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

[momof4girls]

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:')

 

Me too! All I can think about is all the food that’s been wiped off someone’s mouth flying all around!:eek:

[brookeq]

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:')

 

 

We split food all of the time. We got a burger every day I think. But we did split it. ;)

[weluvcruising9804]

Did you like the crabcakes?

[brookeq]

Did you like the crabcakes?

I am not a big seafood eater so I may not be the best person to ask. But I thought they were good. I have only had them one or two other times in my life. ;)

[alreadypacked]

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.

 

Wow!

 

Just wow!

 

Loving the review and photos and videos!

 

But I will live vicariously through you--never in a million years would I have the nerve to jump off waterfalls, hike along cliffs etc!

 

Kudos to you and your DH!

[pghsteelerfan]

:) 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.

 

I've been following along and enjoying your review. We did a similar itinerary on Glory in 2010, so Amber Cove wasn't on the itinerary then, so really looking forward to catching up here. I'm originally from western PA (near Latrobe) and I know about creeks and waterfalls. We didn't do a lot of creek/waterfall hikes, but we had been to Ohiopyle several times to walk the trails and watch the people rafting. I'm laughing about the "slippery rocks" since we used to go to Linn Run (near Ligonier) and as kids, we loved the "Flat Rock" section and would spend hours sliding on our knees down it. There is also a place called "Freeman Falls" near Donegal that I'd been to with friends a couple of times and that was my only experience jumping off rocks into the pool below but we LOVED it! Thank you for taking the time to do a review of your cruise and looking forward to the rest.

Edited April 14, 2018 by pghsteelerfan

[Sturmin]

Thank you for the review. We did this itinerary(except in reverse) last Thanksgiving with the kids. It was our second son's senior year and for a family vacation he voted for a cruise. We like this itinerary for all the beaches and no needed excursions(expensive enough with air and cruise during the holiday time frame.)

[medianeh]

We were on this ship with you. We had a snorkeling excursion planned in Grand Turk, but that got canceled. We ended up booking the monster truck excursion in Amber Cove instead. It was awesome!

 

Had a really wonderful cruise. Tuesday nights seas were not real nice. Hubby did the same thing as yours, was going to watch the movie, but the ship was rocking so bad, he came back and went to bed. Said the barf bags were put out at the elevators.

 

I was going to book the waterfalls, but now seeing how it's more of jumping, I'm glad I didn't. For some reason, I thought you slid down them. Must have seen a picture before.

 

Looks like you all had a great time, just like we did :)

[brookeq]

We were on this ship with you. We had a snorkeling excursion planned in Grand Turk, but that got canceled. We ended up booking the monster truck excursion in Amber Cove instead. It was awesome!

 

Had a really wonderful cruise. Tuesday nights seas were not real nice. Hubby did the same thing as yours, was going to watch the movie, but the ship was rocking so bad, he came back and went to bed. Said the barf bags were put out at the elevators.

 

I was going to book the waterfalls, but now seeing how it's more of jumping, I'm glad I didn't. For some reason, I thought you slid down them. Must have seen a picture before.

 

Looks like you all had a great time, just like we did :)

 

 

I was wondering if the snorkel trips in Grand Turk were cancelled. That stinks. Glad you liked your Amber Cove excursion.

 

The waterfalls were a bit more jumps then I would have liked. I could never fully relax and totally enjoy it because I was always a bit anxious. But I am glad I did it.

[brookeq]

This review is taking me longer than usual. I will hopefully finish up our last sea day today and then getting off/everglades tomorrow.

[marshhawk]

Thank you so much for your review (was reading it at work) I wanted to get your thoughts and pics on Grand Turk and Amber Cove, as we will be heading there in two and a half weeks. You are so brave to do all that jumping, and swimming, and floating and OMG jumping! We chose something a bit more mundane, we are visiting the girls orphanage. We thought we could see some of the country, do something good for others, and not face any major fears (like heights). I am so glad you had a great time, and thank you for such an extensive review.

[sra12574]

This review is taking me longer than usual. I will hopefully finish up our last sea day today and then getting off/everglades tomorrow.

 

Don't worry take your time . Seems like a lot of people are enjoying your report . I know I'm enjoying the info on the ship and the ports . My wife to be and my son will be going on the Conquest a few weeks after our wedding in June .

[senkeholz]

Loving your review. We are on the exact same itinerary on May 6. I had booked the Iguana Mama 27 Falls package and am super happy to hear about your positive experience. Thanks again for sharing and also for including so many pictures of you and your man enjoying yourselves. It makes us feel like we are there with you. ;)

[brookeq]

Day 6-- Sea Day

 

We got up and headed to brunch.

 

Here are the menus.

 

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They came around with a basket of bread again. The little chocolate muffins were good. WE placed our orders. I got the fun french toast with frosted flakes. My husband got the chocolate chip pancakes.

 

Here is a picture of my french toast. I forgot to take it when it arrived so I ate some of it.

 

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My husbands pancakes were not chocolate chip. They were pancakes with some kind of chocolate sauce poured all over them. He still liked them.

