1. Yeah!!
So the lady at the desk told us to get our stuff and if the shuttle got back early from picking people up at the boat we could leave early. Yipee!! We hurried up and got our stuff packed and sat outside and waited for the shuttle to come back. There was another couple of nice ladies from Louisana waiting with us. We waited for what seemed like eternity, I'm sure it was only about 30 minutes, but I was so ready to get there.
All of our luggage!! Too much!!

The shuttle finally get there and we were off! The shuttle took 10 of us with one seat in front empty. The driver thought we had 2 seats available, went over to the Holiday Inn to pick up more people. Load their stuff then figured out there wasn't enough room for 4 people. Not sure were the wires got crossed. But they decided to wait for the next shuttle. The driver unloaded all there stuff, then we were gone. Next stop-Conquest!
1st view from shuttle!!

[wildcats82]

We got our stuff unloaded from the shuttle. The poor porter. I don't think anyone tipped him, except us.
Check in seemed easy to me, but I don't have anything to go on. We were in zone 2. We got our sign and sail cards then went and sat in zone 2 for about 45 minutes. Then onto the ship by 11:30. Seemed easy and effortless to me. We then went to Guest Services and gave them our money so we could use our cards. A little line, but not bad. Then up to Lido for lunch. We found a nice table by the windows and enjoyed lunch and watched the dolphins play next to the ship.
First drink of the cruise.
My husbands lunch. Fish and some kind of meat with horshradish on top.
My lunch, fish, potatoes, pasta and foccata bread. Yummy!!

We finished lunch and went to explore the ship. We checked out the outside decks, enjoyed the sunshine for awhile. Met some really nice, friendly people. About 1:15 we decided to go down and see if our room was ready. I have read on the posts that sometime rooms are ready early. Our wasn't. The doors were still closed. There started to be alot of people down there anxious for their rooms. So about 1:27 I decided to just go for it. I opened the doors and took off to find my room. And guess what, everybody else followed. haha. We found our room and were very impressed. It had plenty of room. Plenty of storage. It was awesome.
Our room. On the Main deck. Room 2366. Juan was our cabin steward and he was great. Didn't bug us alot, but always had our room looking marvelous. I felt like a queen.

We did a little unpacking, then off to Muster. We grabbed our lifevests and followed the crowd to our place in line. It didn't last too long. I realize it's something we have to do. When it was over, back to exploring.

We down to find the shops, the photo shop, our dining room, all the important places. lol

[MicksMom]

Loving the review so far! Had to laugh at your first picture of your view from the hotel. DH is a substation lineman so he probably would have enjoyed the view. He is always looking up at lines when we go places. Even took pictures of them in Jamaica & Grand Cayman to "show the guys at work"...

Can't wait for the rest of your review!

[wildcats82]

Muster

Before we knew it the boat was moving and we were heading out to sea. This is a pic of the park as we were going out of the bay.
While we were still docked.

It was very exciting watching the ship head out to sea. Watching Galveston disappear in the distance. I'm finally on a cruise. Yeah!!

After standing out on the deck watching land become smaller and smaller we decided to go in and find our first picture at the photo shop. It wasn't that great of a pic of me, but of course, I bought it anyway. We checked out the casino then went back to our rooms and unpacked somemore and got ready for dinner.

We had dinner in the Monet dining room. Table 379, next to Katie and Randy. A nice young couple that looked like they hadn't been married long.
Alex was our head waiter and Luh was his assistant. They were both excellent. We didn't really know what was good on the menu, so we asked Alex on the first night what he would recommend. After that he would tell us his recommendations and we would usually go with that. He was always right on for me. He didn't have any problem telling us if the cut of meat that night wasn't up to par and he would suggest something else.

The first night I had the Chicken a la Grecque. Alex suggested that. I also had the tropical fruit appetizer and the creme brulee for dessert. All was great!!
Chicken a la Grecque
Tropical Fruit
Brother-in-law had the warm chocolate melting cake

[wildcats82]

Our grandfather was a lineman for Kansas Gas and Electric. He passed away in 98. Me and my sister had to laugh when we saw that view too. She said he must have put us in that room for a joke. So we could look out and see that transformer and think of him. It was funny at the time.

[mandms40]

Love your review, we are going to be on her November 29th, and cant wait, so keep it coming. Love the pictures.

[oncruisecontrol]

Great review and pictures.

[sylvasta]

Loving your review and pics so far! The Conquest is the only conquest class ship we haven't been on yet, so I am really interested in reading this.

Marking my spot!

[habby]

Originally Posted by wildcats82

After that we went back to Scott's sisters and spent the night. We had
Our plane took off on time, 6:30 am and landed in Houston at 7:51 am. We had the whole day to explore Galveston. The only problem was the transportation company that was supposed to pick us up wasn't there.
Scott gave her a call and she was there within 45 minutes. She said this happens sometimes when people don't prepay for transportation. But, when we called to make the reservation she told us it wasn't necessary to prepay. Oh well, all is well, she picked us up and we are off to Galveston. Woo Hoo. Nothing will spoil our mood because we are on VACASHUN!!.

Love the review so far. You're a great writer.

Questions - did you fly into IAH or HOU? If you flew into IAH, which transportation company did you use? (That's about the only detail I haven't figured out for our January cruise yet.)

[Luanne21]

Loving your review. I felt sorry for you when you said where you stayed without a car. I knew it was going to involve taxis.

[Katmarha]

Thanks for the pics and the current review - going in less than a month - so excited!!!!

[Texas Teen]

Waiting for more of your Conquest review & pictures!

