Our wonderful family vacation on the Conquest---08/28/11-09/04/11

[jasjess7881]

Hello all, it has been a couple of weeks since we got back from our cruise, but I am still going through cruise withdrawals!! We had a great time and we already planning our next cruise! This was our 2nd cruise, our first one was on the Ecstasy to Cozumel and Progresso 2 years ago. This time we went on the 7 day to Jamaica, Grand Caymans and Cozumel. Going on this cruise was me (Jessica), my DH(Jason), My kids, (Jasmine,11..Jordyn,7..and JJ (4) and my MIL (Stella) and FIL(Tony), also my husband's uncle (Steve) and my BIL (Tony). We also had 2 friends join us on this cruise. So altogether there were 11 of us and we all had a blast hanging out together!! Hope everyone enjoys this review and of course if you have any questions, I will try and answer them. Here we go!!!

[jasjess7881]

Pre Cruise in Galveston:

 

So we all drove up on Saturday morning (minus our 2 friends, who decided to drive up the morning of)..We left Austin about 10:00 am in 2 vehicles and arrived in Galveston about 2:30 or so. We stayed at the La Quinta Seawall West which was $120 a night and they had a shuttle to the port for $15 a room. We couldn't check in until 3, so we walked across the street to the beach to let the kids run around for a few minutes. There is not a beach area right across the street from the hotel, there are just big rocks to sit on:

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes, we went back and checked in. The room was really nice, it had a microwave, small refrigerator, and safe. We were hungry and of course we had to make a Wal Mart run and the kids wanted to go play on the beach for a little while. So we all changed and went to Taco Cabana and had to make a quick stop in Spec's Liquor store to buy the liquor to fill our rum runners..(shhh):o. We then headed over to the beach and let the kids play in the waves for about an hour or so. My husband has a uncle and aunt that own a restaraunt named Maggie Rita's in Galveston. It is right across the sreet from where the cruise ship is docked. We wanted to go say hi and have a few drinks, so we went back to the room and changed and headed over there. We spent a couple of hours at the restaraunt and the headed back to the room. We crashed for the night and dreamt about the upcoming cruise!!!

[WestTxCruiser]

Keep it coming, I love the Conquest!!

[gapearl]

Looking forward to reading more!

[jasjess7881]

Embarkation:

We got up early on Sunday morning because someone had to go to the front desk at 9:30 to sign up for the shuttle. I went downstairs while my husband finished getting the bags together. I was the second one in line for the shuttle and we were on the first shuttle at 11:00 am. The shuttle is a big bus that can hold 11 people and has plenty of room for everyone's luggage.

 

 

my girls were so excited to be on the way to the ship

 

 

My son was even more excited!!

 

My son was even

 

Our first look at the ship:

 

 

 

[jasjess7881]

We gave our luggage to the porter and headed to check in. They are doing construction to get ready for Carnival Magic, but just follow the signs and it is easy to find. We were in zone 2 and we had to wait about 15 minutes to get called. From the time we got dropped off by the shuttle to the time we heard the DING from our cards being swiped was about an hour!! We were so excited to be back on the ship, here are some pics from our entrance:

 

 

 

 

and my daughter has been wanting one of these for 6 months

 

[dane225]

Great review so far!!! What a beautiful family!!!:D

[jasjess7881]

We headed to lido deck to get our grub on...man I sure have missed this food!! I had to try the mongolian grill and it sure did live up to the reviews and the lines weren't that bad either. My husband's uncle had tried the fish and chips and man was it delicious. The only bad thing is that everytime we went to go get fish and chips, they were closed. Not sure what the hours were, but they didn't seem like they were ever open during lunch time. :(

 

After we ate, our rooms were ready, so we headed to put our carryon luggage up. I did forget to mention that we did bring 2 12 packs of pepsi on and a case of water and when we went through security, they opened our 12 packs and pulled every pepsi out to make sure it wasn't beer and they also pulled every water out of the package and shook them up to see if they fizzed up. This is just a warning to the smugglers, they are STRICT!!! But our rum runners did make it in our checked bags...:o!!! Anyways, we were in adjoining oceanview rooms with my MIL and FIL on the main deck. We were in the middle of the ship in cabin 2359 and 2361.

