Conquest Review -- 6 day/March/Nassau-HMC-GTurk-Amber Cove

[brookeq]

The island was very green.

 

 

It was not at all how I expected it. I thought we would be on terrible roads. Well it was about 20 minutes all on one nice paved highway type of road. I think the road is new. We made one left turn and we were at the waterfalls. Our guides gave us some info on the way and the ride seemed really short.

 

 

You arrive and walk into the area and they immediately ask if you want to hire a “papparazzi”. For I think $50 you can pay for an extra guide who will take pictures of you and your group. I should have done this. You could probably find another group and say you are together and split it.

 

 

After this they walk you to the helmets and life vests. You can rent shoes for a couple of dollars also. I wore my keens. They worked fine but I think I would wear some kind of socks next time also. They also got our group 3 guides from the park and one of our guides from Iguana Mama came also.

 

 

To get to the falls you need to be able to hike. The walk was uphill and took about 45 minutes. They stop at certain points to give you a rest. They also provide you a water bottle. The hike could be done in less time but with a large group it takes awhile. It wasn’t too bad. You have to cross the river first.

 

 

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Then you walk up some stairs. That is the most annoying part because youcant step how you want.

 

 

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After that it was just a trail and a bit easier.

 

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There was at least one ladder to climb. Maybe two I can't remember. Nothing scary though.

 

We hiked for quite a bit and finally saw our first waterfall. Yay! But we still had further to go.

 

 

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[brookeq]

We hiked some more and finally reached our starting point. This is waterfall #27

 

 

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Here is a shot of our group waiting just so you can see the size of our group. It was our van and then some more people.

 

 

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We were told to go ahead in the water. We were closest to the falls so we walked up to the pool and swam to the falls. Everyone took a turn. The water was cool but not too cold.

 

 

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Edited April 11, 2018 by brookeq
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[Pellaz]

[Pizza Pirate "Plus"]

We didn't on this cruise since we had late dining. Last cruise we had early dining on the breeze and my husband went to the pizza place every night for a "snack". Will have to try this out next time.

 

Hope it's still available for you next time! I don't have much data on which ships (besides Conquest) offer Pizza Pirate Plus at night. Last fall, the Vista did not have an equivalent offering at Pizzeria del Capitano at night, although they DID offer "late night snacks" near the deli.

I don't know if PPP is something Carnival is still piloting, expanding or cutting back.

[brookeq]

We walked down to the next pool area. This was our first jump. In the grand scheme of things it wasn’t a big one. But I haven’t jumped off any kind of diving board or anything in years. So it seemed high to me. Here is my husband jumping in. I followed behind him and jumped next. Not too bad. Notice that my husband is jumping “like a pencil” as they tell you to (this comes into play a bit later)

 

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Here is a photo of the next waterfall.

 

 

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You can’t tell but there is a rope to hold and you walk down to the guide in the middle of the falls. Then you let go and run down the falls and jump in. We were in the front of the line and I didn’t get to see anyone but my husband go. I have climbed and done river/creek walks and all the rocks in Pennsylvania waters are super slippery. There was a large rock jetting out the side of this. I was not feeling this one. I will not post the video because it is embarrassing. The guide had to help me up a few times as I stood there not wanting to run down and water was pushing me forward. It turns out the rocks were not slippery at all and I eventually ran down and jumped in. I would have a liked a do-over. Ha ha. ;p

Edited April 12, 2018 by brookeq
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[pacruise804]

Slippery Rock isn't just one of the state colleges;) I remember lots of various slippery rocks in creeks and brooks as a kid.

 

Was it for Rickett's Glen? That is a nice hike we did with the kids. You hike down the gorge and circle out. You can see up to 24 waterfalls I think. We loved it there :)

 

Rickett's Glen I'm sure was part of it, but I thought it was a driving route. It might have included parts of Adams or Lancaster Counties, Poconos, North Eastern PA, Mansfield area, and possibly Allegheny Forest (Kane, Bradford?). I thought it looked like an ambitious weekend to see it all, but I didn't look super close since I knew it wouldn't fit our schedule for some time.

[brookeq]

Slippery Rock isn't just one of the state colleges;) I remember lots of various slippery rocks in creeks and brooks as a kid.

 

 

 

Rickett's Glen I'm sure was part of it, but I thought it was a driving route. It might have included parts of Adams or Lancaster Counties, Poconos, North Eastern PA, Mansfield area, and possibly Allegheny Forest (Kane, Bradford?). I thought it looked like an ambitious weekend to see it all, but I didn't look super close since I knew it wouldn't fit our schedule for some time.

 

:) Near Slippery Rock college is a park called McConnell's Mill that we hike and there are signs warning about "slip rocks". And they are slippery. I literally held up the line of people at this waterfall because I wouldn't let go of the rope and run down. I thought for sure it would be slippery.

