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

[Shatima]

Thank you so much for the really sweet words... I can't imagine meeting a sister that I didn't know of. That must have been really hard... God has been my back bone in all things... He is my strength.. He has blessed me with such wonderful kids and He is the reason I'm such a great MOM!!!!!

You keep pushing on to...

Thanks for reading..

Carolyn

No thank u 4 sharing ur story with us. U never know who is going through the same thing.... Go wonderful Mother. GOD has and will cont to bless you... And I will take ur purse now. Will u like to send that fed ex lololololol Have a great weekend..:)

[Shatima]

 

Exactly!!! Good job mama! You and your daughter are adorable and I can tell through your pics how much you guys love each other!

 

Loving your review,can't wait for more!

 

Where are u from in VA. I live in VA toooooooo:D

[mollyme123]

Oh my goodness! I just love this report... What a surprise!

[texnewbie]

I honestly read every single post! You are doing an awesome job! Our daughter is an only child & she is definitely a Daddy's girl but we are very close. We are blessed.

 

MicksMom

 

Wow Amazing... Your daughter is doing such a super job, you have lots to be proud of...

Thanks for reading every post... Lots of people really like my report...

It's been so much fun to write and to get to visit with other people.. I've writen a few trip reports on Disboard (Disney's Board) and really enjoyed doing them there because of the pictures and funny things that happen...

Thanks for reading... Have a great weekend..

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

Coral World was kind of an underwater viewing area, and they had tanks of stingrays and sharks you could touch. I know Rae would have loved that!!

PS... Our oldest dd's middle name is Rae - she was named after my dad, whose initials (the first 3!) were R.A.E (Richard Algernon Edwin), his mother's maiden name was Rae. And... (here's the good part), he was born and raised in Nassau, his family had been there for generations. I lived there when I was a kid, my g'mother had a store on Bay Street. Spent my summers there during high school, too.

 

She would have really loved those Stingrays and Sharks...Hahahaha

I want to take all of my kids on the cruise to the Western and go to Grand Cayman for the Stringray thing... But Rae is like, NO I"m not going...

Rae's middle name is Rae and she's named after my father tooo. That's awesome... She's Erin Rae and he was Aaron Ray, and I'm Carolyn Rae... Isn't that cool...

That is awesome about your dad and where he's from.. Spending your summer's there is so cool and living there... I've never lived further then 3 hours from my home town, which is where I live now. But next year will be different when we move to Orlando....

Have a great day...

I hope to write more today.. But date night tonight with sweet hubby.

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

Thank you so much for the really sweet words... I can't imagine meeting a sister that I didn't know of. That must have been really hard... God has been my back bone in all things... He is my strength.. He has blessed me with such wonderful kids and He is the reason I'm such a great MOM!!!!!

You keep pushing on to...

Thanks for reading..

Carolyn

 

No thank u 4 sharing ur story with us. U never know who is going through the same thing.... Go wonderful Mother. GOD has and will cont to bless you... And I will take ur purse now. Will u like to send that fed ex lololololol Have a great weekend..:)

 

Thank you again... Thanks for really liking my purse, I love it... It's huge....

I hope your weekends great tooo...

Thanks

[texnewbie]

Oh my goodness! I just love this report... What a surprise!

 

Thanks Mollyme123 for reading it... It's been so much fun to write...

Carolyn

[LovableGluttons]

Hi Carolyn! Terrific review! I lived in Abilene for 6 years, from 1991 - 1997, my husband was stationed at Dyess and I worked at Abilene Regional Medical Center in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

 

My family loves Disney, the beach, and traveling so much, we moved to the Tampa Bay area when my husband retired from thre military. Being an hour away from Disney is close enough to run over for the weekend or for an amazing meal, but far enough to be away from all the tourist crowds.

 

Thanks for your great review. By the way, my husband got his Bacheloer's from McMurry! I went to ASU, what a crazy commute between ABilene and San Angelo!

[texnewbie]

Hi Carolyn! Terrific review! I lived in Abilene for 6 years, from 1991 - 1997, my husband was stationed at Dyess and I worked at Abilene Regional Medical Center in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

 

My family loves Disney, the beach, and traveling so much, we moved to the Tampa Bay area when my husband retired from thre military. Being an hour away from Disney is close enough to run over for the weekend or for an amazing meal, but far enough to be away from all the tourist crowds.

 

Thanks for your great review. By the way, my husband got his Bacheloer's from McMurry! I went to ASU, what a crazy commute between ABilene and San Angelo!

