My Conquest Review- 8/1 - 8/8

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

I am enjoying your review, keep it coming.

[arthierry]

keep it coming mommy of 1. I've been on the Conquest twice and love it. Chris the CD is pretty awesome; Energetic lil' fellow. Oh, and Big Sexy is a hoot! I hate that you missed the deck party. Last year I was on the Conquest doing super-bowl and we had a super-bowl deck party. Can you say, FUN! This year, we sailed during mardi-gras, and all I can say is I thought I was in NOLA. We had a blast. Anyone that's reading this who are sailing on her in the future, I also HIGHLY recommend the BTF (behind the fun) tour. It's $95 a person, but well worth it.

[mdrobtx]

This year, we sailed during mardi-gras, and all I can say is I thought I was in NOLA. We had a blast.

 

I'm sure you had fun. If you've ever been to Mardi Gras, you would have known you weren't in NOLA.;):D

We did it on an RCL Mardi Gras cruise. Wish they still had those.:rolleyes:

 

Enjoying the review. Can't wait till Jan.

[Mommyof1]

It’s a beautiful morning in Jamaica. We booked The Spirit of Montego Bay tour through Carnival. After reading reviews of Montego Bay and recommendations from a friend, we didn’t want to tour Mo Bay on our own. Our tour was schedule to leave at 10am, so we got up early and had breakfast at the buffet. It sure gets busy on port days and hard to find a table.

 

 

The Carnival Valor was in port with us

 

 

 

We met our tour in the terminal and after about 10 mins we were headed to the air conditioned van. There were about 20 people in our group.

 

Smiley face on the side of the building as we’re leaving the terminal…

 

 

 

 

 

This was just a basic tour of the city. The police stations are all blue and white buildings, so if you get in trouble, you know what to look for J

 

 

 

We stopped at the top of a hill to get out and take some pictures.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the ships on port

 

 

[Mommyof1]

We saw the St. James Parish Church which was built between 1775 and 1782. The pews are made of locally grown mahogany and are the original pews.

 

 

 

We drove up to Queen’s Drive (“Top Road”) and saw the airport and beautiful views of the seacoast. (We didn’t stop for pictures, so here’s a blurry one)

 

 

 

Next we went to Rose Hall for some more beautiful views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last stop was at Margaritaville for about 20 mins. I can see how people would enjoy this place, but with a 11 yr old, it wasn’t the place for us. Drunk women dancing on a stage in binikis is not the type of place I would take my child to. We got our punch that was included in the tour and headed outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour dropped us back at the terminal where I was able to do a little shopping.

[Mommyof1]

We were back on board by 1:30p and had lunch at the buffet. To our surprise when we got back to our stateroom, we had a note from Carnival apologizing for the wait in the dining room the night before. They gave us some mini desserts (I forgot to take a picture). It was such a nice gesture and made up feel better out the wait. Since the ship was pretty empty still we all played mini golf and just relaxed enjoying the view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if all ships have this feature, but you can go to the Menu on your in room TV and look at the dinner menu for that day. I’m a picky eater and there wasn’t anything on there I really wanted, so we skipped the dining room this night and ate at the buffet.

 

Tonight’s show was Magic & Illusion w/ Lady Hellevi. Since my DS is a fan of magic, we had to go to this. I thought this was a really bad show. I read great reviews about this show, but I was not impressed at all. Lady Hellevi only spoke at the very end of the show, so it was all music, hand movements and weird dances by the “Carnival Conquest Dancers”. The magic was so bad that my DS pointed out how every trick was done. Not very good magic if you ask me.

 

After the show we headed to the room and played a little “Uno” and just relaxed.

 

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman…

[arthierry]

I'm sure you had fun. If you've ever been to Mardi Gras, you would have known you weren't in NOLA.;):D

We did it on an RCL Mardi Gras cruise. Wish they still had those.:rolleyes:

 

Enjoying the review. Can't wait till Jan.