 

After we dropped all of our junk...we headed to lido deck to look around and man this ship is HUGE. I can not even imagine what the Magic will look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They found a vent that put out cold air

 

 

The coast guard checking things out

 

[jasjess7881]

Here is the restaurant that my husband's aunt and uncle own with Carlos Mencia

 

 

And of course my kids in front of the funnel

 

 

We then headed down to our room to see if our luggage had arrived. We starting unpacking and waited for the muster drill. Absolutely loved that we didn't have to take the life jackets to the drill. And of course, I waited a few minutes after the call for the muster drill, so we wouldn't be squashed like sardines. After the muster drill, we went back to the rooms, so the kids could change and go swimming. My kids were so excited about the slide, even my 4 year old was excited cause he was tall enough to ride it!!

 

 

 

The lido deck party

 

 

Sailing away from Galveston

 

[jasjess7881]

 

We had selected early dining because last time we had late dining and my son fell asleep every night during dinner. We were in the Monet upper dining room at the back of the ship. We had a table for 11 and we could see the sunset every night

 

 

 

 

 

and he still didn't make it through dinner

 

[jasjess7881]

Jasmine during sunset

 

 

 

After dinner, we went up to get pics of the sunset

 

 

[jasjess7881]

My kids wanted to watch the movie on the big screen..

 

 

 

 

It was such a great experience to be able to sit under the stars and watch a movie

 

Our first of many towel animals

 

 

We were exhausted and had a great embarkation day!!

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Love it so far, keep it coming!

[jasjess7881]

Sea Day #1

The next morning, JJ and Jasmine woke up early, so we walked around the ship!! I love this time of the morning before the ship gets too busy!I tool some pics of the ship

 

 

 

 

 

These girls were waiting patiently for the pool to open

 

 

[jasjess7881]

By this time everyone else was up, and my kids really wanted to go to Camp Carnival and this year all my kids were in different age groups. I was really nervous how they would do by themselves, but they loved it and I had no problems at all!! So we dropped them off and went and enjoyed some adult time. We walked around the ship and just enjoyed being on the cruise!!

 

My husband is pretending he has a drink cause he felt left out

 

 

Here I am drinking my first ever bloody mary...it was yummy!!

 

 

Here are the guys again

 

 

By this time we had to go pick up the kids for lunch time and they wanted to go swimming, so we went to change and went to the Lido deck to go swimming!!

 

 

My son enjoying the splash from the slide

 

[jasjess7881]

This was the first elegant night, so we headed in to start getting ready. Only Jasmine wanted to go eat in the dinng room, so I took the other 2 kids to Camp Carnival to eat with their friends. The food was delicious and this was the only night that they offered the shrimp cocktail..which I was bummed but they offered so many more options and it did not affect my cruise at all!!!

 

This is us dancing during the elegant dinner. Our waiter made us!!

 

 

and my in laws dancing

 

 

After dinner, we decided to go change and make our way to the casino. I had great success the first few nights in the casino and then horrible luck the rest of the cruise, but had a blast and made some new friends!!

 

We had to pick up the kids by 9:45 or they would start charging us. So I went back to the room with the kiddos, while my husband stayed in the casino for a little while longer.

 

This is our towel animal for the night

 

 

This was the end of our first sea day and it was a great start to our fantastic cruise!! Up next our 2nd sea day.

[jasjess7881]

2nd Sea Day

This was another relaxing day at sea and it was absolutely wonderful!! We relaxed by the pool, watching the kids swim, ate all day and visited the ice cream many times!! Here are some pics from the day

 

 

 

 

The kids coming back from Camp Carnival

 

 

 

We had a little rain this afternoon...I live in Austin and we haven't rain in forever...it was sooo nice to see rain but we were glad it did not last very long!!

 

 

We did not go to dinner this night!! We just hit the buffet and it was soo good!! Again our kids wanted to stay at Camp Carnival...so hubby and I lost some money in the casino and had some adult time!!! This time my middle daughter, Jordyn, wanted to stay for the night owls. It was $13 for 2 hours..10-12pm. When I went to go pick her up, they handed out night owls back packs that had some special treats inside, so that was cool and my daughter loves it!!!

