toesinthesand7

Fantastic review and beautiful pictures! You're so brave for traveling alone on your first cruise! I'm so happy to hear you had such a wonderful time. I hope you had a great trip on the Pride as well! Do you happen to remember who the solo guitarist was on the Breeze?

I don't even have plans to sail the Breeze currently, but I saw your post title and said to myself, she must be a Friends fan!

It's from "TOW No One is Ready"! Thanks for posting! You have great taste! :D

loving the review! can't wait to read more! My fiance and I are booked on the Sunshine for our honeymoon in August :D:D:D

Great review! Looks like a fun cruise!

Thank you very much! It was a blast :)

I'm traveling on the conquest for New Year's Eve

Some things I was wondering about

Is there shuffle board on the ship?

Besides mini golf is there any other physical activities?

 

We are planning a few cruise critic activities any rooms that may be used for LCR games and meet and greets etc?

Also we are planning a cabin crawl so do you know the hotel director ? Or have any contact information for hotel director?

Thank you sherry

 

 

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Hello, Sherry! My DF says that he did see Shuffleboard on the ship, on one of the top decks. They had volleyball tournaments, free throw contests (there is a basketball court), a running/jogging track, and a gym in the spa.

I'm not sure how you could go about reserving a room, but there were definitely plenty of options that would be great for meet and greets: Alfred's Bar, Vincent's Jazz Bar, Degas Lounge, Blue's Piano Bar, or maybe even Henry's Dance Club.

I'm so sorry I can't remember the name of the hotel director. But please let me know if there is anything else I can try to answer for you!

I was on the carnival splendor for Halloween and we had the same deserts, as you did.

We dressed up as pirates and we had a blast passing out candy to all the kids.

Traveling on a cruise for the holidays is so must fun.

 

 

 

 

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Oh I'm so glad you had such a great time on the Splendor! You are so right, cruising for holidays is a blast! This definitely won't be my last time :D

Thanks for the review and great pics. My first cruise on Carnival will be on the Conquest in April.

Thank you for reading my review! I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip :D

Thanks for the review!

 

Running this itinerary on Glory next week! ;)

You are so welcome! I hope you have a blast on the Glory!

Loved your photo's and review.

Thank you so much!!!

For finishing this before I leave...TODAY!! Great review! I am sooooo excited!!:D

Oh I am so happy you got to read it before your trip! I hope you have/had a wonderful time!!!

I've got almost a year before I get to see the Conquest, so I am super thankful for everyone who posts a review from her!

 

It's funny that you mention Epic Rock, and how it is so popular. Last year, a few of us took a pre-cruise cruise on the Imagination and absolutely LOVED IT!!! When we met the rest of our crew, we all raved about how great it was, and ALL of us trooped into the theater to see it on the Breeze. Let me tell you, it was HORRIBLE!!! We actually all got up and walked out. I hope it is just as good as I remember it was on board the Conquest!

Oh no how strange! I guess it just depends on the cast! The cast on the Conquest was fabulous! They were so energetic and really gave it their all. I hope you love it as much as we did :D

Great pictures and great review. DF and I sail the Conquest next October for our honeymoon and we couldn't be more excited. This will be our first ship with 2.0 upgrades, so we really liked the pictures of Guy's, The Cantina, and The Alchemy bar.

 

Glad you had so much fun. Thanks again for the great review :)

Thank you so much! Early congratulations to your and your DF and I hope you have an amazing honeymoon!!! <3

Loved your review and pics!! Getting me sooo excited to go on in March. I would love to do a halloween cruise one year, but my son still goes out and there is no way he would miss out just yet on trick or treating!

Glad you had a lot of fun!! Can't wait to try Guy's burgers too :)

Thank you for the kind words! I hope you have a blast in March! Be sure to eat plenty of Guy's burgers ;)

You have some beautiful photos and I couldn't agree with you more about the Epic Rock show. We saw that for the first time of the Carnival Imagination last year and we were blown away....it was AMAZING. We went back twice to see it on our cruise

Epic Rock was great! I am glad you got to see it twice :) The Imagination is one of my favorite ships

I agree with Wrigley80. Your photos are absolutely gorgeous. I've not yet been on a Carnival ship with Guys or Blue Iguana. Soon, I hope. Looks like you had gorgeous weather, too. Glad to hear you had a great time.

