Conquest Review~ Jan 15, 2012, or How to Relax on Vacation and Still Have a Good Time

[pyropoodle]

Conquest review Jan 15, 2012 , OR How to Relax on Vacation and Still Have a Good Time. :D:p

 

 

This is my belated review of my voyage on the Carnival Conquest which took place on January 15th, 2012. This is also my very first review, so please be kind. This review will include pics of things that some of you probably don’t care about, so be warned, there will be pics of my room, pics of food and pics of randomness and also a little bit of pre-cruise delightfulness. I enjoy reading reviews that show these things, (as they help me to pass the painfully slow time between cruises) so therefore, my review will mimic those. My review will also include times where I stray from the topic, so it’s likely to ramble off course, but I will try to reign it in and bring us back to the topic if I noticed that I’m getting too far away from land.. I’m writing this as much for you guys as I am for myself in order to help my memory, so I’m just going to include anything that I can remember. With that being said, here is my review….

 

For background, I am a 30 something woman and I left my amazing husband at home this trip and opted to take my mom with me. She is 60 something and she has some mobility issues. She can walk but can’t walk or stand for long periods of time. This trip was designed as a relaxing vacation for her as she has had a really difficult year. I knew going into it that she wouldn’t be able to do some of the more exciting excursions, so we mainly had relaxing beach days. I will post pics of those things later in the review, but I just wanted to let you know ahead of time that there were no horseback riding, wrestling with bears, or parasailing through shark infested waters, or any other exciting type things ahead for you. The theme was relax, relax, relax….. Still reading this? Ok, very well, here goes nothing....

 

Day 0 Pre-cruise

I flew into NOLA from NYC. My mother lives in another state, so she flew in from Alabama and we met at the airport. Our hotel was in the French Quarter and it took about 20 minutes in the taxi to get there at a cost of around $25.00.

 

We stayed at the Royal St. Charles hotel which was the perfect location. It was 1 block from Bourbon street and it was easy for my mom to get a taste of the action there but still be close to the hotel when she got tired. The room was pretty basic, but it fit our needs perfectly and the price was right. I think it was around $110 for the night and they did tack on the $8.95 ‘resort fee’ that people were complaining about. I knew about it ahead of time after reading reviews, so I was prepared.

 

P1010749 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

The staff at the hotel were very friendly and accommodating. There was free wifi and use of their business center should you need it. We arrived too early to check in, but they stored our luggage for us and told us to return around 4:00 to check in.

 

We walked around for a while and found Café Beignet.

cafe beignet 1 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I had had a rather large breakfast, so we opted to share a plate of shrimp. The shrimp was delicious and fresh, some of the best I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, the portion of shrimp was very small and it was around $13.00. I’m glad we didn’t spring for 2 of them, even though they were quite tasty and there were plenty of French fries.

cafe biegnet shrimp by pyropoodle, on Flickr

We also had some beignets. They were amazing and much better than the fare at Café du Monde. They were really delightful, and I wish I had made time for more of them.

 

cafe biegnets by pyropoodle, on Flickr

[zebraman1]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We'll be on the Conquest in 10 days.

[ginjer2911]

great review so far. Love your style of writing. Very excited to see more.

[pyropoodle]

After eating, we headed back to the hotel. It was only 3:00, but I figured we could wait in the hotel until check in and my mom could get off of her feet for a while. To our surprise, they had a room available and we checked right in. I freshened up a bit and then I left my mother there to rest while I took a streetcar to meet my tour for the Cemeteries. The streetcar for the Cemeteries was about 1 block from the Hotel. (if you are interested, there was another streetcar directly outside of the front door of the hotel, but I never got around to taking it to see where it went)

 

I had scheduled a tour with Bloody Mary tours and it was called the Moonlight Tour. From her website, I was under the impression that we would go into the cemeteries and see some of more famous ones. That wasn’t really the case, however, we did go into 3 Cemeteries (out of 7 I believe), the first was the Charity Hospital Cemetery. Here lie the bodies of victims from Katrina and the mausoleums were for the 127 unclaimed bodies.

nola dead tour group reflection by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

We walked the parameter of the Masonic Cemetery and we could see some interesting things, for instance a tomb with an eviction notice posted to it. So weird.

nola dead eviction 2 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Mary was great with explaining the history of the cemeteries and how they work, and also great as dispelling myths such as the myth that people are only buried above ground. She explained how that is not true. If you have a plot there, they will bury you however you want to be buried. There is an entire Jewish Cemetery for instance, and they are almost all buried under the ground. She said there are even people buried standing up. She went on to tell us fascinating things about how the family tombs work and how they actually reuse the tombs, so there may be several people buried in one crypt. I thought it was fascinating.

 

nola dead jewish burial by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

nola dead marble by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

 

We also went into the Pauper’s cemetery. This was another interesting place to visit. Here, people made tombstones out of pretty much anything they could find. It might be an old school crossing sign, a random piece of wood, or two pieces of wood stuck together to form a cross. These graves were also reused.

 

nola dead pauper 2 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

You could see pieces of bone in the churned up ground where someone had dug a grave and reused it.

 

nola dead bone frag by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

People that use this particular cemetery have to dig the graves themselves to bury their loved ones. It was kind of sad, but intriguing at the same time.

[pyropoodle]

Lastly we went into one of the Masonic graveyards and saw some amazing tombs.

 

nola dead masons by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I was only disappointed that we didn’t get to go and see graves of Marie Laveau and other famous people as that is what Bloody Mary’s website alluded to, but overall, it was a nice tour that was made even better by the fact that the sun had set about 1/3 of the way through the tour, so most of it took place in the dark.

