Picture review of the Conquest June 3-8 Sailing

[bluejay555]

Hi BlueJay:

I'm enjoying your review and photo's also.

Thank You for getting me pumped up for the Fall[/center]

 

Awesome! Thanks!

[bluejay555]

I went exploring the grounds and I was so impressed with how Carnival has built up this area.....brick walkways, beautiful landscaping. Carnival has something really special here!

 

 

 

There was even a little chapel. I wanted to get a picture from the opposite angle, with all the pews but there were people actually sitting in there and I felt rude snapping pics. We saw people getting married on the beach, but I guess if the weather is bad enough, they can use this place instead.

 

 

One of the bars.....or maybe the only bar. My walk looped around the place and I wasn't sure if I was seeing the same bar again or a different one lol

[bluejay555]

 

 

 

[bluejay555]

Lunch time! Carnival sets up a buffet down behind the pirate ship area and you can help yourself any time between 11:30-1:30

 

I don't remember what all that food was in the picture below....I think it was stuff like potato salad, slaw, macaroni salad. They did have a fried rice that was excellent!

 

They offered fruit, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies

 

 

 

 

There were several pavilions like this one, where people could eat. The drink station was serving water and tea (maybe lemonade too?) and the line was huge. It was much harder to get a drink than to get food!

[bluejay555]

After lunch, the girls wanted to ride the water bike and it was $35 to rent for an hour. They rode it for a while, but said it was really hard work and hard to steer, so I climbed on and gave it a try. I didn't think it was THAT bad. I guess it was kind of hard to turn. It's not an automatic "turn the handles and the bike turns that direction" kind of response. You sort of start drifting in that direction. There were some boys watching us, obviously wanting to try it out, so we abandoned it and let them take it for the rest of our hour. I guess we are more the lazy beach people than the sporty beach people ;)

 

[bluejay555]

So, we were really watching the time because we saw in the Funtimes that there was a Golden Girls Trivia at 3:15. We watch the Golden Girls practically every single day. We are experts!!! The girls were sooooo excited about this (I was too!) and we knew we could NOT miss it. We planned to leave at 1:45 so we'd have time to shower and change and grab a drink before trivia. Last tender left the island at 3pm, so we didn't even dream there would be a huge crowd trying to get back to the ship. Well, we were wrong.....Wow. Carnival needs to figure out something different. We got back to the ship just in time to race up to Vincent's lounge for trivia. We were still in our suits and had our beach bags and everything. Blah. But oh well, we made it!

 

I snapped some pictures of the line to get on a tender and they don't even begin to show the full scope of the mob. There was a covered area with misters and that was so nice, but a lot of the waiting was in direct sun. And it was miserably hot. There were tons of people griping but there was nothing anybody could do about it, we just had to wait. It was seriously over an hour. I can't imagine how the line was at 3pm!

 

[blarko]

Are the drinks on HMC sold by carnival? In other words, do you pay with cash or with your S&S card?

 

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[bluejay555]

Are the drinks on HMC sold by carnival? In other words, do you pay with cash or with your S&S card?

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, you use your sail and sign card for drinks and to rent the water toys. We never made it to the souvenir shops so I'm not sure about those, but I would imagine it's the same.

[cruisingbajan]

Nice review and pics. Thanks for sharing.

[bamaparrotheads]

Great review! My family and I will be on Conquest on 7/1. Can't wait!

[bluejay555]

Just a few more pictures and final thoughts before wrapping up Half Moon Cay....

 

 

 

These fish were all over the place but that's about all the wildlife we saw. Maybe there's a different part of the island with more, but right at the beach is not worth bringing snorkel gear.

 

 

This slide was available but we barely saw anyone using it.

 

[bluejay555]

So like I said earlier, we made it back onto the ship just in time for the Golden Girls trivia....and WE WON!!! It's our first ship on a stick ever, and we were so excited, that it's now being shown off on the shelf in the living room lol We actually won Dr. Seuss trivia a couple years ago, but got medals. I've always wanted a ship on a stick!!!

 

 

We have done such a good job of keeping Josie from burning too badly on this cruise. The long sleeve swim shirt is key. Unfortunately her legs did get a little fried though. She's one of those kids that burns no matter how much sunscreen is used, but from now on, in the tropics, it's swim shirt all the way!

It's my birthday!!! Funny, the night before, the wait team had approached the table with a cake and I said my birthday is tomorrow, and they blew out the candle and ran off. So I'm sure they just shoved the cake in the fridge until tonight lol It's really nice that they keep track of birthdays and have a special cake for the occasion.