 

Abilene is my hometown, I was born and raised here... Although the time that you were here that's when I was in Midland. Like you we LOVE Disney, the beach and traveling... Florida seems to be the place to live for travel. So many cruise ships leave from that area... or the beach is so close...

 

I have a cousin who lives in Tampa/St. Pete area and of course my oldest son lives in Orlando... We've talked about living either in Tampa/St Pete area or over on the Pacific area at Port St. John area, after living in Orlando for awhile.. I really don't want to live in the touristy area, but hopefully we can find something kind of away from it. Eric will help us find a place...

 

You know alot of people commute back and forth to either Angelo or the come here to the Abilene Schools. My middle son goes to Harden Simmons.. and loves it.

 

Thanks for reading...

Carolyn

[Cruisin Christi]

So far an amazing review. I have laughed and cried. You have a way of making me feel like I am right there. That is what makes a great review, IMHO.

 

I have 3 girls and they are still little. I just hope that one day we will all 4 be able to share an experience like the one you had with your daughter.

 

I live in East Texas :). My first cruise will be on Ecstasy out of NOLA after she moves. My parents have been on Conquest and they loved that ship.

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review.~Christi

[RICKnVICK]

Hi Carolyn! I am thoroughly enjoying your review and pictures! I can also sympathize with your relationship with your mom. My mom absolutely adores my brother also. My sister and I have always called him the "chosen one" :rolleyes: Anyway, we have strived very hard to be the best mom's we can be with our kids. I love to hear someone else is doing the same. You and your daughter are just precious! Hope to see yall on a cruise someday!

 

Vicki

[Meyer2]

More wonderful review & pictures! And I too thank-you for sharing your story with us. :)

 

My Grand-parents are in Kerrville, so we go over to Fredricksburg sometimes when visiting them. My parents & DD will be spending the night in Fredricksburg right before my older 2 kiddos go to camp near Kerrville.

 

I'm not familiar with the Gymnastics or cheerleading competitions, but DD dances competively. (sp?) Has been since she was 4 & she is now 8, so just the begining, LOL!

[texnewbie]

So far an amazing review. I have laughed and cried. You have a way of making me feel like I am right there. That is what makes a great review, IMHO.

 

I have 3 girls and they are still little. I just hope that one day we will all 4 be able to share an experience like the one you had with your daughter.

 

I live in East Texas :). My first cruise will be on Ecstasy out of NOLA after she moves. My parents have been on Conquest and they loved that ship.

 

I can't wait to read the rest of your review.~Christi

 

Where in East Texas do you live... The only reason I ask is because Brady my middle son is in Tyler working Pinecove Camp... I'm planning on heading that way in 2 weekends... He says it's so beautiful there...

Thank you for your sweet words... I hope my review is fun to read, I want everyone to know how funny she is and how much fun we have together... She's such a blast to be with. But all my children are that way to... We have so much fun joking with each other.

When is your cruise? and where is NOLA? I'm guessing New Orleans but I know Conquest is moving to NO when Magic comes to Galveston...

Enjoy your girls, they grow up so fast...

Thanks for reading.

Carolyn

[Cruisin Christi]

Where in East Texas do you live... The only reason I ask is because Brady my middle son is in Tyler working Pinecove Camp... I'm planning on heading that way in 2 weekends... He says it's so beautiful there...

Thank you for your sweet words... I hope my review is fun to read, I want everyone to know how funny she is and how much fun we have together... She's such a blast to be with. But all my children are that way to... We have so much fun joking with each other.

When is your cruise? and where is NOLA? I'm guessing New Orleans but I know Conquest is moving to NO when Magic comes to Galveston...

Enjoy your girls, they grow up so fast...

Thanks for reading.

Carolyn

 

I live 30 miles west of Tyler in Canton, home of First Monday Trade days. You should come over on one of the Trade Days weekends. It is fun. Kinda hot right now, but in the fall it is better. Tons of bargains, and lots of purses ;). I shop in Tyler all the time, it is a tad bit closer than Dallas. They have the closest Sam's Club.

 

Yes New Orleans. My cruise is in October. I have actually been planning this cruise for almost 2 years. We had to rebook it once. Originally it was Sept 2010, out of Galveston. Ecstasy is moving to NOLA, I believe right after a short dry dock.

 

I want to take my kids on a cruise, but my husband says Disney is a must first. I love my girls, they are fun small...I hope they grow up and actually want to go places with me when they are teenagers, lol. Your daughter is beautiful.