Thank you so much! I hope you get to experience Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana soon!!!

Enjoyed your review and the beautiful pictures! Thanks for posting.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the review and the pictures! Thank you! :D

We go in February and can't wait, thanks for the review and the great pictures.

I am sure you will have a blast in February! Thank you for taking the time to read my review!!

Just wanted to thank you again my DH and I really enjoyed your review and can not wait until Jan. for our cruise!!! Glad you had such a great time!

I am so happy to hear that you and your DH enjoyed the review! I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!!!

Amazing review. Cannot wait for my Conquest cruise Jan 18th.

I have always wanted to do a holiday cruise of some sort. It looks like a blast.

 

Thank you for your time and putting this together.

 

 

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Thank you so much for the kind words! I hope you have an amazing time on your trip!

Day 7: Sea Day and Behind the Fun Tour

Unfortunately, today was our last day, but DF had purchased the “Ultimate Behind the Fun Tour” for my birthday this year. This is something I had always wanted to do and I was so excited to see the bridge! They had two different groups on this tour. There were 9 of us in the second group. Be sure to wear closed-toe shoes and leave your phones and cameras in your room. They have someone from security check our pockets with a metal detector before departing on the tour. Our tour lasted about 4 hours, so be sure to wear comfortable clothes and shoes and be ready for lots of walking and stair climbing. We started out on the crew-only deck where they store the spare anchor. It was super windy today, but being in this area of the ship felt great. We had a photographer take a photo of the whole group by the anchor. Then we got to go behind stage and see the $1.7 million screen and dressing rooms. We got to talk to the stage tech and one of the very talented dancers! We also got to see the engine control room, the galley, the crew bar and dining areas, and finally the bridge! I have never seen a more beautiful view. We got to meet the captain and take a souvenir picture with him. We finished in the Steakhouse with mimosas and a souvenir “Behind the Fun” tour drawstring backpack and cap! If you ever get the chance to take this tour, I would highly recommend it! I would definitely do this again. Even though you do not get to take any pictures yourself, they send you photographs of yourself with the captain on the bridge and the group shot of everyone on the crew-only deck.

After our tour, we enjoyed our last Guy’s Burger of the trip and went to tea time again. Tonight’s show was Divas and the comedy show. We spent some time in the casino after dinner in the MDR, packed our bags, and called it an early night. We had a long drive waiting for us the next day.

Debarkation:

Priority self-assist met in one of the lounges at 6:45am. We chose to do self-assist with our deck. We were called around 8am and were off the ship and through customs by 8:15. It was super fast and super easy. Carnival definitely has this process down!

Overall, this was one of our best trips to date! We loved all of our ports and everyone we met on the Conquest was absolutely wonderful. Every staff member we met was very helpful and friendly. The ship was beautiful and clean and there was always plenty going on to keep us busy. The 2.0 upgrades were great! Guy’s Burgers was the highlight for most in our group and the Blue Iguana Cantina was by far my favorite place to grab breakfast and lunch! I hope some found this review to be helpful, and if you have any questions I’d be more than happy to do my best to answer them!

Special thanks to everyone who took the time to read my review!

Our dessert options:

After dinner, they had plenty of Halloween happenings to keep us busy. They had two sessions of Halloween trivia in the atrium and TV and Movie trivia as well. But the best part of Halloween was seeing everyone all dressed up, including all of the staff! Roly’s costume was extravagant and PERFECT! He was Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Absolutely perfect! They had a Costume Parade along the Promenade. The perfect place for people watching! A lot of the costumes were amazing. I couldn’t believe people were able to bring such great costumes in their luggage. The entertainment staff handed out tickets to 20 groups/individuals for the costume contest finals in the Lautrec Toulouse lounge. DF and I actually got into the finals! The winners were a large family that dressed up as EVERY character from the Addam’s family. It was awesome! They even walked around singing the theme song. It was a well-deserved win. Halloween on the Conquest was a blast and seeing everyone all dressed up was so fun. Best people watching ever! They were also showing Halloween on the Dive-In theatre for those who wanted some good ol’ scary fun. All in all, this definitely will NOT be my last Halloween cruise!