 

After the tour, she dropped us off at the meeting place and shared a few photos with us of ghosts that had been captured on her other tours. I didn’t capture any, but they were neat to see.

 

The rest of the tour group opted to go into the bar to watch the rest of the Saints game that was playing while I decided to head back to my hotel. When the streetcar came, I got on and was surprised to see that I was all alone. Just me and the driver. A perfect ending to a cemetery tour if you ask me.

 

nola dead trolley empty 2 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped at the 24 hour CVS and procured 2 bottles of wine and a 6 pack of water bottles. So glad I got the water bottles as they came in very handy and were easily refilled. I am really not a soda drinker, but I’m sure I could have gotten at least a 6 pack on board had I wanted to lug it around.

 

Day 1: Embarkation

 

Hotel check out was 11 am, so we slept in a bit and then got ready to leave at a leisurely pace. We had a light breakfast at the hotel and then grabbed a cab. The cabs were plentiful just outside of the hotel, so we had no problems at all getting a cab. The cost was around $20.00 and we did hit a lot of traffic at the port, but all in all it was a nice ride.

 

I am guestimating that we left the hotel around 11:20 and we were at the port by 11:40ish.

Once at the port, we dropped our luggage off with a porter and tipped him for the 2 bags we were checking. We pretty much walked right through the doors and into the snaking security line. This line moved very quickly. I would say we were in it for less than 10 minutes. Once through security, we were led to the area where the lines split up by decks. We were on deck 6 so we got into the Deck 6 line. I had read a couple of reviews that said that this port was very confusing and disorganized, but this was not my experience at all. I found it all very easy to navigate and there were signs as well as helpful employees everywhere that helped you get to where you were supposed to go.

 

This Deck 6 line was by far the most time consuming of the lines. I think it took us about 20-30 minutes to get through it, but once on the other side, we posed for our boarding picture and then went directly to the line to board the ship. We didn’t have to wait for them to call any zones or anything, we just walked up the winding gangway (or whatever they call it), had our S&S card photos taken and BAM, we were on the ship.

 

We were on the ship around 12:30 or so, so the line waiting only took about an hour from start to finish.

 

We found ourselves on the ship and what do we decide to do? Eat of course!

 

As expected, the buffet was madness, but I am a reader of Cruise Critic, so I knew the Fish N Chips would be empty….and it was!

P1010985 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

P1010972 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I had the fish n chips and the calamari fritters and they were excellent. I would have this same meal 3 other days, but as people figured out Sur Mer was here, the line would just grow and grow. Definitely get it on the first day if you are a fish n chips person, as you are almost eating alone and there is virtually no wait at all.

 

Of course with my meal I had to get my very first Drink of the Day. There is just no better way to know your vacation has officially started than to start it with one of these.

drink specials by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

best day ever by pyropoodle, on Flickr

[Cupcrazy]

Great review so far! Waiting in anticipation for more.

[pyropoodle]

We were told that we could get into our rooms at 1:30, so after having fish n chips, we explored the ship a little bit. We only had ½ an hour to kill, so we stopped by the pool and walked around.

adult area hot tubs by pyropoodle, on Flickr

whale tail by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Before we knew it, it was 1:30, so off to our rooms to drop our stuff off we did go.

P1040282 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

We had a balcony, which is now my favourite thing in the world.

P1040283 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

I cannot go back to ocean view ever. To me, it is worth the money. There were many times I sat out there just watching the water go by or taking photos of the amazing sunrises and sunsets ( I will post some pics of those at the end for your enjoyment). My mother’s last cruise was in 1996 and she had an inside room at that time, so she loved having the balcony too.

 

IMAG0272 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0273 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Ship layout: Well, this wasn’t the easiest ship for me to navigate. I got turned around very easily and constantly found myself reversing direction to go the correct way. I blame my poor sense of direction and not the ship for this though.

 

There were really only 2 ways to get from the front of the ship to the back of the ship (that I found) and they were by either walking on the Lido deck (deck 9) or walking the Promenade (deck 5). Of course, I never did figure out how to get to the very, very front of the boat without climbing the mountain of stairs to each deck. I didn’t try very hard, so there may be a way. The annoying thing about deck 5 was having to walk through the casino. I realize that it is there to encourage people to stop and gamble on their way through, but I’m not a gambler, so treading through people gambling and smoking was a bit annoying. Not enough to make me have a bad time, just a tad inconvenient.

 

There were several times I tried to get from one end of the ship to the other from a different floor and found myself at a dead end or having to walk through the Renoir dining room that was placed in the middle of the ship. No big deal, it was empty, so I just walked on through. At busy times, getting an elevator was out of the question, so I found myself using the stairs unless I was with my mom. Again, not enough to make me have a bad time, but I just wanted to mention it. Having our room on Deck 6 was really one of the best locations for stair taking. It was just one flight down to Degas (where I spent a considerable amount of time) and it was easy for my mom to go up and down just one flight of stairs if she had to.

 

I really never did get the hang of the ship and where things were located (except for the aft pool, the MDR, the Degas Lounge and Henri’s) and all I have to compare it to is the Legend which was terribly easy to navigate. I was on the Ecstasy in the mid/late 90’s, but I don’t remember much about that cruise, so I don’t really count it. I remember even less about that ship other than it reminded me of the ship from Speed 2: Cruise Control.