 

We went to bed because Jamaica was the next day, which also happened to be my oldest daughter's, Jasmine, 11th birthday!!! Stay tuned!!

[jasjess7881]

Montego Bay Jamaica---Jasmine's 11 birthday

 

When I first booked this cruise back in January, I picked this week because it was a heck of lot cheaper for 5 of us to cruise. I, however, did not realize it was Jasmine's birthday. I am super glad that she got to spend her bday on a cruise ship and in Jamaica, however, now Jordyn is wondering which cruise we are going on for her bday, which happens to be next week. So we actually took her to the beach this past weekend to make it kinda special, but we are planning a cruise for her bday next year!! Ok, on to Jamaica!!

 

Because of the rain the day before we arrived in Jamaica about 30 mins late, which was about 10:30 am but we stayed 30 mins later to make up for it. We booked the sunset beach resort for our excursion. It was an all inclusive resort with a waterslide for the kiddos. It had snorkeling, kayaks, paddleboats and a lazy river which was all included. We all had a blast and will not hesitate to go back. Here are some pics:

 

 

The ship was dredging up some mud...it looked kinda gross

 

 

THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

 

 

 

The guys ready to go!!

 

 

Jason and I

 

 

Once we docked, we headed off the ship and you walk into a big building toward the taxi's. There was a lady who asked us what we needed, there were 11 of us, so we needed a big taxi. She got us a big van who had a very nice driver named Jaiden. She drove us to Sunset Resort and it was $3 a person. What a deal!!

[jasjess7881]

A shot of the funnel just before I got in the taxi

 

 

In our van..the driver was on the "other side"..not the wrong side!!

 

 

We arrived at the resort and it was secured with a gate and our taxi driver asked us what time to be back and we told her 3:30. She said she would back and if we wanted to leave earlier to call her. We had to show the gate keepers the reservation from my email in order to get in, and then they took us in the resort and we had to pay the remaining balance and got wrist bands. They kept our sail and sign cards and gave us a receipt, but we got them back once we were exiting the resort.

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

The bar area

 

[jasjess7881]

The birthday girl!!

 

 

The back of the waterslides

 

 

 

The planes looked so close!!

 

 

Jasmine practicing her snorkeling

 

 

Some of our group enjoying the water

 

[jasjess7881]

Jasmine and our friend Joseph on the paddleboats

 

 

The resort had snorkeling trips every hour with a snorkeling guide. Jasmine and her uncle Steven and her grandpa went snorkeling. Her are some pics from my underwater camera

 

 

 

 

A sea cucumber

 

 

This is Street, the snorkeling guide, with Steven

 

 

My camera died shortly after these pics, so I don't have any pics of the slide!! But my kids and even the adults enjoyed the slide. I even went down once!! We decided to leave about 3:30 because we wanted to go shopping a little bit and we wanted to get ready for dinner at 6:00 pm. Since it was Jasmine's bday, we had ordered a cake for her!! We went out to the gates and sure enough our taxi driver was waiting for us! We went back and bought a few things and went through security to get back on the boat. Jasmine said it felt like it took forever, but we finally got back on board and started getting ready for dinner!!

[jasjess7881]

Jasmine before dinner

 

 

Jordyn before dinner

 

 

and JJ before dinner...wonder if he will stay awake during this dinner??

 

 

Nope he didn't!!

 

 

They brought her cake out and made a big production out of it!! Do not let the pics fool you, she loved every moment of it!!

 

 

[jasjess7881]

JJ woke up during the singing...he was not a happy camper!!

 

 

Our towel animal with Jasmine's sunglasses

 

 

It was an early night because the next day was Grand Caymans and we had to be up early for my favorite excursion...swimming with the stingrays!! I will leave you with one pic!!

 

I am kissing it!! Better bring me 7 years of good luck!!!

 

[teacher2cruiser]

Thanks for sharing your review! You have beautiful children!

[luv2vacation]

I am loving your review and can't wait for the rest. Great pics! I think your children are absolutely adorable!