Other decorations from around the ship:

When we got back on board around 3:30, we took a walk down the promenade to admire all of the new Halloween decorations. Some people were already in their costumes! Everything was so festive. If the ship looked like this at 3:30 in the afternoon, I couldn’t wait to see what it was like this evening. They had Halloween-themed drinks at the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar and Red Frog Rum Bar. We didn’t wear our costumes to dinner, but a lot of people did. They even had a Halloween dessert! You could choose from a chocolate cake or cheesecake.

DF and I spent the beautiful afternoon at Jack’s Shack. The weather was perfect and the water was nice and cool. We had delicious cracked conch and some refreshing Turk’s head lagers. We also had fun watching the World Famous Topher play in the sand and water. I don’t understand where all of his energy comes from, but he is one happy dog! We stopped by the Margaritaville pool on the way back to the ship and cooled off. It is always a party down there! Everyone was enjoying themselves watching a “dance off”. It was quite entertaining!

Day 6: Grand Turk and Halloween!!!

Today was Grand Turk day, but it was also Halloween! I had never actually been on a cruise for any holiday, so I was super excited to see how they celebrated holidays on board. We grabbed our breakfast burritos from Blue Iguana and were happy to see that towel animals (some in costume) had taken over the lido deck! What a great surprise! Mike hosted the Morning Show and gave people in the audience some Halloween-y bandanas. He even wore a festive tuxedo (complete with moustaches). We got off at Grand Turk around noon and Mike promised that the ship would look completely different once we all got back. He followed through, but more on that later!

DS and her BF took a scuba diving excursion for certified divers through Carnival. It was a 4-hour excursion with 2 separate dives (I believe they were an hour to an hour and a half each). My sister had some trouble with her regulator on her first dive, but she said the second one was fantastic! They even saw an octopus and another sea turtle. They were exhausted after their excursion, but they really enjoyed diving in Grand Turk. Here are some pictures from their dive!

More pictures from our San Juan tour!

Day 5: San Juan, Puerto Rico

We had originally booked the Taste of San Juan tour outside of Carnival for today. We arrived at the designated meeting point and waited for about 20 minutes. Finally, someone walked up to us and let us know that it was cancelled because they had scheduled a training session for that time. She said she had been trying to get a hold of me since Monday, but obviously my phone had been off. When we returned to Miami, I had two missed calls from them and zero voicemails. She said she had emailed me as well, but I did not have a single email from her. She offered me a future tour credit, which I declined because I had no idea when my next trip to Puerto Rico would be. I asked for a refund instead and she agreed. She also sent us an email with some other recommendations for things to do in San Juan. We ended up taking a bus tour that was heavily advertised by men in blue polo shirts at the port entrance (I’m sorry I cannot remember the name of the company). It was $10 per person and lasted about an hour and a half. I was a little hesitant at first, but ended up loving this tour! My DS and BF took the same tour with a different guide and it was one of the highlights of the trip for them. We were taken to the forts, through the streets of Old San Juan, the capital building, and beautiful scenic beaches. Our guide even stopped at each of the places so that we could get out and take pictures for ten minutes. I was worried when our first excursion fell through, but this tour was an excellent backup plan!

I think the second elegant evening is usually on the Friday (Grand Turk day) of this sailing, but since Friday was Halloween, they moved the second elegant evening to Thursday. We got all dressed up and had dinner in the MDR. Tonight they were showing Divas in the Lautrec Toulouse Lounge. This was a very energetic show and you could tell the performers really enjoyed putting on this show. They even did a full makeover on someone from the audience! It was great!

View from the ski lift (Courtesy of my sister)

They stopped for Bushwackers at the bar at the top!

Our Catamaran for the Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel

Turtle Cove

Day 4: St. Thomas

We docked in St. Thomas around 10am this morning. DF and I got to watch us arrive into port from deck 14. It was absolutely breathtaking and we took way too many pictures! We had our favorite daily breakfast at Blue Iguana and waited for Mike to let us know we could get off the ship.

