Conquest November 20 Sailing...Day Seven

[texas greeneyes]

Day seven…the last day of our voyage on the great, lovely Conquest. I left sisters two and five and slipped out of the room before dawn. Made my way up to one of the outer decks, although memory fails now as to which one. I just enjoyed strolling by myself as the first rays of light crept across the horizon and begin to warm the sky. Then I got myself a cup of steaming coffee and settled in at a table near the pool. The gorgeous sunrise competed for my attention with the hard-working crew. I watched as they readied the ship for the day, hosing down the deck, arranging the chairs, and smiling greetings as they passed.

 

Eventually the aroma of bacon crisping and bread toasting wafted my way, convincing me it was time to rouse my cabin mates for breakfast. After fueling up at the Lido buffet, we went back to the stateroom to discuss plans for the day. We still wanted to check out the hot tubs and pool, and a visit to the photo gallery was in order. Sister two wanted to pick up a copy of the Guest Talent Show video from the gallery, and we all wanted to order photos. So, after donning our swimsuits and cover-ups, off to the photo gallery we went.

 

As I stated before, the place is an absolute zoo, especially the last day! There is virtually no seating, no areas provided in which to view the photos, and it is quite crowded. Passengers resort to laying out their photos on top of merchandise in order to view them. This is after spending significant time searching the myriad walls of photographs, stooping over when necessary to scan the rows just above the floor, searching for photos of your party. You are not permitted to take the photos to a less crowded area of the ship to view and decide which ones to purchase, I assume to prevent theft.

 

It seems that it would be fairly simple to implement an alternative plan that would be much more user-friendly. For example, crew members could be stationed in the photo gallery to scan a guest’s S&S card and record the number of photos they wish to remove from the photo gallery for viewing. This would enable Carnival to easily track the "checked out" photos and charge the guest if they are not returned. It surely would have been more convenient for our party to send just one or two of us up to gather all the photos for our extended party, then meet up in our suite to view them all together and make our purchasing decisions.

 

It was such a madhouse at the photo gallery when we were there that sister two finally resorted to just scooping up the whole lot of our group’s photos and purchasing them all! We agreed to meet later in the day to decide which ones the rest of us wanted to order copies of. Okay. That dog and pony show finally over, :rolleyes: sisters two and five realized that they had yet to pack, so up to the room they went.

 

I made my way up to the pool area to get my faux tattoo replaced (the one that came off because of the massage oil; see day four). When you get a tattoo earlier in the week, you get a card for a discounted one on the last day, and I decided to take advantage of that. Alas, it did not dawn on me that I had to keep the thing dry for a couple of hours afterward. We were still planning on hitting the hot tubs, but that would have to wait a bit, at least for me.

 

Stopped off for a frou-frou drink on my way back to the cabin, and walked through the buffet area to check out what the lunch offerings were for the day. Everything looked and smelled delicious, which I reported to the sisters when I got back to the cabin. They were finishing up their packing, and getting hungry for lunch. We all enjoyed our last lunch on the Conquest at the buffet, relishing the ocean breeze and the views of the water and open sky.

 

By the time we finished lunch, it was nearly time to meet up with our extended group to look at the photos. Sister two had purchased a couple of rum cakes at the Tortuga Rum Factory in the Caymans and was anxious to sample and share them with everyone. I had been wanting to sample the banana splits I heard were available from the coffee bar. There is a seating area with a large coffee table that would accommodate everyone near the coffee bar, so that is the meeting place we chose. We had a good laugh at the Billy Bob teeth photos, I must say! :D Several of the "sister" portraits turned out great, and I really liked some of the candids as well. Carnival made oodles of money on photo sales to the Crazy Sisters, I can assure you!

 

On a side note, I was glad I purchased the banana split, but my little niece was even happier. It is hard to explain to a three year old that she cannot have any cake (her parents declared the rum cakes off limits to her). But once I brought that great big banana split to the table, she didn’t give those cakes another glance, and this Auntie became her best friend, at least for the time being! ;)

 

After finishing our desserts and choosing our photographs, we went back up to the cabin to put the photos away. We dipped into the soft sided cooler that magically never ran out of ice (Dave, you’re great!), plugged in the cruisin’ cd, and chilled on the balcony for a while. We knew it would all be ending soon, but we were determined to enjoy every possible remaining moment of our seven sister cruise. Dreams really do come true! :)

 

The other sisters joined us, and we had a little party right there in our suite, singing, dancing, and drinking, alternating between balcony and cabin. I got out the collection of thank you cards I brought along, and we selected one for Claudia and one for Svetlana, who had so faithfully served us dinner every evening in the Renoir. Everybody passed the waitstaff cards, writing a personal message to each woman and slipping in however much cash they felt was appropriate. We did not count the money when we were through, just sealed the envelopes and put them aside until dinner, but they felt much thicker than they had before they were passed around!

 

Each set of cabin mates also chose a card for their room steward. Some added cash to the thank you messages they wrote to their steward, others did not. I will say that our steward, Dave, received a card that was indeed "thickened".

 

The day was slipping by fast. It was time to prepare for our last dinner in the gorgeous Renoir dining room, and we never did swim or make the hot tubs, not once the whole week! (There’s another reason to cruise again…like I needed one!) Well, at least my new faux tattoo wouldn’t fade as quickly!

 

After we dressed and readied ourselves, we gathered the thank you cards and headed down to dine together on the cruise one last time. As always, Claudia was her smiling, gracious self, and Svetlana was quietly assisting her. We presented them with their cards and thanked them profusely for their service and how much they contributed to our enjoyment of the cruise. There were hugs and tears all around as we said our goodbyes. I wish the two of them well and hope the time speeds by until they can be with their families again.

 

Following dessert, we couldn’t decide between singing & dancing and the casino, so first we went dancing, singing along to the songs and just enjoying all the sisters being together. Then we made some donations in the casino one last time before taking advantage of our final opportunity to enjoy the 24 hour pizza and ice cream. I opted for a BLT from room service, and didn’t regret it. Mmm-mmm. I’m sure gonna miss picking up the phone in the wee hours when I am hungry, then having a yummy sandwich and chips magically appear at my door moments later!

 

I enjoyed my BLT out on the balcony, sisters two and five happily eating pizza beside me. By now it was after 2 AM, and we knew that we had a long day ahead tomorrow, starting with disembarkation. We could stay up longer if we wanted to, but that would not stop the clock from ticking or the sun from coming up. So we bungeed the door, slid into our beds, and for one final time, drifted off to sleep to the calming, relaxing sounds of the ocean just outside the door. :)

 

Final review section to come…dining details, disembarkation experience, and final comments.