 

I think I saw what you were talking about on line once It showed a map with a driving loop to see a bunch of waterfalls. I may have to check it out again.

[brookeq]

My husband likes to take videos so I have some videos I need to post next. I haven't done videos yet so this post is going to be my test.

 

[YOUTUBE]U7XbNdUncpY[/YOUTUBE]

 

This should be a video of my husband doing a canon ball from a small waterfall

[brookeq]

Ok. That appeared to work. So we walked to our next area...

 

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As you can see sometimes you walk thru the water. Sometimes its on rocks. Sometimes you just float thru water.

 

Next we reached our first slide. It was short but fun. I am the second person to come down.

 

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We got someone to take a picture of us with this waterfall

 

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[brookeq]

We walked some more...

 

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And we reached our next jump. Not a bad one at all.

 

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Here is Picture of another jump.

 

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I am getting braver now. But also getting anxious because I know some bigger jumps should be coming up. I don’t really like heights. I will ride any roller coaster because I am strapped in so it doesn’t bother me (I have rode the tallest/fastest at Cedar Point one year). But free heights do scare me a bit. I won’t go near any ledge when hiking. My husband made me nervous at the Grand Canyon. I wouldn’t go anywhere near spots to take pictures. I had to be over 30 feet away!

 

 

We walked and swam some more.

 

 

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Edited April 12, 2018 by brookeq
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[brookeq]

We got to float to our next spot

 

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Here is a video of my husband and I doing the biggest jump. You will see some random guy go first. My husband is holding the camera and jumping next. He comes up and if you watch the cliff to the right I jump in next. I didn’t really follow the directions and jump like a pencil (so you hit feet first). So I smacked by butt pretty hard. I wasn’t really thinking and just jumped so I wouldn’t chicken out!

 

 

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And here is a picture of me feeling proud after. Ha ha

 

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Edited April 12, 2018 by brookeq
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[brookeq]

One of the next areas was also a decent size jump.

 

 

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It did involve holding some ropes to get to it. But it wasn’t too bad.

 

 

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Here is a shot of the jump area. You can also see the stairs that you can climb down if you don’t want to jump. For some reason I find the stairs worse than the jump. So I continued to jump.

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Here is a video of me doing the jump. The worst part is standing there waiting to jump. I just want to jump and be done. But I had to wait awhile (not in the video) for the people who climbed down the stairs to swim out of the way. It also took awhile here because another tour group that didn’t do all of the falls joined in here. So we got backed up from here on out a bit.

 

 

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[brookeq]

The next area was like a slot canyon

 

 

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And it had a small slide

 

[YOUTUBE]PtQ_2KwQSNc[/YOUTUBE]

 

After the slide we floated on thru. This area was very cool. It was narrow and there were waterfalls on the side coming down the rocks all around us.

 

[YOUTUBE]ZQSLMGqnSi4[/YOUTUBE]

[brookeq]

Another slide video (you will actually see one of the paparazzi guys run down first so he could get in position to take photos of his clients)

 

[YOUTUBE]x5KRdknbBTU[/YOUTUBE]

 

And our last slide video

 

[YOUTUBE]1fykov13jKc[/YOUTUBE]

 

And here is a photo of that last waterfall we slid down.

 

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[pvtpyle]

We were in the private cabana on this cruise that day. Have to say it was worth having the area to ourselfs and worth the price with the big group we had. Glad we did it and would do it again in a heartbeat. Food was the same as everyone else, but was nice to have a hot tub because of the windy crappy weather that day.

 

Some time around 3 I think we decided we would head back.

 

 

We passed the splash pad area. I think our kids would have liked this.

 

 

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Everyone else must have had the same idea. We all packed in the next tender and were back to the ship.

 

 

 

My opinion on Half Moon Cay…it was beautiful. We have been to NCL and Disney’s private islands and this was the nicest. (Disney's Castaway cay is very nice too and has tons to do. This is just more natural). This is one of the nicest beaches we have been too. I would love to go back one day.

 

 

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[brookeq]

Eventually we reached the last waterfall (#1). You can jump from the top. Or they let you climb down the middle and jump from wherever you wanted. Or you could take the stairs down. Here is my husband jumping in.

 

 

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And here is a picture of us.

 

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We still had to hike back to the main area. It was very very muddy. And you had to cross the river again.

 

We returned our equipment, tipped our guides that work at the falls and then headed to get lunch. The lunch was salad, rice, fruit, beans, dirty rice, some kind ofs eafood pasta, and jerk chicken and pork (and hot dogs I think). It was actually very very good. My husband went up for more. They also had rum and cokes or just coke or water.

 

 

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We eventually got on the bus and headed back to the port. They kept an eye on the time and got us there right when they said they would. They provided more drinks for the short ride back.

