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

[Cruise_Q]

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...

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG I wish I would have thought of that, a surprise I mean. I am taking DD on Sweet Six Teen Cruise but we told her and oh how I wish I would have made it a surprise...Oh Well, I know we are going to have fun anyway...

[texnewbie]

Now on down to the pier!!! We’ve got to get as close to the ship as we can… For right now!!

 

 

This is the Harbor House where the web cam is.... If you go to www.galveston.com you can watch the cruise ship sail into the harbor and back out... It's awesome..

 

 

I called Charlie and told him to get on the website and look for us... so this picture is of me waving to Charlie!!!

 

 

This picture is taken from Charlie's phone of us on the computer (Website) waving back at him.... Haha Kind of hard to tell but you get the picture... If you look really hard you see or make out my brown shirt...

 

 

We asked this man to take our picture with the ship behind us... So excited!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come!!!!!

[texnewbie]

OMG I wish I would have thought of that, a surprise I mean. I am taking DD on Sweet Six Teen Cruise but we told her and oh how I wish I would have made it a surprise...Oh Well, I know we are going to have fun anyway...

 

You will have a blast, be prepared to watch her chase after all the cute boys!!!! And remember there is always next time... Always another time for a surprise.. The suprise was great. But she loves surprises...

[texnewbie]

Now we have about an hour to kill before we should start making our way to EZ Cruise….

 

So we cruised down Seawall Blvd. to check out the Beach…

 

 

 

Lots of Seaweed, someone told me that the reason there was so much seaweed is because of the Mississippi River is flowing into the Gulf and it's fresh water and the fresh water is killing the seaweed. Now, that's what someone told me, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

 

Sun Tanned Toes Ticklin the Sand!!!!! a little Kenny in there

 

 

Rae's Sun Tanned Toes Ticklin the Sand, She didn't want to get her feet all sandy... So she's not in the sand at all and she even found her a cute puppy to love on.

 

 

Check out those waves... I love the beach no matter where it is.

 

Now it's time to head to ship... It's getting to to board...

More to come

[Cruise_Q]

You will have a blast, be prepared to watch her chase after all the cute boys!!!! And remember there is always next time... Always another time for a surprise.. The suprise was great. But she loves surprises...

 

Thanks...I will be writing a review when we return

And I went on the Conquest in 09 with my hubby. It is a beautiful ship and we had so much fun...can't wait to read the rest of your review...Q

[texnewbie]

Time to head to EZ Cruise - Now I booked EZ Cruise back in March... Paid for it and the whole things. So, all I did was print my copy of the paper work and showed it to them when I pulled into the parking lot. No big deal... She told me to pull all the way around in the parking lot and park against the fence. So we pulled all the way around and parked really close to the tent...

 

Rae waiting on the bus with all of our lugguge...

 

 

After about a 5 minute wait, the bus was here and we were loaded... On our way to the cruise port.... Just a whole 3 blocks away. YES!!!!

 

 

This was the longest part of the whole loading. Waiting for the porter to take our lugguge. It was very unorganized. I don't know why either. This is us standing and waiting. Looking towards the entrance to the building "Way down there"

 

 

Finally I just tipped the guy and we left. I don't even know if tipping the guy would have mattered. Because he had over 20 pieces of lugguge on about 3 pull carts...

 

Now heading inside the terminal, this is step number one... Showing pass port and boarding pass.

 

 

That was easy, then we started going up and down, this was the other long part, but this line was for security.

.

 

Now a little foot note...

We didn't make it through security... They pulled both of us aside.. I was a little confused because I didn't bring anything with me that would make us have to have our bags checked.

Well come to find out. It was because we had carried on a 12 pack of can coke and Dr. Pepper. They opened each box of Coke and Dr. Pepper and they took out each can out and checked the bottom of them and the tops of them.

I finally asked, "why are you doing this?"

and the lady replyed, "because people will drain the soda out of the cans and fill them back up with alcohol."

"Really!" I said... I was shocked...

and come to find out the people beside us had a case of water and they had opened the ones in the middle and had filled them with alcohol, so the confiscated their whole case of water.

Wow amazing....

 

So now onto the next lines....

 

 

This line moved really quick!!!

 

More to come

[grumpyjr88]

What an awesome surprise! I can't wait to read more of your great review because I'm going on the Conquest in April from New Orleans but with the same itinerary.

 

Thanks for posting!

[texnewbie]

So that last line moved us on into the line to get your Sign and Sail Card!!!!! This line moved really quickly, plus you had to fill out a little piece of paper stating that you're not sick with the flu, bug or anything like that. So you'll need a pen here...