 

I've been to NOLA during Mardi Gras, and yes it doesn't compare. But, the whole state of LA school district was out of school the entire week, and they were all on the Conquest.

[1timecruiser]

I love the pictures and I have never been to Jamaica, so to see how beautiful and breathtaking the scenery is, makes me want to book an itinerary that includes Jamaica. I wanted to do the Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman itinerary this year, but no luck.

 

Keep the pics and review going. I see my family in yours (one child), so I know now when my son gets a little older what to expect. He enjoyed Circle C camp last year with no problems, but at 7 yrs old any room with a video game will. Hmm....

[arthierry]

Tonight’s show was Magic & Illusion w/ Lady Hellevi. Since my DS is a fan of magic, we had to go to this. I thought this was a really bad show. I read great reviews about this show, but I was not impressed at all. Lady Hellevi only spoke at the very end of the show, so it was all music, hand movements and weird dances by the “Carnival Conquest Dancers”. The magic was so bad that my DS pointed out how every trick was done. Not very good magic if you ask me.

 

After the show we headed to the room and played a little “Uno” and just relaxed.

 

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman…

 

I've seen the show twice, fell asleep the 2nd time. The 1st time we were on the 2nd level, and you could see everything that was happening. TOO OBVIOUS. The only neat thing was the end of the show when she sat on the chair and cards flew all over the place. I thought it was funny. Anywho, loving the review, keep it coming as I am reliving the conquest.

[Mommyof1]

I've seen the show twice, fell asleep the 2nd time. The 1st time we were on the 2nd level, and you could see everything that was happening. TOO OBVIOUS. The only neat thing was the end of the show when she sat on the chair and cards flew all over the place. I thought it was funny. Anywho, loving the review, keep it coming as I am reliving the conquest.

 

Glad to hear I'm not the only who didn't like it. We were on the 2nd level, row 2, so maybe that's what ruined it for us too. I thought the snow part on the chair was cool too, but we saw it a few years ago on a Disney cruise, so we weren't too impressed.

[KCMarie]

 

 

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman…

 

Your review is great, the pictures are fantastic!

Thanks for taking the time to do your review.

 

Looking forward to Grand Cayman, we'll be there in early Nov, and as yet have figured out what we want to do once there!

[Mommyof1]

I love the pictures and I have never been to Jamaica, so to see how beautiful and breathtaking the scenery is, makes me want to book an itinerary that includes Jamaica. I wanted to do the Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman itinerary this year, but no luck.

 

Keep the pics and review going. I see my family in yours (one child), so I know now when my son gets a little older what to expect. He enjoyed Circle C camp last year with no problems, but at 7 yrs old any room with a video game will. Hmm....

 

I didn't put this in my review, but I will warn you that Montego Bay is a really poor city. The pictures I took were the best parts I saw. I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around town there, so that's why we stuck with the tour. It was still nice to see a different country though.

 

My son's last cruise was when he was 8 and we were only the Disney Wonder. He would spend hours in camp there. We actually had to make him leave to come eat with us. I thought it would be the same on Carnival too, but it wasn't. Maybe it's his age, or maybe it's just the ship actitivies, I'm not sure. I would just go with the expectations that he will be with you a lot, and if not, then more alone time for you and your spouse.

[crewsweeper]

what a wonderful review....so relaxed and mellow in tone...great pictures too!! Waiting for the rest:)

[DpTxQt31]

LOL, I still say "Coke" for everything. We don't drink Coke, diet or otherwise and as a diehard Diet Dr. Pepper fan I still said to my husband on our cruise "Don't forget our Cokes!"

 

In Texas, any good waitress knows if you ask for a Coke, she'll ask you which kind. :D

 

As a former waitress you could always tell who was in the state visiting when they would order a coke and I would ask them if they wanted Dr. Pepper, Sprite, etc.. They would always look at me kinda confused and say "a Coke" :cool:

[mikefast]

I'm really enjoying your review and your pictures are great. We will be on the Conquest in November. We, of course, are really looking forward to it, and your review just adds to the anticipation.