We booked a snorkeling excursion (Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel) through Carnival. We had about an hour before we had to meet for our excursion, so the four of us walked over to the St. Thomas welcome center and picked up a map. DS and her BF didn’t have an excursion planned for today so they walked downtown and took the ski-lift up. She said it was $20 per person. I don’t think she was too impressed with St. Thomas, but the pictures she took were amazing! I will see if she might let me borrow a few to share with you. Our snorkeling excursion was a blast. We rode on the catamaran called Castaway Girl with Ben, Karl, and Mark. We took a 35-minute ride out to the snorkeling site called Turtle Cove. The weather was perfect today and the water felt great. I think we were in the water for about an hour (at least that’s how long it felt like to me). Ben was offering a guided tour for those who wanted to join, but you could also snorkel on your own as long as your stayed within the designated area. We saw 4 sea turtles! They were absolutely beautiful. Turtle Cove is a marine sanctuary and we were not allowed within 15 feet of the turtles, so we tried to give them as much room as we could when they came up for air. I think seeing the sea turtles was my favorite part of the trip! Ben was a lot of fun and very informative. He even found a sea urchin that he let us hold. There were a lot of different species of fish and coral that Ben pointed out to us. DF took lots of pictures with my sister’s GoPro, and hopefully they will turn out okay if I can get them uploaded! After we finished snorkeling, they opened the bar for rum punch. I think it took us about an hour to get back. Mark even let me steer the catamaran for a minute! We met some wonderful people and really enjoyed St. Thomas because of this excursion. I would highly recommend this excursion to anyone, especially if you are lucky enough to sail with Ben, Karl, and Mark!

We had arranged to meet DS and her BF at the Butterfly Garden after our excursion, but it was closed so we stopped by Senor Frog’s for a quick drink and Wifi to check up on the animals and were on our way back to the ship. We had dinner at the steakhouse tonight. For $35 per person, it was absolutely 100% worth it! Everything from the bread to the dessert was absolutely fantastic! We all agreed it was one of the best meals we had ever had. The chef came out after our meal and introduced himself. Everything about dinner at the steakhouse was top notch. After dinner, we attended part 1 of the gender showdown which was hilarious. I think they may have had new comedians tonight, but I don’t remember for certain.

Day 3: First Day at Sea

We had brunch in the MDR this morning and used our past guest free drink ticket for mimosas. I had the Eggs Benedict which are always delicious! There was a lot to do today, especially for trivia-lovers. Our CD was Mike Pack and ACD was Roly. They had great chemistry together and were a lot of fun to watch. They did a lot of music trivia (Disney, 70s, 80s, 90s) at the casino bar, which was always hilarious. I definitely recommend it for any music lovers! We participated in Harry Potter, Friends, and Disney trivia today. We didn’t win, but it was a lot of fun! The first slot tournament and blackjack tournament were also today. I had fish tacos today from Blue Iguana which were absolutely fantastic! Everyone else, of course, had a Guy’s burger and loved them :D We attended Tea Time at 3:30pm in the MDR and it was delicious. I am pretty sure we spent 90% of this trip eating. Tonight was our first elegant evening, so DS and I went to our cabin to get ready while the boys went to play volleyball. The Captain’s Celebration was held tonight. Since we were all dressed up, we decided to try out the Alchemy Bar. The drinks had great flavor, but every single cocktail on the menu was made with simple syrup. It gave them a very interesting texture, but it ended up being way too sweet. We still enjoyed the atmosphere of the Alchemy Bar, we just wished they had some more syrup-free options. We enjoyed dinner in the MDR and I got to have my favorite Bitter and Blanc for dessert! The show tonight was Epic Rock. This was the first playlist productions show I had seen and it was absolutely fantastic! I found out later that the cast was short one female lead singer and a female dancer, but they didn’t miss a beat. They have a $1.7 million interactive screen on stage that provides beautiful backdrops for the show. There were pyrotechnics and great lighting and the cast was extremely talented! I really enjoyed this show. Mike said this was the number 1 show in the fleet and the show that guests are most likely to watch twice. I wasn’t surprised to hear this at all! Next up, St. Thomas :D

Other pictures from around the ship:

In front of the Degas Lounge and Monet Dining Room

Coffee Bar

Tahiti Casino

More pictures from around the ship coming up on Halloween!