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Surprise trip for Daughter - Conquest 6-26 - Lots of fun - Pictures & Review

texnewbie

By texnewbie,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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What a fun surprise it turned out to be.... We got back a little over a week ago from our cruise on the Conquest, sailing to Nassau, Freeport and Key West!!!! We had lots of fun playing on the beach, walking around the ports shopping and checking out all the boys on the ship. Ok not me, but my daughter Rae...

 

 

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Here's how it all began...

 

Back in late January, my sweet husband Charlie suggested that my daughter and I take a Mother/Daughter fun trip together this coming summer, which I thought was a really great idea... and so we started looking at different options (Disney, The Beach, New York, and a Cruise) and Charlie and I came up with going on a cruise. So we booked June 26th - Conquest sailing out of Galveston - Nassau, Freeport, and Key West... Inside stateroom and then later we upgraded to a balcony - Deck 10, room 1014. I love staying on the upper decks, because it's so convenient to the Lido Deck... Plus really great views...

 

So, now it was time to get pass ports and start planning the pretend trip that Rae and I were taking. So I sat Rae down and we decided on a few days on the beach in Galveston and Port Aransas and then shopping in the San Antonio area... Our fictitious Beach/Shopping Mother/Daughter Trip was planned!!!! In early February, I got her out of school and took her to our local post office to get a pass port. My reasoning for her getting a pass port was that she would need a pass port so she could travel to Orlando really easy by herself. :D She's going there in April.

 

Now time was getting closer and the plans for the surprise trip were falling into place. After many suggestions from my Cruise Critic friends I came up with a plan...

 

Here it is:

 

A few weeks before we sail, she had plans for cheer camp in the Dallas area, then after cheer camp she was coming home and dumping her clothes and repacking and spending the next 6 days with her dad in Midland. She was due back home on the Tuesday before we sail.. Plenty of time for her to pack for the Fictitious Beach/Shopping Trip... So, when she gets home from her Dads she is going to have her 1st surprise sack - full of instructions on what to pack and a new swim suit... The on that Saturday morning that we leave for the Houston Area, her Step Dad is going to give her #2 surprise sack - full of information on the beach, sun screen and this trip is from Charlie... Then the morning that we cruise surprise sack #3. I'm going to give her at the hotel before we leave telling her what to pack in her carry on, and about our lunch plans at Fisherman's Warf... Then around 10:00 we would head on down to Galveston to the port area and as we stand on the pier area, I'm going to tell her instead of eating lunch over there at Fisherman's Warf let's just eat lunch on the Cruise Ship....

 

SURPIRSE!!!!

 

This would have been where I would have told her... But

 

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Well Guess What!?!?!?!? She came home from cheer camp: and she started throwing up the next moring and threw up for the next 2 days... YUCK!!!!!

 

So my plans were changing... by the way I don't handle change very well:rolleyes:

 

Some important information:

Back to cheer camp: On the last day of cheer camp I went to Great Wolf Lodge to watch the last day events of cheer camp and so she could ride home with me. On our way home we stopped at a Super Target (LOVE SUPER TARGET) and while at Target I bought a 12 pack of Cokes and Dr. Peppers, now I don't usually buy Dr. Peppers for home, because she would drink them all day long and they are so unhealthy for you. Now, Rae thought it was a little weird that I was buying Dr. Peppers for our trip when we could just buy soda's on the road while in Galveston, Port Aransas and San Antonio: (BAD MISTAKE).

 

After getting sick, she didn't go to her dads, but he came here to see her and she stayed with him for a few days. So, while she was hanging with her dad she asked him. "Is my Mom taking me on a cruise?" He said he tried to play it off but it was really hard to do...

 

Plus over thta weekend we were swimming at the club with our bestfriends and Rae asked Elizabeth the same question, "Is my Mom taking me on a cruise?" Again Elizabeth tried to play it off but Elizabeth wasn't sure that she believed her.

 

So over the rest of that weekend and on into Monday before we sailed I started talking really hard about Disney (that's her favorite place to travel) trying to convience her that we were going to surprise her with a trip to Disney... (We've done that to her before) but she was telling her brother that she really thinks she is going on a cruise..

 

How did she figure it out?????

 

I worked really hard on trying to hide every little detail...

 

So on Tuesday evening, before we sailed, we sat her down and told her that we had some really bad news to tell her. We told her that we weren't going to be able to go on our Beach/Shopping Mother/Daughter Trip, because we just couldn't afford to do it... Well you should have seen her face I thought she was going to cry... We've had a few other Mother/Daughter Disney trips planned like this and had to cancel so she was really getting upset because of the situations...

 

Then Charlie handed her some paper work and said "This is the reason why we can't afford for you and your mother to go on your trip". The paper work was her boarding pass and luggage tags...

