Started the new year off right with a family cruise to The Bahamas! After much research we decided to go with Carnival Conquest for a more laid back experience. Carnival is known as the "Funship" and they definitely held up to the name! We flew into Miami the day before. With the amount of delays on multiple airlines lately, both weather and "software" related we did not want to risk missing our cruise. If something happened to our flight the day before we would still have the opportunity to make the drive.
There are a few hotels in Miami that will shuttle you to the cruise port for a small fee. We stayed at the Hampton Brickell. I was very pleased with the hotel, it was located in downtown Brickell within walking distance to tons of shopping and dining. I made reservations a block and a half away at Dolores But You Can Call Me Lolita. A perfect family friendly spot! Located in one of Miami's original fire stations, the building celebrated it's 100th anniversary this year. The menu offers tapas and with each dinner entree you receive a free appetizer. An awesome way for everybody to try a little bit of everything! One of my favorite bites of the evening was the Serrano Ham Croquettes, currently 6.1million sold and counting!! After dinner, we walked back to the hotel for a late night dip in the rooftop pool, located on the 6th floor. Getting to bed at decent time so we could be up early to grab a bite of continental breakfast and be ready for the shuttle to the cruise port. The shuttle must be booked at the front desk the day before and costs just $8 a person. Reach out to Honey Travel Co. directly for hotel booking inquiries.
Before your cruise you will select a check in time online. When you arrive checking in is a similar process to checking in at the airport. You will check your larger luggage with a porter, don't forget to tip them! You will also be able to bring a carry on with essentials that you will need prior to having access to your stateroom and luggage. It's smart to bring a swimsuit in your personal bag. After leaving your luggage with the porter you will get in one of two lines. One for people who arrive at the check in time previously selected and the second for people who are early or late for their check in time. We arrived early due to the shuttle time and was able to quickly get through anyway. When you first board the ship you will go to your assigned muster station for a short safety briefing. Get this knocked out first as procrastinating to do so can delay sail-away. You do not want to be the responsible party to delay the sail-away party! After completing muster head up to the lido deck to enjoy some drinks and the pool or even grab a bite at the buffet until you have access to your stateroom.
You will have to select a dining time for dinner at booking, you will have that same time and table each night in the main dining room, AKA MDR. You can also add an upgraded dinner in other various options if you would like. Conquest had the Steakhouse and Chef's table. We opted to stick to the MDR for this cruise. Expect to have one or more Captain's Dinner or cruise elegant nights to get dressed up. The number of elegant nights is based on cruise length, cruises up to 5 nights will have one elegant evening whereas cruises over 6 nights will have two or more. Cruise elegant for the Gentlemen: elegant dress pants, shirts, sports jackets as well as suits, ties and tuxedos. Ladies: cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts, blouses and evening gowns. No shorts, flip flops, t-shirts, bathing suits, etc. I absolutely loved the opportunity to get dressed up with the family each evening. Not to mention, five family dinners in a row!
Cruise Elegant Attire
Cruise Casual Attire
There are quite a few options to add on to your cruise package. I'd like to take note on the drink packages, for the Cheers package that includes alcoholic beverage up to $20 per drink value, energy drinks, specialty coffees, and more. You get 15 included a day on your package. If one person in the room buys it, everyone over the age of 21 must purchase it. There is also a bubbles package for unlimited soda and juice. We purchased this for our 3 younger kids. If you do not purchase a drink package water, tea, lemonade and milk is still included at no additional cost. You can bring on one bottle of wine per adult and also two 12 packs of soda. I didn't want to carry on any drinks so I pre-purchased a case of water for each of our three staterooms.
You will likely have 2 or more ports of call depending on your cruise length. This is where you will get off of the ship and have the opportunity for shore excursions, shopping, exploring, etc. Our first port of call was Half Moon Cay, a private Island. We had to take a tender from the ship to the island which gave us an amazing view of the ship from the shore! This smaller destination had the prettiest blue water and the softest sugary sand I have ever experienced. This port we opted to reserve a couple of clamshell loungers so that we had a place to sit in the shade as needed. Lunch buffet was brought onto the island so we could eat free of charge but our drink package did not carry onto the island. We had a few drinks at On the Rocks pirate ship anyway. There is also a spot to get your passport stamped once you enter the island off to the right across the dirt road. The building does not have a sign and looks like a little house. Our second port of call was Nassau. This was much more fast paced and touristy. Tons of vendors immediately off the port. For this port we did not book any excursions and opted to spend the day at Junkanoo beach which is a 15-20 minute walk due to some road construction on the road near the shoreline . The beach was packed and even though we went later we were able to rent a few loungers. We bought our own snorkel gear and did some snorkeling right there.
Half Moon Cay & Nassau, Bahamas
All of the fun on board in between. On the app you can see all of the entertainment and events each day. You can "heart" the things you like and the app will remind you when those things are starting. We went to the comedy club several times, if you want to enjoy the comedy show its best to get there 15 or even 20 mins early. People line up outside the doors and the seats fill up immediately. There were game shows, impersonators, 80's rock tribute and so much more. The casino was fun and the roulette table was definitely on our side, even our older girls got in on the action. We also enjoyed hanging out at the piano bar. The kids went to the arcade several nights and also played mini golf and basketball on the top deck outside. Each night there was a movie that played outside on the lido deck. This is a mid-sized ship and on our 4 day cruise we definitely had not even came close to running out of things to do! We will certainly be joining a Carnival Conquest again!
Cruise ship must haves!
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