I'm going on a cruise and want to know what to expect.?

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Julie T

We took this cruise for Spring Break. The Conquest is a very nice ship.

The schedule is a bit of a drag. You are out to sea on Monday and Tuesday. You get a little bored by Tuesday afternoon.

Then you hit 3 ports of call without a break. By Saturday, you are worn out.

You have to tender (take the ferry) in Grand Cayman. Do the Stingray expedition but skip Hell and the Turtle Farm. They take too much time and are not that great. Native people are not that friendly....it took 2 hours of standing in line to get back on the ship.

Do your shopping in Cozumel. The will not negotiate with you in Grand Cayman. Highly recommend the Cavern by Jeep tour in Cozumel.

Take a light jacket or sweater. It is pretty cool at night.

Don't miss the Warm Chocolate Melting cake in the dining room! It is to die for!

If you are an early bird, get up at about 6 am on the Sunday that you return to port. The ship turns around in the channel.

Take one of those XXXL Ziploc bags to carry home sandy, yucky clothes.

Take plenty of $1, 5 and 10s in US dollars to spend in port, pay taxis, tip shore excursion staff.

Plan plenty of time to embark. The parking is $70 per car at the port and it can be a zoo trying to get on board.

Pack everything you want before midnight as well as prescription meds, habit items (smokes...) and valuables in your carry on luggage. You won't get your checked luggage until later in the evening.

Tip the porters about $1.00 per bag. Definately get a porter upon debarkation. They will help expedite you through customs.

Budget plenty of money for on-board photos! They have some really good photographers on-board and tons of photo opps.

Have a good time!

destin1107

You are going to have such a great time!

When you first get to the port, you are going to check in, give them your boarding information, credit card for any purchases while your on the ship, and ID.
They are going to give you your room key/sail and sign card for the entire trip.

You then get a group/couples photo taken. Then, right before you board the ship, you are going to get in a line, and give the person your sail card, look into a camera, and it will go *DING*. This is your security photo that will be used to identify you for the entire cruise. When you get off/on the ship at your ports and so that the crew knows its YOU. (Pretty cool feature, b/c when we did a girls cruise, one of my friends gave one of the workers my name to see if I was on board yet when we were in the Bahamas. They said "Yes, she is onboard")

THEN you get on the ship!!! Get there early enough so that you can go to your room and explore the ship, and eat.

About 1/2 an hour before the ship leaves you are going to have to go to your room, get your lifejackets, and you HAVE to go to the muster station (in the even that you have to abandon ship). Pretty easy, just BOOOORRRRINNGG....(bring a camera so you guys can capture your friends looking silly in their orange vests lol)

Then you're off!!! You set sail and you are going to have SUCH A GREAT TIME!!!

Every night, you will have a cruise compass delivered to your room with a list of events for the next day. (Might want to bring a highlighter b/c there may be lots of things you want to see/do) You will also have a room steward and they are AWESOME!!!! (Be sure to tip them good at the end of the trip). They will be cleaning your room, making your beds, turning down your beds, and leaving you cute little animals out of towels. :)

Always have your camera on you - you don't want to miss anything!

Have fun, and just remember - you're on a CRUISE, you're on VACATION. And don't worry about anything else. Aside from the people you're cruising with, you'll never see any of these people again!!! So do the karoeke(sp) dance the night away, get involved in the contests - your cruise is going to be as fun as you want it to be! :)

Bring your sunglasses. Bring your camera. and when you were in a port (jamaica, grand cayman, cozumel) DONT EVER GO ANYWHERE ALONE!!!!! Do the buddy system. :)

Have a great time!!!

Dylan P

You are defentially going to need to bring money for shopping in Grand Cayman and Cozamel.

But Cozamel is so much fun.. they have great beaches, night life, and shopping.. it is really easy to make deals there..

Make sure you bring a good tanning lotion because it is very easy to get sun burnt down there... maybe go to the fake and bake before hand

have funn cruises are the best!

Southern Apostolic

I have been on two Carnival cruises, and I can tell you to expect food everywhere you turn.

Grand Cayman is okay. Not a great place for shopping, but a very nice island.

Cozumel is better for shopping. Do not get a cab when you first get off the ship. Wait until the fourth or fifth one who asks. We saved a lot of money by waiting. The people at Cozumel were much more courteous than at Cayman. We did see the Ecstacy heading back to Galveston when we left.

We did not do any excursions, just island tours.

I enjoyed just getting away. We have gotten hooked. They are habit forming.

someones friend

Make sure you have a strip of additional plugs ( you can buy one that has 3) because you will have 1 plug and if you have a hair dryer, curling iron, curling brush , cel phone charger,you will need it. I also take a travel alarm clock because there aren't any clocks in the room. The other thing that I take is a night light ( actually my plug that I bought at Walmart has a built in night light in it) Lots of sun lotion.
Have fun.

phoxphire1

I'm going on the same cruise July 8 and would love to know what to expect on this one as well

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