Family Cruise on Conquest 3/11-3/18/2012

Hello all,

Welcome to my cruise review. This is my first attempt writing a review for Cruise Critic, but I have gotten so much wonderful information from other people review that I wanted to pay back a little.

On this cruise was DH and I both in our 40’s and our two daughters..dd1(8years old); dd2 (5 years old). Dh is teacher and with both girls in school spring break is our family vacation time. We started talking about what we were going to do for a vacation last year in September. We asked the girls if they would rather go to Disney World or on a cruise…they chose a cruise.

We approached this vacation as a family vacation so there was no partying; no late nights (as if we could have if we wanted to), and all of our excursions were chosen because of our young girls.

Day 1 Embarkation: New Orleans

We (I) chose the Conquest out of New Orleans for a couple of reasons. One is that the price was cheaper than leaving out of Galveston (about $750) and second was the itinerary. I have been wanting to go to Stingray City ever since I learned about it. Leaving out of New Orleans is easy and pain free. We parked in the attached parking garage ($16/day) so that we could get out a little faster and back home a little quicker.

We arrived at the port around 11:00 and got embarkation ticket #6. We were on the ship before 12:45. I didn’t look at my watch so I don’t know the exact times.

There she is... we are almost on board.

Waiting for embarkation!

We are on the ship. The girls loved the Toulouse-Letrac lounge. They loved to watch the lighted sign change colors. I love the kids are easily amused!

Now the requisite picture in front of the life preserver.

Looking forward to reading your review! We leave on the Conquest this Sunday! Whoohoooo! My kids are a bit older than yours now (14-9), but I remember the days of little ones! Life is easier if it is planned around them. This trip, I am getting excited to perhaps, see some of the adult shows. Hmmm, may happen?:rolleyes:

I took very few pictures of the ship. Not sure why I didn't take anymore. Many times in this review I am positive that you will hear me say "I was gonna take a picture of that, but didn't for some reason."

Here are the few that I did take. I was doing good on the first day.

Really excited to read this review. Taking a family cruise ourself on this same ship in June.

-Josh

One tip that I got here at Cruise Critic that made embarkation day so nice was to carry on your swim suit. This cruise was packed with kids on spring break so this was the only day that the girls were able to get in the hot tub and play on the slide without a looong line.

I have no idea what we did after dinner tonight I am pretty sure it was go to bed early since we had already had a tiring day.

Day 2 Fun day at Sea

Our sea days were spent relaxing. The girls wanted to go to Camp Carnival everytime they could. They loved it there and the counselors were so great with them. Dh and I would read; lay in the sun; nap and enjoy some private time.

First Elegant Night.

The girls wanted to meet the Captain and somehow Dh and I ended up in the picture also.

I only took a picture of one of our towel animals. Again, it was the beginning of our cruise and I think with all that relaxing my brain got a little mushy.

I hope he knows how special he is.:)

Really excited to read this review. Taking a family cruise ourself on this same ship in June.

 

-Josh

Josh, I am sure you guys will have a great time. The Conquest is wonderful, but does get a bit crowded especially at lunch time. We always found a table first then split up to get food. So much easier than walking around with two little kids with plates looking for a place to sit.

Day 3 Fun day at Sea

Build a Friend (that's what I call it kinda like build a bear). DD1 saved up her money for months to be able to get a stuffed animal so I couldn't tell her no. This is a fun activity for the kids, but kinda pricey. The animals are $20. They come with a birth certificate, Carnival T-shirt and a heart and star that you stuff inside them. You stuff the bears themselves. Tip to live by DO NOT zip up the bear until you have completely stuffed it. Somehow DD2 forgot this and was lucky enough to get a new animal. Then, you can buy clothes for them ranging from $2 to $6.50. Here is another tip if you can talk your kids into waiting until the last day...there may be a sale. On the last sea day the animals were only $15 and all of the clothes were discounted also.

That night after dinner we headed to the Seaside Theater to watch "Annie". There was only 3 things that disappointed me about this cruise and this was one of them. I was so excited about watching movies at night at the Seaside Theater and the only night they played something that was family friendly was this night. We really enjoyed watching "Annie" and just wish that on a cruise filled with kids they could make the movies and movie times a little more kid friendly. I'm not saying it has to be cartoons, but PG rated would be good. They could easily use the 10pm time slot for more mature movies. Sunday night at 8pm the movie was Amistad....not family friendly at all.

Well, that's all the pictures that I have downloaded on Photobucket. Will continue this tomorrow. The best is yet to come.

Excellent review. You have mad some valid points. I've been on two cruises and never did I have a blanket to cover with, or was I offered one, etc. Did you have to bring these from the room or ?

TIA

Ahh!! This old gal was my first!!! Oh, the sweet memories!

Thank you so much for posting a Conquest review. Can't wait to read more.

I love reading reviews in anticipation of our cruise in August! Thanks for taking the time to post this review. I can't wait to read more! :D

Nice review.

Excellent review. You have mad some valid points. I've been on two cruises and never did I have a blanket to cover with, or was I offered one, etc. Did you have to bring these from the room or ?

