Christmas Cruising on the Conquest 2013 - Photo Review w/Fun Times

[CruiserJul]

Enjoying your review! We are leaving on the Glory (sister ship of the Conquest) later this month and will visit the same ports!:)

[sissyfromcab]

When researching what to do in St. Thomas, I found out that there would be seven ships in port! And three of those were mega-ships! (Allure of the Seas, Norwegian Epic, and Royal Princess) There were a total of more than 20,000 people in port for Christmas Day. Based on the number of people and the fact that it was a holiday, we definitely wanted to have an excursion booked ahead of time. We debated between a kayak tour and mini-boat tour and ended up deciding to go on the mini-boat tour.

I booked the mini-boat tour through an independent site. It was offered by the ship with transportation, but was about $20 more per person and I figured that it couldn't possibly cost $20 per person to get there. I was sort of right... if we could have found a driver who knew where the heck it was!

After the ship docked, we got off and headed to the shops to look for a Christmas tree to get a picture with, but couldn't find one. :( We saw a guy managing taxis and figured it was about time to head towards our excursion, since we weren't sure exactly how long it would take. The guy managing the taxis didn't know where we were headed, but the driver said he did, so we got in and headed out. When we stopped to let a couple people off in town, we could see the four ships that were at Havensight. There wasn't enough room at the pier and Norwegian Sun had to tender.

 

The taxi driver didn't know where we were going. He dropped us off at Crown Bay. We did find a Christmas tree, so we got our picture.

There was also a cool row of Christmas trees.

 

I was fairly confident that we were in the wrong spot, but Travis thought that the taxi driver wouldn't have knowingly left us in the wrong place. We wandered around and tried to find someone who knew where we were supposed to be. We asked in the shops, at the taxi stand, anyone who looked like they might have a clue. The few people who did seem to know what we were talking about, told us to look for the guy in the green shirt, but the only guy we could find with a green shirt looked at us like we were speaking Chinese when we asked him. I was getting really frustrated thinking we were going to miss our excursion.

We had a phone number on our paper, but no way to call, since we left our phones on the ship. We finally came across a police officer who let us use her phone. We were just hoping that we could get more specific directions that we could give to a taxi driver, but it turned out to be the elusive man in the green shirt. He was right around the corner with the excursion from the Allure! Travis found him and he put us on the taxi with the Allure group and we made it to the mini boats!:D

After all that stress and the extra taxi ride, we only saved about $2 per person. Next time, we'll just take the tour with the transportation included!

[sissyfromcab]

After about a 20 minute ride (back past our ship), we made it to the mini-boats. There was a small group waiting. We got into our swimsuits and the provided life jackets. We left our bags at the dock, since they said everything in the boat might get wet. They provided snorkel equipment for those that wanted it, but we used our own.

After everyone was ready, we were loaded into the boats. They put two people per boat and the second person could sit behind the driver or on a seat in the back, but they suggested that it was more comfortable to sit behind the driver.

Captain Travis

 

After some final instructions, we were off. On the way to Christmas Cove (on Christmas Day!), we crossed the path of a ferry and had to slow down and wait. The mini-boats mostly stayed in line on the way over and didn't go too fast.

 

Christmas Cove

[sissyfromcab]

When we go to Christmas Cove, we tied the boats together and about half the people got into the water to snorkel. One of the guides got in the water with us to point out the different fish and such.

 

 

The beach - wasn't much to enjoy

[Kim_KS]

I'm so excited to see you back! We take this itinerary on Conquest in 12 days so your timing is perfect! I'm excited to see all the Fun Times - Thanks!

[sissyfromcab]

Some of the fish

 

The snorkeling was actually better than it looks in these pictures, though it wasn't great. There was an overhang and crevice with quite a few fish swimming around. There was also an octopus hiding in the crevice, but I wasn't able to get a good picture of it.

[sissyfromcab]

After about 45 minutes of snorkeling, we got back into the boats. They lowered a ladder, but it was tricky to climb up into the boats and then climb between the boats to get back into ours.

On the way back, they didn't make us stay in line or drive as slow, so most of the drivers (mostly the guys!) went faster and played around. Travis kept going over the wake and I reminded him that I was holding onto him, so if he knocked me out of the boat, he was going to join me!

 

This picture shows what the ride back was like - much less gentle!