 

Buffet:

 

The buffet was crowded at peak times, um, duh, but I found the lines moved very quickly and they had the same things (except for the sandwich place) on both sides of the ship. I never had to wait very long. The only other slightly weird thing was the placement of the dessert table and the fact that someone was there to slice some of the desserts up for you. It seemed to take a long time. They should have just pre-sliced it and let you serve yourself and it would have moved faster. Also, the desert station, when busy, would completely block my access to the stairs for Fish N Chips. I found myself more than once having to kind of bully my way through the line while convincing people that I wasn’t trying to jump in front of them to get a dessert. But I’m a New Yorker, so I’m pretty good about pushing through a crowd to get to where I want to be…..(in a polite kind of way , of course )

 

Cabin Neighbors:

 

For the most part, our neighbors were considerate, although there were a few times that one of my neighbors felt the need to listen to and sing along with some interesting and at times annoying music on their balcony. I am pretty easy going, so I just went with it. I think they didn’t really realize that I could hear it until they played a song that I knew and I joined in singing right along with her. After that, they kinda kept the volume down :P

 

Of course, this same couple didn’t realize that the glass on the balcony was reflective, sooooo one morning, I got an eye shot of her husband in all of his glory. Please be aware that people can see your reflection and if you have to go out on the balcony nekkid, please at least have something worth viewing. 

 

Sorry for getting off topic a bit, let’s get back to Day 1.

[pyropoodle]

After thoroughly checking out our room and unpacking everything, it was time to head to Superstar Karaoke. I am a singer and although I live in NYC which is probably the #2 location for Karaoke outside of Japan, I never get to do it, so when I am on a boat, I am all about the Karaoke. This was my first time to do Superstar Karaoke and I’m kind of in love with it. You really feel like a total rock star and after a few songs, or a few drinks, you can sing just about anything, or at least you think you can. I really wish they had offered this more than 2 or 3 times while on the ship. It seemed like it was usually offered during my dinner seating, so I would literally go and sing a song and then run downstairs to dinner.

 

 

 

Regular karaoke was offered at odd times and even more odd locations throughout the ship. When I was on the Legend a few years ago, it seemed that it was much more popular and we had an actual stage for Karaoke and a big room for it too. While Superstar Karaoke was in the wonderful Degas lounge, regular Karaoke was located either in the Casino or in Alfreds Bar which is not set up for viewing. It seemed kind of like an afterthought, but oh well, I had fun anyway and I sang my heart out, so it was all good.

 

 

I spent a crazy amount of time here. And this first night of Superstar Karaoke is also when I formed a special waiter/ guest relationship with Vlad and bought my drink in a disco ball.

 

This is Vlad…..

 

Throughout the cruise, he would become very popular, especially with all of the ladies as he was not only adorable, but he was also very nice and down to earth. I think more people went to see Vlad than to see karaoke or the comedy acts, but that is only conjecture. He was a super nice guy, and should you meet him on your cruise, DO NOT accuse him of being from Russia because he’s not. He said that is one of his biggest pet peeves.

 

Of course, if you don’t do karaoke or like attractive waiters, you probably care less, but I wrote about it anyway

 

 

 

Now, let’s get to dinner. I apologize for not taking shots of the menu. Because I didn't, I don't remember what foods I had on what night, so to remedy the situation, I will just post random shots of food when you least expect it.

you weren't expecting that were ya?

 

The first night is cruise casual since so many people don’t have their luggage yet. We had the late seating at 8:15 and we sat at a 4 top with another Mother/Daughter combo. Carnival is really good about seating you with people who are kind of like you. I didn’t think so on that first night, but as the week progressed, and we really got to know the 2 ladies with us, it got better and better.

 

The Matre d’ was Elvis.

 

Our head waiter was Omar, and his assistants were Triandi and I’m sorry, but the 3rd name escapes me. These 3 gentlemen were very, very good. My mom fell in love with Elvis, but only because she loves the real Elvis, so anyone with the name of Elvis is going to be loved by my mother. You have been warned.

 

Omar was very, very good and attentive and he always kept an eye on Triandi and Other Waiter to make sure they kept us hydrated and filled with bread! Triandi was the #1 assistant, and he was the one bringing us tea, making sure we liked everything and telling us that when we are happy, only then is he happy.

 

This is Triandi

mdr triandi by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I have loads of pics of Elvis, Omar and Other waiter, but my mom is in all the pictures and she thinks she doesn't photograph well, so you'll just have to use your imaginations.

 

 

I can’t say enough good things about the wait staff there. They were more entertaining than the dancers and some of them danced better.

 

I know that some people can do with or without the MDR entertainment, but these guys seemed to really enjoy doing it. They either enjoyed it or were really good at faking it. We had such a good time watching and interacting with them and only wish we could have gotten to know them in a setting outside of dinner. Unfortunately, as we would later learn, the crew are not allowed to see passengers outside of their work areas at all, while the staff are allowed to hang out and even dance with you in the clubs if they so choose.

 

I am one of those people who never meets a stranger. I make friends easily and I can talk to pretty much anyone about anything, so it was great to learn about our waiters and other crew members on board and their families back home, their likes and dislikes and how much some of them actually like their jobs. This is one of my favorite things about cruising. Just meeting all kinds of people from all kinds of places and genuinely getting to know about their culture and how they look at the world. It’s fascinating.

 

But, um, back to day 1 dinner and our table mates.