 

Rae getting her Sign & Sail Card...

 

 

Because we got #1, we were all the way down at the beginning and I was able to look out the window and take a picture of the ship.

 

 

This next line is the picture line. I loved this picture it's always so good, because your so excited to be sailing. Our picture was great and if I knew how to use my scanner I would scan it and post it but I don't know how to use it.

 

 

Now the long walk up the hill.... Excitement....

 

 

One more picture, then you have to put your camara away until your on ship. Which is only like 50 more yards...

 

 

SHE'S ON THE SHIP!!!!!! SHE MADE IT!!!!!!

 

 

From the point where we entered the building and worked our way to the Lido Deck, it took all of about 30 minutes. We must have caught it just at the right time, because we never stood in line forever, they all moved really smoothly.

 

Well, We have made it onto the ship, lots more pictures and review to go.

Thank you for reading my trip report, there will be a review on lots of events that we did... Atlantis being one of them....

 

Good night for now.

Texnewbie

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

What an awesome surprise! I can't wait to read more of your great review because I'm going on the Conquest in April from New Orleans but with the same itinerary.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

This was my second cruise on Conquest and I really have enjoyed the ship. Did love the ports but do read on becuase I'll have lots of detail about each port.

Thanks for reading.

Carolyn

[OCMama]

I'm loving your review. May I ask how old your daughter is? I would love to do a mother/daughter cruise. Don't know why I never thought of it. Just trying to think of when it would be an ideal time to do this. My girl is 14.

[boaterette]

It is very nice to surprise our daughters with trips. I am loving the excitement of your review. Thank you.

[Soonerbaby]

Wow, I'm surprised they were letting you take pictures inside the terminal. I missed the signs saying not to, so when I took out my camera and took a picture at check in I think every person in the terminal turned and looked at me when the flash went off. :eek: I am also surprised about the soda. They must have gotten much more strict because we had 4 24 packs and all we had to do was put them thru the x-ray.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun so far! We were on the Conquest for our first cruise. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[atinys]

i am enjoying your review and looking forward to reading more :) :)

[caljencruisers]

Can't wait to read the rest!:)

[texnewbie]

Can't wait to read the rest!:)

 

Thank you for reading... More to come.

 

I'm loving your review. May I ask how old your daughter is? I would love to do a mother/daughter cruise. Don't know why I never thought of it. Just trying to think of when it would be an ideal time to do this. My girl is 14.

 

Rae is 17... So a little older, but we do lots of things together. Surprise trips are the best!!!!

Thanks for reading.

 

It is very nice to surprise our daughters with trips. I am loving the excitement of your review. Thank you.

 

Thank you for reading. It's been lots of fun remember the funny things that we've done.

[texnewbie]

i am enjoying your review and looking forward to reading more :) :)

 

Thanks.... It's really run to write. Lots more to come!!!!!

 

Wow, I'm surprised they were letting you take pictures inside the terminal. I missed the signs saying not to, so when I took out my camera and took a picture at check in I think every person in the terminal turned and looked at me when the flash went off. :eek: I am also surprised about the soda. They must have gotten much more strict because we had 4 24 packs and all we had to do was put them thru the x-ray.

 

Sounds like a lot of fun so far! We were on the Conquest for our first cruise. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

 

Thanks for reading. I love Conquest, this trip was lots of fun.

 

Now I wasn't aware of not taking pictures in the terminal. I did see a signs when going through the last security station before you walk up the glass gang plank, but other then that. I even took the 2 pictures right where you did the sail and sign cards and the lady was standing right by me and she didn't say anything. :rolleyes:

 

Our cokes went through the x-ray machine and that's when they sent us over to the counter... I guess lots of people are trying to sneak stuff on the boat.

 

Thanks again for reading!!!

[TheGirlNextDoor]

Sounds like a great cruise. I love how it was just you and your daughter! I sailed the Conquest last year and loved it!! FYI, I live in Midland. Small world!!

[usafchick1980]

I love this review.

[Kryssa]

I just want to say good for you for doing Mom & Daughter trip!

 

My mom and I LOVE being together just us. In 2005 we did a cruise in Europe just us and had the best time ever! Last year we did Mexican Riviera with my sister so it was the 3 of us girls! You will look back and talk about your trips together for years to come!

[mandakate42]

Awesome review!! I hope to be going on the conquest next march from new Orleans and reviews like yours gets me so much more excited!! Love it!!

[texnewbie]

Awesome review!! I hope to be going on the conquest next march from new Orleans and reviews like yours gets me so much more excited!! Love it!!