 

There was a heron in the lagoon near the marina.

 

Us in the boat

 

Once we were back at the dock, we were served rum punch (on a sliding scale from 100% punch to 100% rum). We also had bottles of water from earlier. The guides told us that the rum was actually cheaper than the punch and poured heavy on the rum in the mixed cups.

 

As we were waiting for the taxi, someone noticed a large iguana sitting on a tree.

 

There was a family with the parents and four high school/college age kids from Allure of the Seas with us on the excursion. When we first got into the boats, the mom was really not into it and said she'd rather be sitting on the balcony reading. By the time we came back though, she was driving and seemed to be enjoying herself!

Overall, we had a good time on this excursion, but it's probably not something that we would do over and over. We both felt that the mini-boat part was kind of short and wished that we had taken a less direct route to Christmas Cove to spend more time in the boats, since that was the major appeal for us.

Edited May 13, 2014 by sissyfromcab

[JimAOk1945]

It looks like you had a fantastic cruise. I enjoyed reading about your experiences and looking at your pictures. We have sailed on the Conquest twice. She is a beautiful ship.

 

We always enjoy cruising at Christmas. The festive atmosphere makes the entire experience seem even more special.

Edited May 13, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[sissyfromcab]

The taxi dropped us and several others off at Havensight. We wandered through the shops. I found a t-shirt I liked and a larimar pendant for my mom. My mom has drooled over larimar at local jewelry shops for a couple years, but they're fairly pricey. When I saw decent sized ones for about $20, I knew that would be a great present for her! Travis even helped me pick out the specific one. We were starting to feel the effects of the mostly rum rum-punch with no lunch and headed back to the ship.

On the way, we found a cute photo opp.

And got a nice sun over the ship picture.

 

We grabbed some Guy's burgers.

 

And watched a gorgeous sunset!

[sissyfromcab]

More of the sunset

I love these two! I made one both my computer background and my cover photo on Facebook!

 

One more sunset

 

Several of the ships had already left for the evening, but we were able to watch Royal Princess leave. She moved out from the dock and then turned a complete 180 degrees before leaving port. It was really neat to see such a big ship maneuver like that! We also could see the Christmas tree on the bridge.

[sissyfromcab]

After that, we grabbed some ice cream, because you can never have too much ice cream.

 

And I took some nighttime pictures of St. Thomas.

[jaxie001]

Really nice review! I love your pics of St Thomas...We were married there a year ago...I want to book another cruise to St Thomas again soooo bad it was beautiful :) Thanks so much for sharing the night time pics...it was cloudy and drizzly by the time we left port...so no really prettty sunset :(...I'll just come back and look at yours!!!

Ditto on the ice cream!!!

Edited May 13, 2014 by jaxie001

[sissyfromcab]

While we were waiting for dinner, we noticed that one of the guys that sits near us was dressed up as Santa. There was a little girl who ran up to him and was soooo excited. She chattered on and he was so nice and talked with her and let her mom take a picture. It was such a sweet moment!

 

When we were given our menus, I noticed that it was a special Christmas menu. The every day menu was still the same, but they printed it off on pretty Christmas paper.

 

We both got the cheese and potato soup as an appetizer. It was super yummy, but filling!

 

I debated between the shrimp, turkey, and ham as my main course and ended up with the turkey. It was good, but the turkey was a little dry. Travis decided on the filet mignon. He wasn't a big fan of the sauce (but that's normal for most sauces), but otherwise was happy with his choice

 

We also had a special dessert menu. Nothing jumped out at either of us, so we just stuck with Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. I'd seen lots of pictures of special presentations for Halloween and hoped for something for Christmas, but it was just a normal plate.

[sissyfromcab]

We got our nightly picture with a Christmas tree. I made Travis wear a festive Christmas tie. :)

 

And saw our towel animal for the night.

 

After dinner, we just watched some TV and read, since we had an early morning in San Juan coming up.

[sissyfromcab]

I'm so excited to see you back! We take this itinerary on Conquest in 12 days so your timing is perfect! I'm excited to see all the Fun Times - Thanks!

 

Enjoy! I should be finished before you leave, since I'm in between semesters this week. :)

 

It looks like you had a fantastic cruise. I enjoyed reading about your experiences and looking at your pictures. We have sailed on the Conquest twice. She is a beautiful ship.