[dfmeeks]

Thank you for taking the time to post reviews & pics. Excellent so far!

[dana99]

Thanks for sharing your experience. We are going in December!

[Mommyof1]

Once again it’s a beautiful morning and now we’re in Grand Cayman. I knew nothing about Grand Cayman other than rich people hid their money here and the water is beautiful…lol just kidding.

 

We didn’t have a planned excursion today. We knew we wanted to go the beach, but that was about it. As I mentioned in my first post, my DH is not a fan of the heat or the sun, but he sucked it up and went to the beach with us anyway J

 

In Grand Cayman the ship can’t dock at a pier, so you have to take a tender (a small boat) to get to shore. Since we were in no hurry, we slept until 9am and went to the buffet for breakfast. By this time it seemed like a lot of people were already off the ship, so getting food and a table wasn’t a problem.

 

 

Since we were one of the later people to get off the ship we didn’t have to get a ticket to get a tender (I’m still not clear on this whole process, but since we missed it anyway, I wasn’t worried). We made our way down to Deck 0 and were immediately able to get on a tender.

 

The water was gorgeous!!

 

 

 

We found the taxi stand and were able to get a taxi right away. Our goal was to go to Royal Palms, but our driver was so friendly that I asked him if he suggested another location. There were 4 ships in port today, so he said Royal Palms would be crowded. He dropped us off a little further down on 9 Mile beach (it was $4 pp to get to Royal Palms and $5 pp for our stop). By this time it was almost 11:15a. Our driver offered to come back and pick us up at 2p, but even if we missed him there were plenty other taxis and busses to take back.

 

9 Mile beach is a free beach. In this area, there were showers and bathrooms; a place to rent chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, etc and a bar that served food. We didn’t eat there, so I don’t know what they served or the cost. We rented an umbrella for $10 and just sat on our towels.

 

 

 

 

The view was beautiful and the water was so clear. My DH only made it in the water about 20 mins then spent the rest of the time on his towel under the umbrella. Although we enjoyed the water, by 1pm my DS was ready to leave. When he was younger he could spend hours in the water, now not so much. We easily found a bus heading back to the ship.

[Mommyof1]

The line for a tender was already long. I think we waited in line for about 30 mins.. but probably longer. It was really hot. Thankfully a nearby vendor was selling snow cones ($3) to help cool us down.

 

 

Here's a pic of the tender...

 

 

 

I HAD to get the sand off me before we ate lunch, so by the time we all showered and got presentable, it was about 3p. I think everyone had the same idea as us to eat lunch on the ship because it was very crowded. There were only 2 areas open for food (the deli and pizza..at least that’s all that I saw open). I don’t know if I was just really hungry, but I had the arugula, bell pepper and mozzarella on focaccia and it was sooo good. It was so simple yet, so yummy (I had it again on our last sea day).

 

Tonight was the 2nd elegant night. Since we had a late lunch, we skipped dinner in the dining room and ate at the buffet around 8p.

Tonight’s show was “Point and Click”. Since we had nothing better to do, we all opted to go to the show. It was basically about a couple who meet on the internet. I guess this was more like a musical that I’m used to. It was a little weird, but ok. At least I knew a few of the songs.

 

This was also the night of the all night party for Camp Carnival. As I said before, we reserved this on the 1st day. It’s $26. The kids are there from 10p – 3:30am. The counselors brought them each back to their room. We just left the bathroom light on so when my DS came to the room, he wouldn’t wake us to turn on the light. I’m a light sleeper, so I woke up when he came in around 3:15a. He said he had a good time, but I still don’t think it was as fun as he thought it was going to be. He said he didn’t like camp because the counselors treat them like little kids (it’s the 9-11 age group).

 

Here's another picture from 9 Mile beach...

 

 

 

If you noticed the date stamp on my camera is different, I don't know how that happened. It was all the same day. I think the time it set wrong. On well, at least I know when it was :)

Tomorrow is Cozumel...