[pyropoodle]

I thought we were in trouble that first night because when I go on vacation, I don’t think about nutrition and staying on a diet. This would be obvious to you if you ever meet me because you would be greeted by my warm smile and round belly. :) I ordered food, and if I recall correctly, 2 desserts. The ladies with us had salads and grilled fish and split a dessert. YIKES. Oh well, I’m not shy about my love of food, so I’m gonna eat it even if you don’t, so every night I ordered and eventually, they became a little bit more adventurous and even had their own desserts on other nights. One night, they ordered 2 desserts a piece! My evil influence was really starting to work on them. Ha, big bellies all around.

 

Random food alert!!!!!

 

The meal was delicious and of course the Chocolate Melting cake was to die for. I finished off the night with a Cappuccino and then headed with my mom to the Welcome Aboard show which started at 10:30pm.

 

There we saw the dancers, the singers and for the first time met our Cruise director Paul and the Assistant CD, Squishy.

 

This is Paul

 

This is Squishy

I really liked these guys. They were much more memorable than the CD I had on the Legend. They were involved and funny and man, does that Paul have an amazing singing voice! I could listen to him sing all night long.

 

I'm sorry I keep mentioning the Legend. I will stop doing that from now on, promise!

 

The dancers were, um…how to put this nicely, not the best I have ever seen. I understand they are dancing on a boat and it’s rocking and swaying, but they were very sloppy and their hands were just all over the place. One girl was consistently behind the music. I’m not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell when someone can’t really dance. At times it felt as if they were just going through the motions and hitting their marks without really putting anything into the performance of it. I realize it’s not Broadway, but they do have a rigorous audition to get through, so you’d think Carnival would get dancers who actually dance. Living in NYC, I know lots of dancers who can not only dance, but who would love to have this gig on the ship. It’s sad that people who aren’t spectacular are cast.

 

Now the singers, the guy Colin, he was OK. Just an average singer and nothing special, but I though Naomi, the female was amazing. She could belt and sing pretty much any style they threw at her. She was really great and made the show worth seeing. Good job on casting her Carnival.

 

The only other thing that bothered me was the canned music and obvious background voices. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if the dancers could decide on if they wanted to lip synch with it or not. some of them did, some of them didn't, and that's the last comment I will make about them that is negative. They were lovely people offstage :P

 

 

random shot of bathroom swag

 

 

 

 

 

Will I ever get to day 2???? Stay tuned, day 2 is next!

[pyropoodle]

Day 2 Finally!!!

IMAG0275 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0276 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

This was a fairly uneventful sea day. We spent it at the adult area at the aft of the ship. We were up fairly early in the mornings, so after breakfast, we didn’t have any problems finding a chair. I spent a great deal of time in the hot tub and as it was really cool those first 2 days, the water in the pool was actually too cold to swim in. I would get in and sort of take a dunk to cool off from the hot tub, but other than that, I couldn’t really stay in it for very long.

 

It was very windy those first couple of sea days, so they didn’t open the cover on the deck, (which could explain why it wasn’t more crowded). I didn’t mind though. I knew I would get plenty of sun when the first port rolled around, so I just chilled in the hot tub and napped on the deck.

 

Lunch for me was again the Fish n Chips.

 

Here is a pic of the Fish n Chips area on that first day. Note how full the buffet is below, how empty it is upstairs, and the placement of the dessert bar smack dab in everyone's way.

 

P1010978 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

My mother found a few things on the buffet that were to her liking and we were not disappointed. She absolutely loved the sandwich station and she had a Reuben more than once. She really likes sandwiches, me? I’m eh…bring on the fried fish. I could eat it every day until I died of a heart attack!

 

Day 2 was Elegant night, so we left the pool area around 4:00 to rest a bit and get dressed. I brought a couple of those cheap mud masks from home, so I gave my mom a facial and we relaxed on the balcony while they dried. I put mud on my own face and put on my bathrobe and felt very spoiled. I miss my bathrobe 

 

There was a Southern Gospel group on the ship at the same time and due to some events they had going, they changed the times for some of the shows, so tonight’s show Voila Paris for the Late Dinner seating was at 7PM and it was at maybe at 8:30 or so for the Early Dinner seating.

 

After the Welcome Aboard show, I didn’t have high hopes for the full production. I was kind of right. The dancing didn’t improve much, but I have to say, the costuming and the special effects was a worthy effort. I never understand what they are trying to communicate with these hour long variety type shows, and from what I could gather, they were just doing a bunch of French inspired songs with French inspired costuming, some of which was amazing. Again the singers were good and Naomi was great. All in all, it was worth it to see if you don’t have anything else to do, and if you’ve never seen a show in Vegas or Atlantic City or Broadway, then you should see one of these just once. It wasn’t terrible and I’m glad I went. I didn’t see any of their other shows though.

 

At dinner, I of course had the lobster tail.

 

 

I was feeling adventurous and ordered two of them. I realized quickly that one was enough, but I didn’t want to waste food. I ate half of the 2nd lobster tail and to my surprise, one of the 2 ladies sitting at our table couldn’t resist the appeal of the left over lobster, so she happily finished it!

 

This is how I knew we were all going to get along after all. I am not very cultured I guess, so I love tasting things that other people order (when I know the person really well, not when they are complete strangers) but just knowing that she felt comfortable enough with us to share my food with me put me at ease. They ended up being the perfect table mates for us.

 

Once again, dinner ended with Chocolate Melting Cake and Cappuccino.

 

Random Shot alert...

 

my chocolate martini. one of many

 

[pyropoodle]

Day 3-Day at sea

 

IMAG0278 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0279 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

much like day 2 was spent in the hot tub and pool. The pool was warmer on this day, so I spent more time in it.