[wildcats82]

We flew into IAH. It seemed like the only big planes flew into that airport and we didn't want to fly into Dallas and have a lay over. So we choose Bush. We flew on a Continental with three seats on both sides and it was a nonstop. It only took an hour and a few minutes. That gave us all day to goof around Galveston.

Not having a car was a little bit of a bummer. But with all the food we were getting ready to consume on the ship, it was good for us all to walk some. The taxi drivers were all very nice and informative about the island. It did cost us a little to take the taxis, but I'm glad we did. And it beat the drive to Galveston, which would have been 14 hours. Yuck!!

[wildcats82]

After eating our very delicious dinner, we walked around the ship it see what was going on. It was about 9:45pm by this time. We happened to run into the Degas Lounge and karaoke was starting up. So we decided to stay awhile. It was hilarious!! The guy that was singing was so drunk and not very good. My kind of karaoke!! haha.

At 10:30 the comedian John Wesley Austin was performing and since we were in the laughing mood, we ran on down to the Toulouse LaTrec Lounge at the other end of the ship and enjoyed he show. He was pretty funny. We enjoyed it so much we went to his adult show the next night.

After that we went back down to the karaoke bar and stayed there until around 12:30am. Vitali is the man that runs the karaoke bar and his is very funny. He always says VACASHUN!! WOO HOO!! He'll say it in the middle of a song, during an instrumental, after the song everyone had a good time with him. It really became a big joke around the boat. You could tell who had spent time in the karaoke lounge. Vitali didn't seem to mind everyone yelling VACASHUN!! WOO HOO! It kept me in stitches. What a guy. I wish I would have got a pic of him.

Well it's late by this time so off to bed. Tomorrow is a relaxing day at sea.

DAY 2: DAY AT SEA

We got up and around by about 9:00am and went down to the buffet and had breakfast. There was scrambled eggs, pancakes, yogurt, toast, grits, oatmeal, and of course the omlet station. That place was waaaay to busy for me. Breakfast was good.

After breakfast the guys wanted to go play in the ping pong tournament. So off we went to the Deck 12, fwd. My husband made it the fourth round, then he was out. My brother-in-law only made it through the first round. He was playing a guy that didn't play too fair. He changed to score in the middle of their game. My brother-in-law is so nice he just let him do it. My husband had to play the same guy and he did the same thing to him, except my husband called him on it. Why do people have to be like that over ping pong of all things. Oh well, we are on VACASHUN!! Who cares!!

Looks like a storm a brewin!! It didn't rain too long.

After the guys were out of ping pong we decided to go and watch the putting contest in the lobby. I'll bet it was hard for those guys to get that little ball it that little cup while the boat is moving.

After that I think we ate lunch, then back out onto the lido deck by the pool for the Hairy Chest contest.

None of these guys won. I didn't get a pic of that guy. But he was a very good dancer.

I wanted to go to the wine tasting in the Supper Club, but we never made it that far. The water was somewhat rough. Not too bad but enough to make alot of splash on the sides of the boat. So we went to the deck in front of the boat and watched the waves. It is very hypnotic to watch the water.
Deck 9 fwd.

My sister sitting in her window watching the water go by.


Just threw this one in for the fun of it. This was the first day. No green dots yet. Still in Galveston.

[wildcats82]

It was about 5:30 and we were out on the lobby deck watching the water. We have never cruised before so when we walked into the lobby we were very surprised to us all the early diners getting their pictures taken for elegant night. Their were people everywhere. Getting there pictures taken on the stairs, backdrops, everywhere. Well, we were still in our t-shirts and shorts trying to get through this madhouse. We still didn't really have the layout of the ship down and let me tell you, we were lost. Well, we tried to go through a door that was the Renoir Dining Room, trust me, we had no idea where we were. We just wanted out of there. Some guy started yelling, "No t-shirts in the dining room!!" Oh my, people really get bent out of shape when they think you are going to the dining room dressed in a t-shirt on elegant night. It was pretty funny to us after we found our way out of there.

We finally made it to our room. Got a shower and dressed for dinnner. Most everyone was dressed very nice. I didn't see anyone in shorts. We took pictures of ourseves. The lines were way to long.

Me and Scott on the stairs between the photo gallery and the shops with the atrium in the background.

Kendra and Scott at our table in the dining room. This is as dressed up as it gets for us.

Dinner was very good. Of course, I had to have the lobster. Although it was small it was good. I never get to have lobster, so it was a treat.
My appetizer was strawberry bisque. Alex brought it to the table and all that was in the bowl was the strawberry. It was funny. Everyone thought that was my appetizer. But, he finally came over and brought me the rest and poured it in the bowl. I don't know why they do it this way, but we got a chuckle out of it.

Strawberry Bisque-tasted like a strawberry shake

Both Scotts had the mushrooms. I had a bite and they were very good

Lobster and shrimp with broccoli

[wildcats82]

My husband had the flat iron steak, but I must not have got a picture of that because I was chowing down on my dinner. lol He said it was yummy. I'll take his word for it. We were all stuffed, but we had to order dessert. Alex recommended the apple puffed pastry and carmel sauce, so me and my husband ordered that. We figured Alex knew what he was talking about. He did. It was delicious!! I don't remember what the other choices were, but I think Scott had the warm melting cake and ice cream. My sister, I have no idea. Sorry.

Apple puffed pastry and carmel sauce.

Scott was so full he couldn't finish his dessert. Well, Alex was having no part of that. He fed Scott the rest of his dessert. I think Scott almost popped.