 

Can't wait for more of the review!~Christi

[BethG-HD]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire thread!! I'd keep taking breaks from work today and come back and keep reading-- sort of like a good book you never want to put down! LOL...and the pictures...WOW!! FABULOUS pictures. I'd say without a doubt this is the most enjoyable review I have read to date. To think I was on the Conquest only 8 months ago, but I've been on 2 ships now since then, so seems like forever ago now. I do recall what a fabulous ship she is and Carnival never disappoints-- was a great cruise. These days we always take along our 2 youngest ages 12 and 14. My oldest son is grown and now on his own (21). They do grow up so fast and so I cherish every moment with my 2 youngest! I always say there will be plenty of time to sail just the two of us when they are grown and gone and have families of their own. They are fast approaching 13 and 15 now and it feels like the years are passing by like calendar months! :(

 

Great job on this review, happy future sailing and thanks for sharing!!! :)

 

Beth

[GayleR]

She would have really loved those Stingrays and Sharks...Hahahaha

I want to take all of my kids on the cruise to the Western and go to Grand Cayman for the Stringray thing... But Rae is like, NO I"m not going...

 

...But next year will be different when we move to Orlando....

 

 

We took our 3 kiddos to Stingray City and 1 of my sons was in the water a total of 30 seconds! He did not want to be there. He stayed in the boat the whole time!!!! He and Rae would get along very well. :rolleyes:

 

I am originally from Orlando! I remember it before Disney, of course I was a little kid! There are parts of Orlando that are not so touristy; you just have to know where to go. ;)

 

Oh, and my first name is Carolyn. BTW, your review is fabulous! One of the best I've ever read on CC!

 

You and your daughter are just precious! Hope to see yall on a cruise someday!

 

Vicki

 

Just had to mention that my DB and SIL are named Rick and Vicki. LOL

[texnewbie]

Freeport....

 

7:00am to 4:00 pm in port...

 

Well we were so tired that we just crashed... And missed the whole sail in and dock... We didn't hear a thing.... I guess being way up at the top helps on the sound issues...

 

So I woke up a little after 8:00 and stepped outside our balcony to see this... check out the heavy clouds...

 

 

I decided that I had better wake up the princess... She really wasn't happy about that, but me either, I really wanted to sleep in too. She finally decided to get up and get moving...

 

We really didn't have any excursions planned today, but knew we wanted to catch a taxi over to Our Lucaya... So we took our time getting ready. Here's a few pictures I took of the port...

 

This ship is the USS Vicksburg... It was really neat to see in port.

 

 

 

I guess these are people waiting on there excursion time...

It's a pretty hopping place..

 

 

 

More to come...

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

Freeport...

 

More port pictures...

 

Window washing day!!! Great idea with the heavy clouds..

 

 

 

 

 

Time to leave the ship. It's around 9:45... Yes we have our swim suits on and yes we have two cover ups.. Just in case... So we decided that we would have alittle breakfast before we headed out to catch a taxi. Rae had cereal and I had another omelet it was really yummy... Forgot to take pictures..

 

After breakfast we headed down to deck 1... Time to leave the ship. Out we went without waiting in any lines.. We had to walk a good 100 yards to the awning area...

 

On our way we stopped to take a picture of our room way up there..

 

 

It's way up there 5 balcony from the front top floor...

More to come.

[texnewbie]

Freeport...

 

Well if you remember our crazy bus ride in Nassau... Well our crazy ride to Our Lucaya was really wild...... Really wild... She was an older lady with a broken big toe that we noticed when she got out of the old toyota van. She was talking on her phone, several times and she even ran a red light... SCARY!!!!!

 

Here's some pictures of our taxi ride...

 

Remember Port Lucaya is about 20 minutes from port...

 

 

 

Port Lucaya... Pretty flowers and a really nice clean place...

 

 

 

When she dropped us off at PL she said, "$10.00 per person"

 

I was like, "Wait, I thought it was $5.00 per person"

 

she said $10.00 per person round trip and I give you a ticket for you to call me and I pick you back up when your finished for the day"

 

I looked at Rae and said "Give her the $10.00 bill and will find another way back to Port later"

 

They older lady was like, no for round trip, we said "no thank you will find another way back!"

 

So we're finally at Port Lucaya...

More to come

 

How to find the beach... up next.

Carolyn

[Purplehaze21]

I completely understand!!!!! It's nice to break the chain of bad parenting. :D

 

Amen to that one! I don't men it in a bad way but i'm glad others went what I did, I thought or felt like I was the only one. My famous words to my dr...The abuse stops here! All that abuse growing up made me what I am today..A fantastic person...mother to 4 and grandmother to 4 and 1 on the way :D

Back on subject....Me and my daughter LOVED Nassau. I'm glad you 2 also did. The stories of people hating it had me 2nd guessing my choice. I've been 2 times now and can't wait to go back a 3rd. We were more into shopping and exploring! LOVE the review :D I bet yal are a hoot to hang out with!!