 

We always enjoy cruising at Christmas. The festive atmosphere makes the entire experience seem even more special.

 

We had such a great time, that we already booked another Christmas cruise for next year (though it may change...). We were worried about the crowds and kids, but with a balcony, we could get away from all that and had a great trip! :)

[sissyfromcab]

Really nice review! I love your pics of St Thomas...We were married there a year ago...I want to book another cruise to St Thomas again soooo bad it was beautiful :) Thanks so much for sharing the night time pics...it was cloudy and drizzly by the time we left port...so no really prettty sunset :(...I'll just come back and look at yours!!!

Ditto on the ice cream!!!

 

Thanks! We're going back on our Christmas cruise this year and I'm excited to have another day in St. Thomas. The sunset was so gorgeous. I think I took at least 20 pictures. The fact that it was on Christmas just made it that much more special.

[sissyfromcab]

[sissyfromcab]

San Juan was another port that we debated what to do in. I found a really neat adventure day with Campo Rico that Travis wanted to do, but it was pricey, so my vote was to have a cheap day at the forts. We ended up deciding to do Travis' super adventure day, but he promised that we would come back and do the forts some other time.

We arrived in port at 7am and our adventure met at 8am, so we had an early morning. By the time I was awake enough to look outside, we had already passed El Morro.

 

Shortly after us Independence of the Seas pulled into port. We had sailed on Liberty of the Seas the previous year on the week before Christmas and it was such a beautiful ship! We looked at sailing on Independence, because we liked the idea of an 8 day, but the price was a lot higher for one extra day.

[sissyfromcab]

We made our way off the ship and over to the Plaza Colón Square, where we were supposed to meet. It was only a couple blocks from the port, so it wasn't too hard to find. We got there about 7:30 and weren't supposed to meet until 8:10, so I killed time by taking pictures of the plaza.

There was a large statue of Christopher Columbus.

 

And some pretty Christmas displays.

 

There was also a large Christmas tree in in the plaza, so we got our picture with it.

 

Here's a description of what we were supposed to do:

B. Campo Rico Cave Rappelling & Ziplining Safari

Nothing like it in this world!

 

Come experience this moderate-challenging adventure happening 5 minutes away from San Juan in the breathtaking 2,300 acre private estate of Hacienda Campo Rico dedicated to ecotourism activities and the conservation of nature.

The Campo Rico Cave Rappelling & Ziplining Safari starts off with an amazing ride in a one-of-a-kind amphibious 8x8 vehicle. We will travel through wetlands, mangroves and carstic region forests with beautiful landscapes abundant with flora and fauna. Then we are off to an easy 10-minute hike through the subtropical forest. The next highlight is an exciting cave-rappel descending 20 feet into an impressive cave which is sure to exceed your every expectation. We will trek back to the amphibious vehicles and cross 3 canopy hanging bridges which are 30 feet high and then glide across the first of 3 exhilarating ziplines, one of them measuring 1,000 feet long at 200 feet high. Our last zipline lands directly in the Mojito bar were we will indulge a succulent homemade Puerto rican meal and even have the opportunity to order a fresh Mojito or a cold beer at the cash bar. For safety reasons we take a maximum of 10 participants per session.

 

This half day adventure is available from 8am-12n. Transportation is provided in San Juan (including the San Juan ports), safety equipment and certified bilingual guides.

Pickup Times: • San Juan Ports: 8:00-8:10am • Plaza Colón Square, Old San Juan: 8:10-8:20am

 

 

How was it? I don't know.

We waited until about 8:30 and then another tour guide let us use his phone to call them. They claimed that we hadn't been in the right spot, so they couldn't pick us up. Travis insisted that we had been waiting in the right spot for almost an hour and then their story changed. They said that they tried to call us on my cell phone and since we didn't answer, they left a message changing how we were supposed to get there. I had left my phone on the ship, since I had read that Verizon didn't have service in Puerto Rico. Then the lady on the phone said that they had started already and even if we made our own way there, it was too late to join them. Travis argued with her and she finally agreed to refund our money, since we had waited and they had not shown up to pick us up.

When I finally got home and was able to listen to the message, they said that they weren't going to come pick us up at all, because another group needed to leave early, so we should take a taxi and they would pay for it. That might have been fine if we had actually gotten the message, but I only put my phone number on the form because it was required and there was no where to note that I might not have service to check it.