 

She looked at it and was like.

 

What is this????

 

WHAT IS THIS??????

 

ARE WE GOING ON A CRUISE?????????

 

And Charlie said "YES" and she started jumping up and down...

 

Then of course she said, "I knew it" I figured it out when you bought the Cokes and Dr. Peppers at Target...

 

"How did buying the soda's make you figure it out???" I said.

 

She said, "Because when you and Charlie sailed you did the same thing, you bought cokes for your Trip!!!!!

 

She's so smart....

 

When we were telling her I didn't even think about taking pictures of it. I was trying to be really serious so she would see that I was really upset about not being able to go on our fictitious Mother/Daughter trip.

 

So the surprise was out and she was so excited!!!!!

 

Now it was time to get her packing, I was already packed and ready to go...

 

More to come!!!! With lots of pictures. I just didn't have any of the surprise part...

 

Texnewbie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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tmt218

tmt218

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Ah! How sweet!!! I take my DD on suprise Mother/Daughter trips all the time. We did Disney last Sept. and just got back from a TN trip over the July 4th holiday weekend. I haven't taken her on a suprise cruise yet. She enjoys helping plan them. I will have to do that when she gets a little older. I can't wait to hear about all the fun you two had.

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Awesome story brought tears, anxiously waiting for the rest of the story..Hope you all had a great cruise..;)

 

Thank you!!!! We had such a great time...

 

Ah! How sweet!!! I take my DD on suprise Mother/Daughter trips all the time. We did Disney last Sept. and just got back from a TN trip over the July 4th holiday weekend. I haven't taken her on a suprise cruise yet. She enjoys helping plan them. I will have to do that when she gets a little older. I can't wait to hear about all the fun you two had.

 

You should try the cruise!!! Disney Cruise would be the best...

 

Great story! Can't wait to hear how the cruise went. Thanks for writing!

 

Thank you!!! I should have the next installment up tomorrow night...

 

More to come soon.

Texnewbie

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Can't wait to read the rest of your review! Going on this trip in 2 weeks! If you happened to save the Fun Times can you scan and post them?

 

If I knew how to use my scanner I would but I don't know how to use it.:D:D

Are you going to Nassau, Freeport and Key West???

 

Texnewbie

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Loved the story! This makes me want to take a trip with my mother! Now if I could only figure out how to get her to surprise me with a cruise! lol.

 

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

I love this... "now if I culd only figure out how to get her to surprise me with a cruise" That's great... I hope you can figure something out.. Haha

 

Texnewbie

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Okay - next time get the soda card. Then you can still use those wonderful ideas to surprise her, well unless of course she reads this thread. Can't wait to see the rest of the review.

 

So true on the soda card or I should have bought them without her there...

Thanks for reading...

Texnewbie

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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I didn’t think this day would ever get here… I think I’ve been counting down the days since 156 days out…

 

Rae was finally getting really excited and she got everything pack on Friday night.

 

To get us in the mood I turned on Kenny Chesney’s “Outta Here” Best song ever… and then Kenny’s song “Coastal” The music woke Rae up with this huge smile, and she’s screaming “It’s time to go!” “It’s time to go!”

 

After we both finished getting ready and packing our last minute things: now it was time to hit the road… We said our goodbye’s to Brady (my middle son) because we knew we wouldn’t see him for the next 2 month, since he was on his way to PineCove (summer camp) to work… Then we loved on the puppies and we gave Charlie hugs and said our good bye and thanks… We were off, with a stop at Chick – Fil – A for cokes and chicken mini’s. YUM YUM!!!!

 

Road trip…

 

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We have so much fun when we travel together. We love to put the music box on in the car and turn the radio up real loud and sang really loud to Kenny Chesney, Sugerland, and all The Glee CD’s… We headed south from Abilene to San Antonio, I know it’s the long way to Houston/Galveston but I really enjoy driving through Fredericksburg. We made a stop in San Antonio for a Whataburger lunch and fill up of gas and then on West on I-10 to Houston. Finally we hit I-45 South to Galveston with a stop in the Webster/Friendswood area for a good night sleep. When we found our hotel, we settled into our really cold room and laid down to watch a movie “Time Travelers Wife” Pretty good movie… A little confusing…

 

After the movie we were starving and so we decided to find a Pei Wei!!!! Love Pei Wei!!! We had a great dinner, drove around the area and then back to the hotel for the night. We thought about heading to BoardWalk but decided that we were to tired and really ready to crash so the morning would come fast…

 

Heres some pictures of our hotel…

 

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Sunday!!!! Sail Away Day... It's next!!!!