 

 

 

Iguana Mama was a great company and I would definitely recommend them for any of the tours they do. This one was great. It was one of the highlights of our cruise. I would recommend you be in decent physical shape and not extremely afraid of heights. I did have some bruises afterwards. But it was worth it. ;) I also would recommend hiring the “paparazzi” . Looking at my pictures I wish I would have done that.

[brookeq]

We were in the private cabana on this cruise that day. Have to say it was worth having the area to ourselfs and worth the price with the big group we had. Glad we did it and would do it again in a heartbeat. Food was the same as everyone else, but was nice to have a hot tub because of the windy crappy weather that day.

 

It looked really nice. I would do that too if we had a big group.

[RenoNanaOz]

Thanks for the great pictures and videos. While we are in good shape I don't think I could handle the height! I am like you I can ride any roller coaster but......

[brookeq]

Thanks for the great pictures and videos. While we are in good shape I don't think I could handle the height! I am like you I can ride any roller coaster but......

 

It wasn't too bad. They had an option to not jump at each place. It would have been worth it for us even if I didn't do the few high jumps. Even though I am scared of heights I am also competitive. And I wanted to say I did all of the jumps. Especially if my husband did them. :)

[weluvcruising9804]

I love the videos. You are much braver than I am!!

[momof4girls]

I loved all your videos of the falls but I definitely will just have to appreciate them without trying. So many of my fears in one excursion! :rolleyes::')

[Lem_On_Ade]

Thank you for the pictures and videos of this. I knew when we booked our upcoming cruise that goes to Amber Cove that I wanted to do the waterfalls but was unsure about using an outside company and a little worried about the temperature. You have me convinced that I am definitely doing it now and also using Iguana Mama.

[brookeq]

Thank you for the pictures and videos of this. I knew when we booked our upcoming cruise that goes to Amber Cove that I wanted to do the waterfalls but was unsure about using an outside company and a little worried about the temperature. You have me convinced that I am definitely doing it now and also using Iguana Mama.

 

When are you going?

 

The falls are not that far away which made me more comfortable using an outside company. They really did a good job. Even my picky husband said so. If I was going to go I wanted to do all 27 so we had to choose an outside company or take a taxi there.

 

Have a great trip!

[brookeq]

Ok, Lets get this day finished up here.

 

 

When we got back to the pier I checked out one shop and got my mom a thimble.

 

 

I would have liked to check out the pool area but we didn’t’ have much time and didn’t feel like walking anymore.

 

 

So we took a quick picture with the ship and headed back on board.

 

 

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We decided to chill in the hot tubs a bit. We tried the ones by the main pool. They were warm but still a bit crazy with the bubbles. Then we hung out at the aft pool and enjoyed the sun.

 

 

Eventually we got a slice of pizza and split a burger :)

 

 

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We also checked out the desserts at the buffet. We actually found some good ones… chocolate almond cake, cookies and cream cake, vanilla cream cake, and then something that was almost like the chocolate melting cake.

 

 

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It was another formal night. We got dressed and went to see some performer (not sure who now).

The dining room was pretty empty tonight. One family even came well over a half hour late.

 

Here are the menus.

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We both had the crab cakes.

 

 

I had the filet and husband had the shrimp

 

 

We tired to the chocolate almond cake and I got the cheese plate (too many desserts earlier)

 

Since it was formal night the waiters did their song and dance... I can never decide how I feel about this.

 

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We were exhausted and went to the room and watched the love and marriage show on the TV. It was really funny. At one point the cruise director left the stage laughing about someones answer but didn’t turn the mic off. You could hear her say something to the guy back stage. I can’t type it here but it was funny to hear.

 

That is the end of day 5. Up Next -- Sea Day/Day 6

[brookeq]

Forgot the fun times

 

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[pacruise804]

O

 

Eventually we got a slice of pizza and split a burger :)

 

 

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Since it was formal night the waiters did their song and dance... I can never decide how I feel about this.

 

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We were exhausted and went to the room and watched the love and marriage show on the TV. It was really funny. At one point the cruise director left the stage laughing about someones answer but didn’t turn the mic off. You could hear her say something to the guy back stage. I can’t type it here but it was funny to hear.

 

That is the end of day 5. Up Next -- Sea Day/Day 6

 

We like to split plates sometimes too. It allows us to try more things without totally stuffing ourselves or wasting a bunch of food:)

 

I'm not a fan of the 'dinner show' but I know lots of people enjoy it. I really dislike the twirling napkins, but if we are seated with others I'll just cover my plate and glass and wait until it's done. We were able to avoid it most evenings, but the one evening we saw it the servers did do a nice job. It's not my thing, but I appreciate their effort to please those who enjoy it:)

 

That's too funny about the hot mic:')