We were also frustrated in getting a refund. I waited about a week after we got back, because of the holidays, but they never refunded the money. I sent them an email explaining what had happened and that we were told we would have a refund, but they never responded. I ended up having to file a claim with both PayPal and my credit card company to get the refund and it took over 6 weeks! I was not impressed and would recommend avoiding Campo Rico, because we had such a bad experience! :mad:

 

It was especially frustrating, because this was the one thing that Travis was really excited for on the whole cruise and they made such a mess of it. We didn't let it ruin our day, but it put a really sour note on our time in San Juan.

Edited May 14, 2014 by sissyfromcab

[sissyfromcab]

Since our Plan A didn't work out, we opted to do Plan B: see the forts. We started by making our way back to the ship, because we wanted to get our CamelBak and change into sandals. It was HOT and HUMID!

On the way back, we noticed a chalkboard on the side of a building

and the blue cobblestones

 

I like to get a picture of us with the ship and we hadn't done it yet. Since lots of people were still streaming off the ship, we asked someone to take a picture for us.

 

Since it was hot and humid, we thought we'd try to take the free trolley to one of the forts. We waited for about 15 minutes and the trolley came to the stop we found. There were only about 10 people in front of us, but no one got off and the driver said it would be about a half hour until the next one came. At that point, we decided to just walk to San Cristobal, since it was only about a 10 minute walk. (We could see it from the plaza where we'd been waiting.)

[sissyfromcab]

A view walking up to the fort

 

As we walked inside to get our tickets, we were passed by an M&M's truck. I made a joke that I didn't know how they weren't melting in there, because I was melting outside and I wasn't chocolate!

 

We made our way up to the line and waited. And waited. And waited. It was SO HOT and HUMID! We stood in line for about 15 minutes and moved forward about a foot. The line went down a hall and turned a corner and was packed with people. Word came back that there was only one person selling tickets. We waited for about five more minutes and the line still wasn't moving, so we decided to bail on the forts for that day.

Some iguanas

 

On our way out, there was a cool view of some doors.

 

I'm a total history dork and would have loved to explore the forts, but the fact that we waited in line in the hot, humid, Caribbean sun for about 20 minutes and moved forward less than 5 feet killed that plan.

[sissyfromcab]

At that point, we didn't have a Plan C prepared. Travis voted for just going back to the ship and hanging out, but I wanted to at least do something. There were guys at the port offering city tours for $20 for 2 hours, so we decided to do that. We were the first people on the bus and had to wait a while so the driver could sell more seats.

Our first stop was by a government building with a bunch of statues of presidents.

 

We then toured the rest of the city on the bus with lots of information from the driver. Our next stop was the beach!

We decided we needed to stick our feet in the water.

By the time we got back to the bus, it was starting to get overcast and sprinkle, so it was finally not so hot and humid.

[sissyfromcab]

We drove around a little more of the city and ended up at our final stop of El Morro. It was really overcast, but I wanted to get a few pictures, so I hopped off the bus and snapped a few pictures.

About half the bus followed me. It was still overcast and started to rain almost immediately, so people started to get back on the bus. However, since I was one of the first people off the bus, I was one of the last people back on and it started to pour!

I tried to take more pictures of the sites, but my camera wanted to focus on the raindrops on the window, so all I got was this.

 

We had a decent time on the city tour and it worked as a Plan C, but is definitely not something we would do as a Plan A or seek out. We prefer to actually do something, rather than sit on a bus and see things.

 

After that, we headed back to the port and decided to just get back on the ship. When we got lunch, I was excited because they had some yummy looking desserts, but unfortunately they didn't taste as yummy as they looked.

 

While we were eating, we watched Independence of the Seas leave.

[sissyfromcab]

After lunch, we decided to get a drink at the Red Frog Pub. Travis tried their beer, but wasn't a huge fan. I tried a twilight zone, and enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. I love frogs and Tervis cups, so I had to get my drink in a Red Frog Tervis cup.

 

We decided to just spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Shortly before we left, Norwegian Gem arrived in port.

 

As we were leaving port, we noticed the walkway on one of the other piers was damaged and it made us wonder what had happened.

[sissyfromcab]

As we were leaving port, we had some great views of the city and sunset.