[Purplehaze21]

Hahaha, don't mean to laugh but your ride brought back memories of our ride there. Sounds the same except our driver didn't have a broke toe, she just had a lead foot :eek:

We didn't pay the full price either. I was NOT getting back on there with her. We split the cost of a cab with some friends we made on board. We ran into them there at a bar.

[texnewbie]

Freeport!!!

 

A little information...

 

I posted several questions on CC... On the Ports of Call the Bahamas folder... Because I was a little concerned about going to Freeport by ourselves... Just us to cutie pie girls... I wasn't sure if we would be safe all by ourselves... I'm a concerned mom... Well lots of people on the board told me how safe it was and where to go...

 

So I was told to catch a taxi over to Our Lucaya, walk through the Radisson Resort and head to the beach or walk down to the police station and walk down to the public beach... At Radisson you can pay anywhere from $10.00 to $30.00 for a lounge chair or go to the public beach. I don't remember anything about the lounge chairs there.

 

So... I was a little concerned about walking through the Radisson, I wasn't real sure on where to go or if they would tell us it cost $??.?? to use their facility, So I just wasn't sure what to do, but then again, I wasn't real sure where to go at all...

 

So when our crazy taxi drive made her way around to the parking lot to drop us off, I did notice the police stations, so I knew we could get to the beach from there...

So off Rae and I went, with our pool bags in hand... full of everything but our beach towels... UGGGGG... We forgot towels.. Bad idea...

 

So the police station was almost a block from Our Lucaya Shopping Market... Not very far at all. Nice easy walk down a side walk..

 

Then we followed the sign that said "PUBLIC BEACH" arrow pointing that way... Now, "That way" looked a little sketchy... The one thing is that we did notice was that other Americans were walking "That Way"

 

 

Rae on the Sketchy trail...

 

 

Still following the side walk... It was about 1/4 of a mile long...

 

 

And then this is what we saw...

 

 

 

 

Well we notice lots of people getting the lounge chairs but we kind of stayed back a watched and a men was telling people if they got one that it's $30.00 per chair, so we decided not to do that...

Check out the clouds...

More to come...

[texnewbie]

Freeport...

 

Now once we got out onto the beach, I was very disappointed... I guess after seeing the beach yesterday I just thought this beach was going to be the very same way.. What was I thinking, it's The Bahamas it should all be the same... Hahaha. That's what I get for thinking they would be the same...

 

So at first I was really disappointed... All I saw was rocks and a little seaweed... But as we worked our way over towards the Radisson area we found the most beautiful white sand, large black rocks and crystal clear water... YES!!!!! It was beautiful...

 

Now look at the beautiful sand, water and rocks not the fat old lady in the picture.. I really love this picture though, we had so much fun...

 

 

 

Now it was time to do our "Sun tanned toes ticklin the sand" picture...

 

We always have to do this...

 

 

 

Once we found us a place to put our stuff on the rocks.. No lounge chair... Way to much money... Up walked our table mate family... So it was lots of fun to hang with them for most of the day...

 

 

 

Was it going to down pour?????

 

It sure looks like it...

 

I was really worried...

 

More to come...

[texnewbie]

Freeport...

 

Looking towards the Radisson...

 

 

 

Looking the other way, Rae is in the middle far away... There is also a little hut to the right of the picture where you can get soda's, beer and food...

 

NO BATHROOM!!!!!

 

 

We really enjoyed my afternoon on the beach, I laid in the sand with my feet and part of my legs in the water reading my book, Rae laid on the sand and read her book... It was really fun...

 

There was a good amount of people there but everyone was having so much fun... Even though the clouds were looking really bad and we could see the rain coming down really close to us.

 

Really cute picture of Rae...

 

 

more to come...

[looneytunes31419]

One day when we get to Florida, I'm going on a Disney Cruise... Castaway Cay is a place I really want to go... Although Disney is coming to Galveston starting in Dec. 2012... But it's the Disney Magic or Wonder we can't remember...

Thanks for the info...

Carolyn

 

It is the Magic.. It also is the nice ship.. Castaway Cay is a beautiful place. I love Castaway Cay lots of photo ops.. Also even while on the ship if you want the pornographers to take your picture with your Camera all you have to do is ask them and some of them will especially on Castaway Cay with the characters. You will have a blast on Castaway Cay..