Cruisin with Granddaughters 2012-Day 3

Today was our 2nd fun day at sea.  In the morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast then had some fun using the pools & hot tubs and mini golf.

Our youngest Paige,  loved Kids Quest and spent the rest of the morning there, until lunch.  The older girls enjoyed wandering and exploring the ship. 

Before dinner we were invited to a captains party for gold & platnium cruisers.  The fact that we are in that group must mean we have gone on too many cruises!  We were served rum punch, horderves and danced, it really was fun!

Cruisin with Granddaughters 2012-Day 2

Today was our first Sea day.  We all awoke early and had our first breakfast in the dining room.



Our cabin was located on the Lido deck which was convenient for enjoying the pool, movie screen and slide.  After breakfast we swam, walked and played mini golf.

Tonight was also the first of two Elegant Nights for dinner.  Before heading to the dining room, we stopped for a family photo with our granddaughters.









Cruisin with Granddaughters 2012-Embarkation

Carnival Conquest leaving New Orleans

Our Itinerary

Although we have now have the flexibility to do last minute vacations, I don't find that we have done it very often.  What I do find is that we tend to go for much longer vacations since we retired.  We booked this cruise with our granddaughters during a Memorial Day Sale, very last minute for us.  Most of our cruises tend to be planned far in advance and then I watch for price drops.

This cruise is 7 days onboard the Carnival Conquest, leaving New Orleans for Belize, Roatan and Cozumel.  We have all  been to Cozumel many times.  Hubby and I went snorkeling in Belize once but the Granddaughters have not been there.  None of us have been to Roatan.  We have booked beach days on both islands with Snorkeling and Kayaking, we will probably do some shopping in Cozumel. 

We have booked 2 cabins on the Lido deck, close to the pool, not sure how we are going to like being on the" party"  deck. We are very excited to spend a whole week with the girls!



We arrived at the cruise port around Noon and was surprised to find a line waiting to enter the building. We have taken other cruises here and never was there a line to enter.

Thirty minutes later we had our zone number and waited to be called.  Once we boarded the ship we were happy to discover our cabins were ready.  We had a quick lunch and then the girls put on their swim suits and had fun on the waterslide as we prepared for sailaway.



Tourist day in New Orleans

Today we are going on  a "tourist" day in New Orleans.  We have a room booked at the Westin New Orleans Canal Place near the river.  We have a wish list and hope to do as many items on their list as possible.

1. Aquarium
2. Imax
3. Insectarium
4. Beignets @ Cafe Du Monde
5. Street Car ride
6. Carriage ride through the French Quarter

Weather permitting we will also visit the artists around Jackson Square.

We arrived at the Aquarium when it opened at 10:00am, it had just begun to rain outside.  We had a quick lunch inside their food court.  Expensive!  We saw many people planned ahead by bringing sandwiches and drinks from home..next time!   My girls thoroughly enjoyed it. 

After the Aquarium we headed to the Insectarium & Butterfly exhibition.

 Paige is my youngest and really loves bugs, the teenager loved the butterflies but the rest of the bugs...not so much.

By the time we finished with the Insectarium, it was time for our Imax show.  It was a very good show about rescued baby orangutans and elephants who are raised and then released into the wild. We all loved it and I would highly recommend.

Afterwards, we headed to meet Hubby at hotel for supper.  We stayed at the Westin New Orleans located across the street from Harrahs Casino.  We had a kingsize bed and they added a cot.  The room was clean and featured a large LCD TV and a beautiful view of the river.  We would stay here again.

As luck would have it, it poured rain the rest of the night.  We had to settle for take out inside our hotel room and a PPV movie.

As we left the following morning, we stopped off at Cafe du Monde for our Beignets & Coffee/Hot Chocolate before heading home. 

Although we did not get a chance to do everything on our list, we all had a great time.