TIA

The blankets were in a big bin at the towel bar on the Lido deck. If you go make sure to get two blankets because the wind will come up under the deck chairs.

Thanks everyone for your nice thoughts. I am very excited to get to this part of the cruise. As I said earlier, the itinerary was why I choose this ship. So let's talk about the ports of call....

Day 4: Montego Bay, Jamaica

This was the one port that I was worried about. After all of the stuff I read here on cc I was unsure of what to do while in Jamaica; especially with two little girls in tow. So, after much research we decided to go to Dr's Cave Beach and use the hop on/hop off bus to get there. Using the HO/HO bus was way easy. There is a little kiosk thing in the terminal where you purchase your wristbands using your sign & sail card (no cash).

This is DD1 on the bus. They were really very nice.

The beach had good sand for castles...so bring your sand tools!

Dr's Cave Beach is a private beach club so you do have to pay to get in. Admission was $6/adult and $3 per child. Chairs and umbrellas are available to rent for $6/each item. We got a bottle of water and coke and they were $2/per bottle.

When we were ready to leave there was a bus waiting to take us back to the ship. No problems.

Just so that you are aware. When you first get on the bus it goes to it farthest stop which is Rose Hall. It takes about 40 min, but you do get a little information on Jamaica while you are seeing the sights.

For us, Jamaica was no problem. No major pushy salesmen. A simple "no, thank you" and they were on thier way. If we ever go back to Jamaica we will probably end up doing the same exact thing.

Enjoying your review & pictures, we always enjoyed the Conquest.

Doug

We went back to the ship around 1:30 for lunch and to play in the pool. The pool was too cold so we ended up watching the Seaside Theater until time to get ready for dinner.

Tonight, dh and I went to see the Family Comedy show at 8pm while the girls went to Camp Carnival. Afterward we went to see the Magic show in the Toulouse-Latrec lounge. I don't remember the name of the magician, but it is the only show like that. We enjoyed it. Get there early if you want a good seat. For this cruise there was a bingo right before so most of the bottom floor was already filled before 8:30. We didn't go to any other show in the T-L lounge so I'm not sure if this was just because of the bingo or because of the show.

Day 5: Grand Cayman

This was my absolute favorite day of the cruise. I was so looking forward to my kiss from a stingray.

This is the only sunrise picture that I have. We had to be up early to be on one of the first tenders for our excursion so this is the only morning that we were awake before the sunrise.

The tender process was pretty simple...another big fear of mine. We got room service that morning so that we wouldn't have to deal with the Lido. Went down to T-L lounge around 7 and were given tender ticket #2. Were on a tender around 7:30. It was very organized and efficient.

These are two of my favorite pictures. These were taken on the pier right after getting off the tender.

We booked Rays, Reef, and Rum point excursion through Native Way Water Sports after reading all the wonderful reviews here. And I can agree with all of them now.

We were met at the pier and taken by bus to a marina where we boarded a boat for the day.

First stop on the tour was to see the starfish. The water was about 8 feet deep, but was really choppy. The girls tried to go in and snorkle, but the waves were coming over their head while snorkleing and it freaked them out. The guides went down and brought a starfish up so that everyone could touch them and see them.

After the sting rays we stopped at another snorkleing spot called Coral Gardens. I stayed on the boat with girls while dh snorkled. He said it was great snorkleing with lots of fish.

disclaimer: even though my dd1 looks like she is having a horrible time, but she really enjoyed it and wants to go again.

Stingray city is a sandbar where stingrays have been fed for years and now come when tourists are there to get food.

Our guide Andrew caught one of the stingrays and told us a little about them and how to handle them and how to react to them. Luckily, he said screaming was allowed.

He then had each family touch and kiss the rays and his partner JC took pictures. We bought the CD of pics that he took and it cost $40.

These pictures were taken by JC. I am very glad that we got these pics because it was really hard taking pictures and touching the rays at the same time.

These are my pics from the rays.

Someone in our group tripped over this conch and brought it up so that everyone could see it. It was really cool to see it's eyes looking around. Wish I would have gotten a picture of that.

***No sea life was harmed in the making of this review***

Rum Point Beach: Lunch at rum point beach was included in this excursion and was such a perfect setting.

Such a perfect day. We had great excursion with excellent guides. If you book and excursion with Native Ways you will not be disappointed.

ok peeps, I'll finish this tomorrow. Cozumel is next, but I gotta sleep tonight.

Rum Point Beach: Lunch at rum point beach was included in this excursion and was such a perfect setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a perfect day. We had great excursion with excellent guides. If you book and excursion with Native Ways you will not be disappointed.

Thanks so much for your review. We are booked with Native Ways for the same excursion in September, and we are so excited. I am a little worried about tendering and meeting them @ i think 8:15. What time did you meet at the dock for your excursion, and were you back to the tender in plenty of time? Thanks for any info you can provide.

We too are booked with Native Way in 2 weeks...I can't wait.

Yorkieman64- We were at the dock probably 7:45. We had no problems meeting the Native Way representative on time. We probably left the port area around 8:30.