 

Lunch? You guessed it, Fish N Chips, then another quick dip in the pool before getting ready for Karaoke in the casino. Again, really random area and not really set up for Karaoke, but it was fun nonetheless and I met some really great Karaoke folks there, plus some new friends that don’t actually sing karaoke, but love to watch.

 

After Karaoke and a much needed shower, I got dressed and headed out to the first of several comedy shows. The comedians for the first 2 nights were Smiley Joe Wiley & Kim Harrison.

 

Smiley Joe

 

 

Kim Harrison

 

I thought both were very funny. I only made it to the family show on this night. I tried to go to the adult show after dinner, but the place was packed, and as I was in uncomfortable shoes, there was no way I was going to stand up for ½ an hour.

 

random ship shots.

 

P1040278 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

Towel from Night 1

[CincyLucy]

Oh how I miss Vlad's dimples.... He and Miljan in the sports bar were great! Vlad went out his way more then once in the main dining room for us (he was the bar waiter for some others in our group but ended up helping my table out because our bar waiter was terrible). These two guys made my first cruise fabulous!!

[pyropoodle]

Day 4- Montego Bay, Jamaica

IMAG0281 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0282 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I woke up to this…..

P1040302 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

As I stated earlier, I was with my mother on this trip and as she has some mobility issues, we opted for a nice beach day instead of something more rigorous like Dunn’s River falls. I knew from reading CC that the vendors could be pushy, so in order to avoid any discomfort to my mom, I booked us at the Sunset Beach Resort.

Once we figured out how to get a cab from the port, it was a very short 3 or 4 minute ride and we were there. Security was tight and they wouldn’t let the taxi drive enter the gates. Instead, I showed the guard at the gate my reservation and he escorted us inside and told us where to go. We gave a nice lady our confirmations, she gave us wrist bands and towels and took the rest of our payment, and we were fast on our way to the pool.

 

I have to say, the place was gorgeous.

j11 sbr by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

j7 sbr by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I really loved the pool with the swim up bar.

 

 

j9 sbr by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Usually, I am a total ocean baby and I would have spent more time in it had the ground not felt like slime. It could have been the place I chose to enter the water, but everywhere under the surface was either a huge rock of some kind or the slimy bottom. I just decided to head back to the pool. What the heck, it was closer to the bar anyway right? I’m not one to let something like a slimy ground ruin my fun.

[pyropoodle]

The bartender that took care of me was called Alva.

j15 barkeep by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

I didn’t really know what I wanted to drink at first, so he suggested the “Alva Special”. I drank them all day long and I never had the same drink twice. I suggest if you go there, ask for the Alva special and be surprised.

 

After swimming a few hours, we were hungry and so we headed indoors to the buffet. This was probably the worst food I had the entire trip. It wasn’t bad per se, but it wasn’t amazing or memorable. It was typical buffet fare with a few extras thrown in like some kind of jerked chicken (that wasn’t very good) and fish. The baked cheesy potato was pretty good and the bread was good, but other than that, nothing to write home about.

 

 

j19 sbr seats by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

After lunch, we headed back to the pool. The Sunset Beach resort has a water park with a lazy river and water slide that I was kind of anxious to try, but my mom was happy where she was and Alva kept me plied with drinks, so I never found the time to mosey over. I think it must have been adequate because there were virtually no little kids in our pool. In fact, at several points, I was the only person floating around in it. The place was crowded but without being crowded if that makes sense.

 

 

 

As the sun was beginning to set and after one last Alva special, we made our way back to the front of the resort to turn in our towels and get a cab back to the port. Again, it took about 3 minutes and we were back safely at the port. At no time did we encounter any aggressive people or people or people trying to give us drugs like others had experienced.

 

j17 sbr sunset by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

j18 sbr sunset by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

j20 sbr pool by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

In the port, we shopped for a few souvenirs, chief among those being a wine bottle opener that darling daughter moi forgot to pack….so we found one, also found a really nice sarong for mom (so she would stop stealing mine) and some Tortuga Rum cake. I wish I would have purchased more of that cake because it seemed to be a little cheaper here than in Cozumel, and I forgot to look for it in Grand Cayman. Oh well, next time. Yes, there will be a next time 

 

P1040376 by pyropoodle, on Flickr Shhhh, don't tell my mom I caught her in this photo :)

 

Tonight was another round of Superstar Karaoke, Dinner, and staying up past my bedtime at Henri's.

[pyropoodle]

Day 5- Grand Cayman

IMAG0284 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0285 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

We woke up to the beautiful sight of Grand Cayman before us.

 

c8 from ship by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

When I was on the the other ship that shall not be named back in 2008, we missed this port due to a hurricane, so I had told my mom that if we stopped there, we were absolutely going to go to stingray city. That was the one thing I had wanted to do for the past 3 years. She was totally against it, but I told her she could do something on her own or come with me. She opted to come with me and this ended up being her favourite part of the cruise.

 

We had booked a tour with Moby Dick tours. When we arrived, we were shocked to find out that we were the ONLY people from the Conquest who had booked with them, and so they had decided to have us wait until people from the Liberty (I think) arrived and then we would take a later tour. This was ok, and not ok at the same time. I really wanted to do the early tour so I would have time afterwards to maybe go to Hell or spend some time on 7 mile beach, but with the time change, I didn’t have time to do either. At first, I was a little disappointed, but as with all things vacationy, I try to let it roll off of my back and find something else to do. We walked just a little bit out of the port area and found some shops. I bought a couple of T-shirts, one for me and one for my granny who refused to come on the cruise because she “ain’t getting on no damn boat, and don’t you even think about getting in that ocean because something will eat you!!”