 

Neither of us got our first course of fruit and caesar salad. And no dessert either. Last cruise we enjoyed the kids brownie at brunch time. Oh well. We left because we wanted to get up to the pool deck and have some kind of seat before they were all taken.

 

Normally since I am up early I would head up and get us some chairs and we would take turns getting food and bringing it back to our seats. But since it was just us we took our time. I knew it would be crowded up by the main pools.

 

Down by the first pool there were loungers with the stickers on them telling them they only have so much time before their stuff will be moved.

 

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I have never seen this done on any of my cruises. Only read about it on here.

 

I will say I don't think they did it on any of the "levels" up around the next pool. We saw tons of chairs saved for hours. While its annoying I don't let it bother me. We found two chairs and were ready to enjoy our last day of sun before heading back to cold, dreary weather.

[brookeq]

It was hot today. The warmest day all week. I got in the pool (the 2nd pool by the water slide) It wasn't too busy until after 10 or 11.

 

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We went down the water slide once. But mostly just hung out and read our books.

 

Today was the Groove For St. Jude Fundraiser. I got a t-shirt. In fact I am wearing it right now as my pajama shirt.

 

The line was steady the entire time (see the line going to the inside doors here).

 

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They raised over $4000 that day. There was even a St. Jude child on the ship and Chloe the cruise director brought her up and her mom thanked everyone and told us how St. Jude paid for all of their medical bills.

 

Then came the dancing part of the event. Just your normal line dances. The Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, etc.

 

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You can see the shirts they were selling the grey ones a few people are wearing.

[brookeq]

For lunch we split a guys burger and tried one of the taco salads from blue iguana.

 

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Later was the chocolate buffet. We found some items we liked... white chocolate cake, some kind of chocolate cheese cake, and mint chocolate cake. Oh and a rum ball

 

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I also found this chocolate pudding that I really enjoyed. It wasn't really a pudding though. It was thick like a ganache and had the flavor of the melting cake sort of. It was delicious.

 

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[brookeq]

When some seats opened up we moved down to the first level above the main pool.

 

We watched the battle of the sexes. The end was a YMCA dance off with everyone.

 

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We used our free drink coupons for being loyal customers :) We also 2 bottles of water and were supposed to get two ship pins but we didn't get those.

 

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We pretty much spent the entire day outside on this deck.

[brookeq]

Eventually we cleaned up and headed to watch Allure Strings one last time.

Here are two quick videos.

 

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We also watched the lip sync battle. We really enjoyed it. I ran into the male finalist in an elevator. You do have to rehearse ( they have back up dancers and everything) and do videos/interviews for the television during the week. So if you make it to the final it does take up some precious cruise time.

 

Here is a shot of the winner, he "sang" Tina Turner

 

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[brookeq]

There was a balloon drop that night. You put your info in as many balloons as you liked and they would release them and the cruise director would pick one for some kind of prize. I thought my kids would have liked that.

 

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We checked out one last sunset...

 

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We also checked out the casino. Earlier in the week we were given a card that said to bring it down and have $10. I lost those :) Not sure if there was a catch or not.

 

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[brookeq]

Here are the menus for our last dinner.

 

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We both got the mango cream soup for our appetizers.

 

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And my husband had the pepper pot soup. He enjoyed them both.

 

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[brookeq]

Here is the main dinner menu

 

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We both ended up getting the Jerk Pork Loin meal. We both enjoyed it but not as much as our similar meal in the Dominican Republic.

 

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I also wanted some mashed potatoes so I got a side of them. They don't look great but they are pretty tasty.

 

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Its another night of singing and the baked alaska presentation. They bring everyone a slice of this for dessert.

 

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Its not really our thing. They do have a dessert menu this day. We were supposed to get a chocolate melting cake but it never came. We didn't press the issue since it was getting late and we needed to pack. We thanked each of servers and promised we would give them good reviews on the survey.

 

 

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[brookeq]

Loving your review. We are on the exact same itinerary on May 6. I had booked the Iguana Mama 27 Falls package and am super happy to hear about your positive experience. Thanks again for sharing and also for including so many pictures of you and your man enjoying yourselves. It makes us feel like we are there with you. ;)

 

 

We had a great time. Iguana Mama was a good tour company. I hope you have a nice trip!

[brookeq]

Disembarkation

 

We did self assist since it was just us. We got up and had breakfast in the dining room. I had the egg sandwich again.

 

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We headed back to the room and got our stuff sometime around 8 and headed to get off the ship. The whole process took about a half hour.

 

Once outside we got an uber to take us to the airport. We decided to rent a car there for the day since we had an evening flight.

[brookeq]

Whoops forgot the fun times for our sea day

 

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[BonusMom]

Love the review! We are on this exact same cruise in 3 weeks and I cannot wait! Can I ask a semi-stupid question? When you use the tripod to take pictures, how do you click the button to actually take the photo? Do you set the timer on the phone? I love this idea, but do not understand how it works :)