 

 

Next up is GRAND TURK!!!!!!!!!!!

[bluejay555]

Nice review and pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you!!!

 

Great review! My family and I will be on Conquest on 7/1. Can't wait!

 

Thanks! You'll have so much fun....I wish I was doing it all over again in a couple weeks!

[azjim66]

One of the bars.....or maybe the only bar. My walk looped around the place and I wasn't sure if I was seeing the same bar again or a different one lol

 

 

 

Haha I guess you really enjoyed that bahama mama!! :) Fantastic review!

 

 

 

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[cthrn27]

I am really enjoying your review!! I like that you have lots of pics and just the right amount of text!! You kind of let the pictures do the talking and you just add the details.

 

Thanks for sharing ; )

[Sturmin]

Thanks for the review. We have a few more days to wait for our cruise.

[Mleonardelli5]

Great review and pictures thank you for sharing your vacation!!

 

 

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[bluejay555]

Haha I guess you really enjoyed that bahama mama!! :) Fantastic review!

 

 

 

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Haha, yes!!! And thanks!

 

I am really enjoying your review!! I like that you have lots of pics and just the right amount of text!! You kind of let the pictures do the talking and you just add the details.

 

Thanks for sharing ; )

 

Well thanks! I do like to take lots of pictures, but not sure everyone is always as enthusiastic about them as me lol

[bluejay555]

Thanks for the review. We have a few more days to wait for our cruise.

 

Thanks! Have a great time on your cruise!

 

Great review and pictures thank you for sharing your vacation!!

 

 

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Thanks so much for following along!

[bluejay555]

I've gotten kind of slow about updating my review, but hopefully tomorrow afternoon I can finish it up. I've been so busy and then tonight my daughter played a softball double header. Just haven't had time. All that's left is Grand Turk (which was AWESOME) and a sea day, and I have a few words about debarkation in Fort Lauderdale (not good). So thanks everyone for reading along, and thanks for your patience!!

[bluejay555]

Final port day in Grand Turk! Now, we weren't due to arrive until 11am, and since we get up by 7am, we were pretty antsy! We decided to let the girls swim a little bit and check out the t-shirt extravagganza on the lido deck. Every single cruise I've been on, the shops run a 2 for $20 tshirt special during the cruise. Well on this cruise, the event was a one-time only special at 9am at the pool area of the Lido Deck. My mom waited in a crazy line to buy us tshirts. It really was crazy. While we swam, we watched the line grow and grow and grow. T-shirts were flying through the air in a mad fury for over an hour! Finally we arrived at Grand Turk and it was time to gather our things. We had tix for the girls to ride the Flowrider at Margaritaville at 11:30 and we didn't want to be late.

 

We ate breakfast at the Blue Iguana and it was great! First time I'd ever had a breakfast burrito from there! In my opinion the hash browns threw it over the top. Perfect!

 

Arriving at the island with views from our balcony. That water!!!

 

 

[bluejay555]

We were in a huge hurry because of our 11:30 tickets, so we left the ship and went immediately to Margaritaville, which is really only a short walk from the ship. The Flowrider is set up perfectly, with the ship as a backdrop, and in the front is the giant pool at Maragaritaville. It was blazing hot, so my mom and I were able to stand in the pool and have a front row spot to watch the Flowrider. The guys who run this are amazing, and patient, and STRONG. Wow. We were impressed! They did state that you needed tight swimwear because someone ends up naked every single day lol. A couple girls did go and put shorts on and by the looks of things, that was a great idea! That water was shooting out! There were probably 8 people in the group and you just surf until you crash, then get back in line. My kids had a ton of turns during the hour. I paid for a half hour through Carnival, but when we got there, they told us we'd have a full hour! Yay! This was one of those excursions that we'd do again and again. The kids LOVED it!!!!

[bluejay555]

After the flowrider, I delivered some library books. For those of you unaware, the Grand Turk library burned down back in March. It was 130 yrs old and they lost all their books. They are mainly asking for children's books, although are accepting all books at this time. My school and I donated a stack of books to the cause and I was able to easily drop them off with someone who would get them to the library. Anyone who is going to Grand Turk in the near future, please consider doing this! When you first arrive at port, there are little kiosks in sort of a half-circle arrangement. Kiosk #8 "watersports" with Joanna was accepting the books. Joanna was off on an excursion, so I dropped them with a man from kiosk #9 and he said he'd make sure she got them.

 

[Mleonardelli5]

Looking forward to your next post, I bet you love keeping all of us in suspense!! [emoji23]

 

 

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[willdra]

Thanks for such a rewarding review! :D