 

She’s a peach and I love her to pieces…so I bought her a shirt. I also found my weakness….earrings!!!!! They had a section of earrings for $1.00 and I couldn’t pass it up. I bought several pairs and even now I am wearing one of them and thinking about the Caribbean and how much I wish I was wealthy so I could live there full time……but I digress. With earrings purchased, shirts purchased, and mom tired of walking around, we headed back to the port area to meet up with the folks from the other Carnival ship so we could get the tour underway.

 

We all hopped on the big blue moby dick bus and took the 15 minute ride to the yacht club from whence we would depart for the reef.

 

P1040406 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

The boat itself holds about 60 people, but it wasn’t full.

P1040943 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

There were maybe 35 or 40 of us and it was a relatively small group. The guys at Moby Dick are not only professional and show an obvious love for what they do, but they are a hoot and a half. The ride to the reef takes maybe 25 minutes or so, and in that time, they give you a very nice briefing on how to interact with the stingrays and they do it in a very entertaining way.

 

gc8 demonstration by pyropoodle, on Flickr

[pyropoodle]

After that, they pass out the fins and snorkels and they make sure that they have something to fit every foot and face.

 

gc 12flippers ab by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

The tour has 2 parts, The first part is just a snorkel off of the reef. We saw some very lovely coral and beautiful fish.

 

gc23 fish by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

At one point, one of our guides found the living quarters of an eel and drew him out of hiding so we could watch them interact. It was very cool to see.

 

gc 28 eel by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

The 2nd part of the tour was the actual swimming with the stingrays. I not only got to kiss one for 7 years of good luck, but I got to hold one as well. This thing was huge, about the size of a Frisbee that would have been used by Goliath in Biblical times.

 

gc 38 sr hold by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

We also saw the elusive male stingray with 3 um, boy parts. Most of them have only 2.

 

gc 40 tripod by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

The swim lasted a good long while and we were able to hand feed and interact with them all the while taking special care not to step on them or manhandle them in any way. I’m usually not a fan of doing interacting with animals that are penned up or kept, but these guys were in open ocean and they chose to come and interact with people because they knew there was food aplenty, so I didn’t feel sorry for them in the least. They were awesome and lovely creatures and I’m so blessed that I was able to spend some time with them.

gc 35 squid notch by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

this girl's name was "Notch", so called because of the large notch missing from her, um...head? face? whatever part you call it. you can see the missing part.

 

 

By the time the tour was over and we had the 25 minute trek back to the yacht club, plus the 20 minute bus ride to the port, we were back at the port with only about 30 minutes to spare. I wasn’t worried that we wouldn’t make it in time and I knew the Moby Dick guys were watching the clock, so I just enjoyed myself there without worrying about the time.

 

All in all, it was such a memorable and moving experience and I will always remember it. My mom had a little bit of trouble with the ladder on the boat, but I was able to easily get her out of the water, so it all worked out just fine. I think she would do it again if we ever do GC again.

 

 

Dinner-This was our 2nd formal night. Sorry I can't remember what the the menu was.

 

Comedy Shows tonight were Carl Fawkenberry and Mark Hawkins. I have no pics, but these guys weren't half as funny as Smiley Joe and Kim. They were all good though. Everyone of them made me laugh, so they did their jobs.

[2-laner]

Enjoying your review thus far. I was on this cruise as well, so it is a wonderful rewind of our vacation as well. I just have to ask. How was the temperature of the water in your bathroom? Water from our sink never got any cooler then warm. And the showers was burning hot. We could never get it adjusted off the fixed setting. I commented to my mom that I was glad my girls were not on the trip with us, as they would not have showered the entire time we were there. My mom loves a hot shower, however, she even admitted that the water was too hot for her. And what about that fog. :eek:

[pyropoodle]

Day 6 –Cozumel.

 

IMAG0287 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

IMAG0288 by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

I think it’s no exaggeration for me to say that Cozumel isn’t my favorite port. It really, really isn’t. That may be because I have never done anything there really but beach days or shopping, and if I go there again, I will definitely see some ruins or something to make it more memorable, but if I have to be stuck on a beach somewhere in Cozumel, Nachi Cocoum is the way to go.

 

But before I get to Nachi Cocoum, I have to actually GET to Nachi Cocoum.

 

We were off the boat pretty quickly and then, for some unfathomable reason, we were herded through what I can only describe as an endless store. It was the duty free shop, but there was no way to just walk on the pier. They actually forced us to go through this store. It literally took us more than 30 minutes to get from the boat to a taxi. Why ? because, well, once you are finally out of the store, you are still in the port area. And there are 15-20 stores between you and the exit of the port, so you have to walk through all of that. It was really annoying and I think it’s a new thing. I definitely don’t remember having to do that back in 2008. It wasn’t pleasant at all.

 

Anyway, we finally got to a taxi and headed for nachi. I believe the cost was $15.00. the prices are posted, so there are no surprises.

 

Nachi is just beautiful.

 

 

 

 

They only take 100 people per day, so you don’t feel crowded at all. On this day, there were probably 60-70 people there, so it wasn’t booked solid.

 

When we arrived, we had our picture taken and our waiter Joseph took us directly to our little hut thingy.