Texnewbie

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Meyer2

Meyer2

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Great start to your review! Loving it so far & can't wait to read more. :) Great pictures so far too. My mom & I are taking our 1st mother/daughter vacation together on the Ecstasy for her last sailing from Galveston. Can't wait! Reading about your road trip getting to Galveston really makes me smile, sounds just like how my mom & I are. :)

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Great start to your review! Loving it so far & can't wait to read more. :) Great pictures so far too. My mom & I are taking our 1st mother/daughter vacation together on the Ecstasy for her last sailing from Galveston. Can't wait! Reading about your road trip getting to Galveston really makes me smile, sounds just like how my mom & I are. :)

 

Thank you so much for reading!!!! That's so awesome about you guys going on a Mom/Daughter trip!!! This was the best trip ever... Tonight at dinner she was saying how much she wishes we were still on the ship and how she misses our table mates and sitting by the Sky Pool... We have so much fun in the car. She use to compete gymnastics all over the state of Texas and so we have taken many mom/daughter trips together with the radio jamming!!!! So much fun to sing as loud as you want to and no one watching but each other... ;)

 

Love your review so far!! I can't wait to hear more!! Great pictures also!! Wish my mom would surprise me with a mother/daughter trip!!

 

Maybe she will one day!!! Or someday when you have a daughter you can surprise her. Thanks for reading. More to come!!!

 

Great review so far, can't wait to read more :)

 

Thanks for reading!!!!!:D;)

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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It’s finally Sail Away Day! The countdown is over…

 

I got up early, dang it… I was so excited… I just couldn’t sleep. Time to wake up the Princess….How about some Kenny Chesney “Outta Here!!!” A little beach music to get us in the mood again.

 

So, we got ourselves up and we got ready and headed down stairs for our free breakfast… YUMMY!!! Haha!

 

Texas Waffles…We just love them. We we’re so excited to eat them, so when we get down stairs to the free breakfast, we start looking everywhere for the waffle maker and Rae turns to me and everyone else in the lobby area, and says in her really sweet voice… Haha

 

“THEY DON’T HAVE ANY WAFFLES!!!! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?????"

 

“I don’t know princess but we will figure something out…”

 

“I’m so sad.” She says, “I was so looking forward to Texas Waffles – What kind of place is this…”

 

Needless to say we had toast and cereal, and then she was ready to blow this joint…

 

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So after getting all our 100 bags together hahaha, we headed down to the car… Remind you it’s just the 2 of us sailing, and we had more luggage then you could carry, or we could carry. We reloaded the car and then started packing our carry on swim bags. Although we didn’t take our swim suits in them, I carried a 12 pack of cokes in mine and she carried a 12 pack of Dr. P’s in hers, plus lots of stuff we never used…

 

 

 

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Putting her Dr. Pepper's in her carry on bag!!!

 

 

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Finally we were on I-45 South, but since the hotel didn’t have much to drink that morning needless to say we both desperately needed a Coke and Dr Pepper really bad so finally we saw a Whataburger sign, off the interstate we went… We pull up to the order window

 

and

 

I said “May I please have a medium Coke and a medium dr. pepper.”

 

She said “Well that be all”

 

“Yes, Thank you!"

 

She said “That will be $12. and something”

 

Or at least that’s what we thought she said…

 

She said “Please pull forward to the 2nd window”

 

ok, and off we went… We were just so happy to be heading to Galveston to get on the Conquest and sail to the Bahamas…. that we didn’t really care what she said…

 

So I got to the window, and she handed me my coke and then the dr. pepper, and I started digging in my wallet for some cash, and

 

She said, “Thank you and have a good day” then she closed her window…..

 

I was like, “Wait, Wait,” I owe you for my cokes!"

 

She waved at us good bye and off she went where we couldn’t see her anymore, so we sat there for a few seconds and then went….

 

"Free cokes!!!!!!" "YES!"

 

What a great way to start our trip!!!! It was better than not getting Texas Waffles….

 

Then we started singing “We got free cokes from Whataburger, Free cokes from Whataburger”…. It was so awesome…

 

So back on I-45 we went…

 

Finally we crossed over the huge bridge onto the island, we’re here…. We rolled down the windows opened the sun roof and started singing away to the music..

 

I knew when to start looking for the Whale’s Tail so I was searching down each side street, Then finally:

 

I yelled “Look Rae there it is”!!!! There’s the Whale’s Tail.. “There’s the ship” We’re here!!!!! It was only 9:30…

 

Opps not there, you missed it...

 

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There!!!

 

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More to come!!!!

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texnewbie

texnewbie

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Rae was getting so excited… It’s getting so close but of course we’re 2 hours early and needless to say we had lots of time to kill. So we took a few spins around downtown and saw some interesting sights… .

 

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And the ship!!!

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More to come!!!

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