[Amanda86]

The review is great!!! We are going in 2 weeks on the Conquest for our first cruise. Question I have is how is the sand, is it hot and rough on the feet? Husband brought up the suggestion of water shoes for when we go to the beach. We are from Pacific Northwest where you wear a jacket of some sort year round on the beach.

[alreadypacked]

Wonderful review & photos!!

 

BTW, last year when I changed the batteries in my camera (mid-cruise) , I forgot to reset that date/time stamp. A few of my pictures came out with a completely wrong date 'til I realized.:eek:

[Mommyof1]

The review is great!!! We are going in 2 weeks on the Conquest for our first cruise. Question I have is how is the sand, is it hot and rough on the feet? Husband brought up the suggestion of water shoes for when we go to the beach. We are from Pacific Northwest where you wear a jacket of some sort year round on the beach.

 

Thanks! The sand by the water was fine, but as we were walking to the bathrooms it got really hot. We just put our flip flops on and we were fine. I did find the bottom of the ocean to be a little rough some areas, so if you don't like that, then I'd wear the water shoes.

[stay_or_go]

Great review so far! I love picture reviews, they are the best.

 

In Canada, when you order a coke and they dont have it, they will usually ask "is pepsi alright", i usually say, no thanks I would like a coke!;)

[Mommyof1]

Yet again a beautiful morning. This morning we’re in Cozumel. Today I had booked a private tour with Gerry. I read such great reviews on CC and TripAdvisor about him. There’s even a YouTube video of him singing while driving. The tour for up to 4 people is $95USD for the 1st 3 hours and $25USD each additional hour.We scheduled 3 hours starting at noon, but it ended up being a 4 hour tour.

 

 

 

If you already know the sights you want to see, Gerry will take you there, but being my 3rd time in Cozumel, I wanted to see places I hadn’t seen before. From Puerta Maya, we drove to the north side as Gerry let us stop for pictures and share the history of Cozumel with us. We drove by the military base and got a picture of a fighter plane from World War II.

 

 

 

We learned that all the gas stations in Cozumel are owned by 1 guy which I found interesting. We stopped to take a picture of a statue (of course now I couldn’t tell you what it was for, but I got a picture! LOL). Here we are at the same location.

 

 

 

 

My DS thought it would be a great idea to tour the ruins. I told him it was going to be hot, but he wanted to go. So off we go to the San Gervasio ruins. It was free for him (I think kids under 12 are free) and it was about $6 each for us. Keep in mind that when I was in Progreso on the Ecstasy in June, I toured the Uxmal ruins, so he saw pictures of that. Well this was a big disappointment for him. Not only was it REALLY hot, but the ruins were really small compared to Uxmal. Unless you’re really into history, I would skip these ruins.

 

 

 

This was probably the biggest ruin we saw..

 

 

[Mommyof1]

After we cooled down in the van thanks to the cold a/c, we stopped at a little store to buy some souvenirs.

And a trip to Cozumel is not complete without a picture of the Pee Pee Station :D

 

 

Now we’re ready for lunch. At this point we’re on the east side. Gerry pointed out Coconuts which is supposed to have the best view, but I did research prior and didn’t think this was a place I wanted to take my DS to. We stopped at Playa Bonita which was beautiful.I got my favorite drink, a Bahama Mama and chicken fajitas. Not very adventurous, but I always go with what I know I like and I wasn’t disappointed. I felt weird eating lunch while Gerry waited in the van, so of course we had to have him join us. We really enjoyed his company as he share stories about his family and how he started his own business.

Here’s some pictures from Playa Bonita…

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we stopped at El Mirador, a rock formation. We took a quick picture and we were ready to head back to the ship. Gerry entertained us with his karaoke dvd and tried to get us to sing along in Spanish… which none of us speak Spanish. It was funny though.

 

 

 

After a hug and a picture with Gerry we were ready to get back on board and take showers. I hadn’t sweat like that in a long time. I think Cozumel was my favorite port because of the great tour we had. It made all the difference. My DH jokes about wanting to move there.