 

 

He took our drink order and we promptly began phase I of relaxation. Mom fell asleep and I headed for the beach. Unlike the slimy bottom of Jamaica, this was heavenly. It wasn’t powdery sand, but it wasn’t rocky or uncomfortable either. It was pretty perfect. At one point, I was all alone in the ocean and I remember thinking “if I were to die right now (you know, because of the sharks that granny had warned me about), it would be ok with me because I would die surrounded by all of this heavenly beauty”

 

 

But enough of that kind of talk, death and all that, it’s time for another round of drinks and time for lunch! I had the nachos, the fried chicken tacos (which are basically taquitos) and the tortilla soup. You can choose 3 things off of the menu, and I really didn’t want dessert, so I opted for the soup. Mom, of course, had desert, but she also had cheese sticks and the fried shrimp. I thought the food was very good here. The quacamole was excellent and the chips were nice and fresh. If I hadn’t of been so stuffed, I could have eaten all day long.

 

 

[pyropoodle]

After lunch, I decided to spend some time in the pool. The water was really cold, colder than the ocean, so I headed for the hot tub. It was luke warm at best, but I was happy with my margharita in my hand and I didn’t seem to notice.

 

 

 

 

 

Because it took us so dang long to get off of the boat, I figured we had better give ourselves plenty of time to get back to the ship, so our day at Nachi was over much too soon. I had one last drink, asked Joseph to bring us a couple of bottles of water, and then tipped him and said our goodbyes. It was at this point that I realized that next time I would be on land would be when we were forced off of the ship in NOLA….but I quickly wiped all thoughts of that away from my mind and got into the cab that Joseph had called for us.

 

It was a beautiful and relaxing day and I would do it again.

 

 

 

This is the first thing I have ever liked about Cozumel, so I take back almost every bad thing I ever said about it….except for that stupid thing at the port where you had to wind through the duty free shops. That still irritates me to know I could have spent an extra hour at Nachi if not for that. Grumble. Oh well.

 

The line to get back on the ship....

 

 

 

Show,

 

Dinner, Comedy, and Karaoke.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

[pyropoodle]

Day 7 – Last day at sea. (sorry no fun times, I think my mom stole it. Bad Mom!!!!

 

The day I have been dreading for the past 6 days :(

 

I slept in a little bit on this day since I had been staying up until 3ish in the morning with some ladies I had met at karaoke. They were a hoot and made my cruise that much more enjoyable! Thanks Louisiana girls!!!!

 

Anyway, I roused myself from my slumber around 9:00ish and headed to breakfast on the Lido. As had become my habit, I had an omelet and chocolate milk.

 

breakfast with a view by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Food for royalty, I’m sure. I had my swimsuit on already, so after breakfast, I headed straight for my hangout at the adult area aft pool. My mom was already out there, snoring loudly. I shook her a bit and made her roll over, then I showered and got into the hot tub.

 

I spent a few minutes in the pool with some new Parrothead friends. As it happens, there were Parrotheads on this cruise as well, about 200 of them. They were all a hoot and a lot of them hung out in karaoke. I’m telling you, karaoke is the place to be.

 

At about 12:00, I got out of the pool and dried off a bit because at 12:30, I had rehearsals for Carnival Legends. Oh what fun that was. I had a dancer assigned to be my escort and he showed me where to stand, when to bow, and when to leave the auditorium after show. After rehearsals, we had fittings and then were given info of when and where to meet before the actual show.

 

For those not familiar, Legends is a show put on by the passengers. At one of the karaoke events, passengers will sort of audition for one of the available parts, those being James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks, Britney Spears, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Elvis, Ricky Martin & Gloria Estephan. It’s purely by audience applause that the people are chosen, so if you aren’t a great singer, but have enough friends in the room, you will get a part. Likewise, if you audition for a part unchallenged, the part is also yours (which is exactly what happened in my case, and how I became Aretha Franklin without really trying and by being really, really white!) But , it was soooo much fun, and totally worth it.

 

My costume for the evening...

 

aretha dress by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

Anyway, after all that, it was time for me to grab some lunch….at Sur Mer. I know you are shocked aren’t you?

 

for a change of pace from fish, here is random food porn....

 

 

 

bacon mac by pyropoodle, on Flickr

 

 

 

I ate my lunch at the aft pool and watched my mother still snoring in the position I had left her in before I went to rehearsal. I threw a towel over her back before I left so she wouldn’t burn, and it was right where I left it. She definitely relaxed on this cruise. Fer Sure!

[pyropoodle]

After lunch, I swam a bit more and sat in the hot tub, chatting with the fascinating people that you meet in hot tubs. People from all over the place, all different walks of life and all different types of jobs. Some people who cruise often, and some for whom this was their first cruise. You get a real feel for different types of humanity in a hot tub. Sitting half nekkid in hot water with strangers makes people feel that they can talk to you about anything, and sometimes they do! But alas, what happens on the ship, stays on the ship and my lips are sealed!

 

 

Suddenly, I realize that it’s time for one last dip in the pool before getting ready for my last night of superstar karaoke and my last night of dinner in the MDR. I hate the word ‘last’.

 

Since my voice was shot from all of the late nights and all of the karaoke, I had decided to just watch a little bit of the superstar karaoke before dinner and not actually participate. That plan didn’t exactly work because Sudana, our karaoke hostess whispered in my ear that she had put a song in for me and before I knew it, they called my name. never one to turn down a moment in the spotlight, I relented and sang my heart out.

 

I thanked her and the rest of the band for making my superstar time so memorable. I had made friends with one of the guys in the band earlier in the cruise and I even kind of introduced him to my young, single, and beautiful table mate. We are all now happily friends on facebook and I live vicariously through him and his tales of endless days at sea. Ah, to be a young hottie working on a ship. That would probably never get old. But again, I digress….I thanked them all for being so great and making me feel like a star, and then I said my goodbyes and headed off to dinner.