 

When I was getting ready to sail, I would look for reviews on Conquest and I only found one. So I really wanted to do this review for people that were sailing on Conquest... I saw that it's moving to New Orleans since the new ship is coming to Galveston... I hope you get to go!!!!

 

Sounds like a great cruise. I love how it was just you and your daughter! I sailed the Conquest last year and loved it!! FYI, I live in Midland. Small world!!

 

I had so much fun with her. We do lots of things together. My husband works in the oil field... and since you live in Midland you might understand how they work all the time!!!! Our table mates were from Midland... A Mom and Dad and their 2 grown son's and wife and Gf... I lived in Midland for 9 years about 13 years ago... I live in Abilene now. That's my home town...

 

Thanks for reading my trip report!!!

 

I love this review.

 

Thank you for reading!!!!

More to come tonight!!! Hopefully!!!! We have cheer practice... Oh boy!!!

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

I just want to say good for you for doing Mom & Daughter trip!

 

My mom and I LOVE being together just us. In 2005 we did a cruise in Europe just us and had the best time ever! Last year we did Mexican Riviera with my sister so it was the 3 of us girls! You will look back and talk about your trips together for years to come!

 

That is so awesome... I really enjoy my daughter she's the best!!!

I bet you will remember that trip forever. I hope Rae will.

Thanks for reading!!!

Carolyn

[texnewbie]

We’re on the ship!!!! Yes!!!!

 

She was so excited… now one more step, to take your picture for your sign and sail card… Oh boy! I hate taking pictures like this, but it was no big deal.

 

Now to watch her face, as she walks into the Lobby area on Deck 3.

 

 

"Wow!!! This is amazing."… "It’s huge in here."

 

"Look up." I said

 

 

"Oh my gosh!!! Look, no Look over there, and there!"… she just could stop turning around and around. It was so funny.

 

I said, “Isn’t it amazing!” "Come on, lets ride the elevator up to the Lido Deck… I can’t wait for you to see where all the action is." "Plus let’s get a seat and find something to eat."

 

So off to the glass elevator we went and now up to the Lido Deck…

 

 

 

We’re here. Not much action was going on yet, but I think we got on the ship really fast and way before everyone else.

 

We walked around for a few minutes with all of our carryon bags, (2 swim bag, a camera bag and 2 purses) lordy we looked like pack mules!!!!!!

 

So we headed over to Port Side tables by the hamburger, hot dog stand and Rae found the French Fries!!!! Oh my gosh, she loved them… She also had Chicken strips and iced tea;

 

 

I decided to try the buffet, I will say this was the one and only time I ate at the buffet, for no reason except that we rarely ate lunch at buffet time.

 

 

While we munching on our lunch, Rae’s eyes were roaming all around… Looking for some boys!!!!! She was also checking out the ship but mainly looking for boys… We finished our lunch and she was ready to roam…

 

"Mom, Let’s go walk around, I want to see the ship!!!" haha Boys... that's what I was thinking...

 

More to come...

P.S. you can only post 6 pictures so that's why these are so short.

[texnewbie]

Here are a few pictures of the ship before it got really busy...

Sports Deck, the blue is the walking track. We didn't make it around that..

 

 

Take note of the Whale's Tale and the different color of red... More details about that later... This is from the Sun Deck and the entrance of the slide looking down at the big screen, Seaside Theatre

 

 

 

This is Deck 10 Panorama Deck looking over at the Sky Pool... It was empty

 

Look at all the bags!!!!! Oh my gosh way to much!!!

 

 

Back at the Sky Deck

 

 

Sky Deck, looking towards the front looking away from the entrance to the slide.

 

The slide....It was lots of fun....

 

 

More to come...

We finally get into our room...

[texnewbie]

It's Finally 1:30... Time to go see our room...

 

As most of you know, they don't allow you into your staterooms until 1:30... So we were really glad that it was time to carry all of our carry on's to the room. YES!!!!

 

Our room was on Deck 10 Panorama... That's my favorite deck, but then again I've only sailed twice and both times on the Panorama Deck...

 

Here's our door..

 

 

A little blurry, but Rae opening her door...

 

 

Her first view!!!!

"It's all decorated, that's so cool!"

 

 

Our Bon Voyage Decorations. I ordered it from Carnivals website... The did a really great job.

 

 

The decorations are great...

 

 

Balcony View... Galveston!!!! Muddy Chocolate Milk looking water...

 

 

She loved the room, although she thought it was a little small, but it was good.

More to come later, I'm off to cheer practice with Rae!!!

Thanks for reading.