Millie's first cruise

 

Carnival Conquest

Friday January 13 2023

As luck would have it a large cold front is sweeping across the south this weekend. Yesterday I had put extra tie downs on the awning but this morning I decided to roll it up to avoid it getting damaged by the wind. The weather forecast hadn’t changed, if anything it was calling for stronger winds, up to 40 MPH. 

From our RV park to the cruise terminal

It’s only about an hours drive into Miami and the cruise terminal. Aim-me our GPS and I bickered all the way, I was driving up the turnpike and she was insisting I get off at every exit and take city streets. I think she is programmed to avoid interstate highways, as we normally don’t like driving on them.

This is what it will look like when done

Just before we got to cruise island there was a large construction project going on, I think they are adding a third level of roadway through this bottle neck in the city. Anyhow, I was in the left lane because I would be exiting left into the tunnel. At the last possible moment with no advance signage the tunnel lanes were on the right and the left two exited to I-95 north.

Image going thru this work in progress at 70 mph

I knew I would have to get off at the next exit and turn around. Aim-me, who was secretly laughing at my mistake, suggested I now follow her directions. Instead of returning to the freeway, she routed us through the city to the original bridge that accesses the island. I didn’t even know it was still there, having assumed it would have been removed when the tunnels were completed.

Red arrow is the old bridge, orange arrow is the tunnel

Anyhow, the detour only added a few minutes to the trip and Aim-me and I have made up and are on cordial terms. I think she has a new smug tone in her voice after rescuing us, but I’m going to keep the peace and let it slide.

Aim-me knows!

The boarding process was straight forward, the custom’s check was quick, and the Carnival Cruise line staggered boarding process was even quicker.

Our balcony aboard the Conquest

Our room 8335

Looking towards the balcony

We had an early position in the boarding Quay so had several hours till departure. We had lunch at the Pizza Pirate and then explored the ship until our room was ready.  We were still in the room when I noticed the scenery changing out our window. We were underway and hadn’t even felt the ship leaving the dock. We went to the top deck to join the departure party. 

Departure party on upper deck

We ate dinner at the formal restaurant, and we would do this for the next three nights. We sat at a table with two other couples, we would share dinner with them at all our meals here. We had two servers; they were very professional, courteous and pleasant. The meals were perfectly cooked, pleasing to the eye and delicious.

I don’t know what else I can say other than each night in a break between diner and dessert the wait staff entertained us by dancing their way through the dining room. On the last night they added a song. The lights lowered, waiters lined the entrance stairs and did the wave with small lights and sang chorus for the soloist. The Maitre-de who had a good singing voice sang a customer tribute to the soundtrack of Eye of the Tiger. It was really touching to know they appreciated our business, probably more now than ever because of the two-year covid shutdown. Prior to the cruise I hadn’t thought much about the dining room meals, but it turned out to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the trip. 

Waiters singing to us

Next on my like scale were the two music production numbers performed in the large theater. One of the shows was Rock music of the 80’s, the next night we saw Pop music of the 80’s. I guess there aren’t many people left who remember classic rock and Roll. The dancing/singing cast was very good but upstaged by the stage background. It was almost totally done with special effects imaging projected onto huge movable panels. The performers interacting with the fascinating backgrounds was like nothing I’ve ever seen before and very entertaining.

Rock music of the 80's

The next night was Pop music of the 80's

As we wandered about the ship, we often stopped to watch a variety of entertainment venues. One of several variations of TV related trivia game shows was always being played in the lobby. There was also Karaoke, which was in one of the smaller nightclubs.  None of them held our interest for long, the karaoke singers where really bad. 

Morning exercise to music

One afternoon I decided to play bingo. Not that I’m a fan of the game but the grand prize was $2000. The buy in was $48 that included three sheets of 12 bingo cards plus and extra three cards for the last game and a bingo ink dabber. What they didn’t tell us was on the final game the whole card had to be filled and if it didn’t happen after 25 balls had been pulled, the $2000 prize was lost. The game continued until someone won by filling the card, but they just got a percentage of the take, which was a little over $1000 on this night. We didn’t win anything.

Bingo

In the smaller theater in the stern of the ship we sat in on two different comedic acts. The first was not very good, but comedian Thea Vidale promised the audience her late-night adult only show was better.  We didn’t think her going to the gutter would make her any funnier and we passed on that.

Before the show started

The second comedian Billy D. Washington may have been funny, we’ll never know. Early in the show in response to a heckler, he tried to dismiss him by telling him he was drunk and slurring his words, which was true. His grandmother (we think) came to his defense and continually interrupted the comedian. She was very obviously also in a drunken stupor. To his defense he tried to shift the focus away from the drunks but eventually he lost control of the show. The theater manager never came to his rescue; maybe Carnival has a policy against throwing drunken old grandmothers from the show. It’s a shame; I think the comedian may have put on a good show for the rest of us.

You can never eat enough French Fries!

We ate too much and too often at the casual eateries on board the ship. We quickly discovered which ones had good food and short lines. Food was everywhere, it was hard not to eat something whenever you passed by. It’s like you feel you must eat your cruise ticket’s worth of food. And then there is the self-serve ice cream, it was a losing battle for the waistline. 

My quote about the ocean, "after ten minutes the scenery never changes"

After our day of gluttony or as Carnival call’s it, “Your fun day at sea” we arrived at the island of Bimini in the Bahamas. We missed the arrival as it happened in the early morning and when we awoke, we were already docked. The island has a new cruise ship terminal which juts out into the Caribbean Sea. Gone are the days of the ship anchoring out and passengers having to take a small launch to shore.

The new cruise ship dock at Bimini

We joined the fray and went ashore on Bimini. We took the trolley tour which really doesn’t go that far because much of the island is gated. I’m sure this is something new the rich homeowners have insisted on. They are getting invaded by tourists several times a week, I don’t really blame them. It was a cool 65 degrees and windy, so we didn’t stay on the island too long. A T shirt cost $35.00, golf cart rental was $125.00, we didn’t buy anything. We weren’t really impressed with Bimini.

On the dock

Our ship, the Carnival Conquest sailed overnight and once again when we woke, we were in port. The debarkation was quick and orderly and we were back in the truck and on our way to our home on wheels down in Florida City.

In conclusion:

We picked this cruise because the cruise port was convenient to our winter retreat in Florida City. Millie had never been on a big ship cruise and we picked a short duration trip as her initiation into the cruise life. Millie has given the experience a 7 out of ten rating. I was going to rate it lower, but after thinking about it, I’m going with a 7 also. It would not be fair to rate it lower because all of the excellent service we received from the crew. 

The biggest negative for us was not the fault of the cruise line, it was my fault for not investigating further. The majority of the guests were young adults and they were there to party. They were often loud, not brash, just loud. Many of them were from a different culture and do not hold the same social values as us old people. That’s ok I guess it’s their world now; we just picked the wrong ship!

Random pictures from the cruise