 

Just before hitting the dining room, I ran back to my room to put my luggage out for the night and then went back to the dining room. Our luggage had to be out between 8pm and 11 pm, and I knew that it would be well past 11 when I was done with the show and pics and such, so I just got it over with early.

 

The dining room seemed a little bit more empty tonight. Maybe people were having one last night in the steakhouse or decided to give the buffet a try, but I wanted to thank Omar, Triandi and Other Waiter for being so good to us. I hurried my way through dinner and got in one or two bites of my Warm Chocolate melting cake before giving them a tip and excusing myself early, since I had a show to get to.

 

random fooooood

 

 

I met up with the gang outside of the theater and we all went in together, got changed, and put on a pretty awesome show. After the show, we met in the lobby for a group photo, which Carnival was kind enough to give us for free (as well as a copy of the DVD of the Legends show). Kudos Carnival!

 

After the group shot, people began filtering out of the auditorium and so many people asked to have their pictures made with me. I really felt like Aretha! Well, except for the obvious of me not being black, nor nearly as talented, but otherwise, I still felt like a star.

 

After all of that, my dancer escorted my backstage so I could change, but not before I had a chance to say another goodbye to my friend in the band and have one more photo made with him. I know he was happy to see me leave.

 

There was no comedy show on this night, so after dinner and the show, I changed clothes and headed to Henri’s, the dance club, to say goodbye to my waiter there (who I affectionately called Spikey, because of his spiked hair.) His name was Nevan and he was absolutely wonderful too.

 

Nevan

 

Me and the Louisiana girls danced the night away until the club closed its doors. After that, we sat outside and talked until we could barely keep our eyes open. We didn’t want the night to end because we knew the next day meant that we would have to leave our home, our ship. Booooo

 

One of the girls and myself made one last run up to the pizza buffet for a late night/ early morning snack, and then we said our goodbyes.

 

I headed back to my room and sat on the balcony one. last. time.

 

Then, it was off to sleep for me.

 

towel from night 2

 

night 3

 

night 4 Roll Tide!!!

 

 

[pyropoodle]

Day blahhh…-Debarkation

 

I woke up early, early, before the sun decided to wake up, and this is what greeted me from my balcony. Creepy indeed.

 

The ship behind us looked like a school bus.

 

 

Anyway, we had zone 20...

 

 

.... so I knew we had time to have breakfast in the MDR before getting off the ship. I had been wanting to have breakfast here the whole time, but my mom just wanted buffet stuff and didn’t want to rush herself in the mornings. Since we were up already and had nowhere to be in a hurry, she relented and off we went. To our surprise, our table mates were there in line, so we had breakfast with them too. I had the eggs benedict and they were ok. The hollandaise sauce was hard and not moist like I am used to, but it tasted fine, so I didn’t complain. The rest of breakfast was pretty somber as we knew this was it. After this, we were to be evicted and someone else would take our places.

 

After breakfast, we went back to the room. We had to be completely out of the room by 8:30, even though they weren’t going to call for us to debark for another 30 minutes or so. Once our zone was called, we went down to the lobby and began the long march toward land.

 

This took a good 30 minutes or so. Once we were off the ship, we went to our zone to gather our luggage and then headed outside to get a taxi. This is where things got a little bit crazy and it was very disorganized.

 

A random guy told us to get in one line for the shuttle bus to the airport. We didn’t realize that it was a Carnival shuttle and some people had paid for it in advance. Our table mates told us they reserved it in advance and had paid $23.00 EACH WAY to use this bus. Well, when we walked up to the door, the guys said “do you have a voucher?” I said “no” and he said, “that’ll be $10.00 each”

 

I gave him $20.00 and we got on the bus. Little did we know other people were mad at us because they had overheard this exchange and had paid double what we paid AND in advance.

 

So….if you were one of those people, I’m very sorry. We didn’t get a bargain on purpose. Sometimes it pays to just be ignorant. Don’t you wish you were ignorant????

 

Back at the airport, we had some time to kill. I shuffled stuff around in my suitcase and in my mom’s suitcase since mine was a good bit over the 50 lb. limit. I blame the wine bottle opener! That sucker was heavy.

 

We then went to grab a bit of lunch to eat since we still had a couple of hours to kill before we could check our luggage. Lo and behold, who showed up at our table? Our table mates! We had one last lunch together, followed by some bignets that were actually quite disgusting. Don’t buy them at the airport, whatever you do. You have been warned.

 

After saying our goodbyes, for real this time, I hugged my mom and put her in her security line for Delta. I waited until she was out of sight and then headed for my line at JetBlue.

 

Once we boarded, it was fairly uneventful except for the drunk guy in front of me being escorted off of the plane. That was interesting. The rest of it was a blur as I pretty much slept for the entire flight.

 

After an hour and a half on the subway (thank you A train that runs locally on a Sunday night) I was finally at home in my own bed, missing that fluffy, soft Carnival pillow and the sounds of the ocean going by as I drifted off to sleep.

 

Thanks for reading this everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it.

 

 

Until my next cruise in September, this review is over, but I will leave you with some lovely sunrise/sunset shots from my balcony as promised.

 

 

Happy Cruising to all of you!

 

 

 

[pyropoodle]

 

[re-re]

Loving your review,very entertaining.:D

[MT_DreamChaser]

Great review! Nice to see pics of some of the places we didn't go.