Carnival Conquest 2013--Embarkation Day dinner

We ate in the dining room for Embarkation Day dinner (I believe we were in the Renoir Dining Room.) and enjoyed the food and service!  If you are familiar with Carnival Cruise Lines, you will notice that this was when there were still white tablecloths every night and menus handed to you for you to peruse and select from. 

Here were our selections:

Chilled Shrimp Cocktail

Broiled Fillet of Atlantic Salmon, Baked Potato, Steamed Vegetables

Tender Braised Beef Brisket in Gravy, Roasted Vegetables, Baked Potato

I apparently, though, did not take a picture of the dessert menu, but I believe the dessert I chose was a type of Black Forest Cake.

Embarkation Day dinner did not disappoint!

Carnival Conquest--June 16, 2013--Embarkation Day

Our first cruise together aboard the Carnival Conquest left from New Orleans, Louisiana and ported in Montego Bay, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico.  As I mentioned in my pre-cruise post found here, this was my third cruise on Carnival (second on the Conquest) but my husband's first.

We LOVED the Conquest!  Embarkation Day was so exciting!  We chose a balcony cabin, because we love the extra fresh air.

I had been on a few cruises before, but this was my husband's first cruise.  We were on a bit of a budget for this cruise, but we were still determined to make the best of it!  We went up to the Lido Deck and got lunch, then we walked around a bit and checked out the ship.

Just a note--this cruise was before Guy's Burgers was a staple on Carnival cruise ships!  At some point in the afternoon, it was time for the Muster Drill.  Again, this was still the OLD muster drill!  YUCK!

Once muster was over (THANK GOODNESS!!!), it was time to start the journey down the Mississippi River!  This is our favorite part of leaving on a cruise out of New Orleans!  We love seeing all the neat things along the riverbank, and (for those of you who aren't aware) it takes approximately eight hours to get to the mouth of the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico.

It rained some as we were traveling down the river, and we saw the most beautiful rainbow stretching all the way across the river!

We had dinner in the dining room, which I'll save for a separate post, then we went to the evening show (just okay for us).  Once we got back to our cabin for the night, our cabin steward had turned down our bed, the Fun Times for the day along with two chocolates were on the bed (I miss the chocolates!), and we had our first towel animal!

We were excited after our first day aboard the ship and couldn't wait for Day Two!

Carnival Conquest--June 16-22, 2013--Pre-Cruise

Bon Voyage (said in my best Bugs Bunny impression!  LOL!)!  This was the first cruise my husband and I went on together--the Carnival Conquest out of New Orleans, Louisiana.  My husband retired from the Marine Corps in 2012 after twenty years of service, so this was his belated retirement gift.  Prior to this cruise, I'd been on cruises in 1994 (Carnival Fantasy), 2000 (Carnival Fantasy), and 2004 (Carnival Conquest), but my husband had never been on one (Navy cruise deployments don't count!  LOL!) so he was super excited!

If we have the time, we always like to travel to the port city a day or two ahead of time for some sightseeing and down time.  For this cruise, our departure port was New Orleans, Louisiana, which is about an eight-hour drive from where we live in north Arkansas.  We don't mind a good road trip, and we both love New Orleans!  My husband spent some time there while in the Marine Corps (before we married), so he's quite familiar with everything.  We took time to go across the Mississippi River and ride the car ferry back to New Orleans (SUPER cool!!!), went in the first Target we'd ever been in that had an escalator (and a separate one for your cart!), and drove by John McDonogh High School, which at the time of our cruise was the subject of a television show titled Blackboard Wars.  

  

We had dinner that night at P.F. Chang's, thanks to a gift card from my awesome friend Ethan Segovia as a going-away present when we moved back to Arkansas.  We love to eat early so we can get back to our hotel, and we don't mind sharing a meal.  We were glad to see that P.F. Chang's had a four-course prix-fixe menu!  

I chose the egg drop soup (my fave!)

Then we chose the pork dumplings for our starter.

For entrees, we chose the Almond and Cashew Chicken and the Crispy Honey Shrimp.

I have no idea what the dessert was that we chose, other than it was some type of chocolate cake, and I can't find it on their menu.  It sure was good, though!

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, as the next day was Embarkation Day!!!  I'd planned to include that in this post, but I think I'd better save it for its own.  Stay tuned!!!  Happy cruising!

Carnival Dream Studio

On our most recent family vacation over Christmas, 2018, we cruised on the Carnival Dream out of New Orleans (More about that in a later post!).  While on the cruise, we tried out Carnival's new Dream Studio for family photos.  The session itself only took about 15-20 minutes, then we went back a couple of days later to view and select our photos.

There are several different photo packages to select from in different price ranges, with the lowest package being $299.  Yes, it's a little pricey, but it is SOOOOOO worth it!!!!  These are by far the best family photos we've ever taken.  See what you think . . . . . . .

It was SO HARD to narrow our choices down!  We started with 35 photos and brought it down to just eight.  I love the ones we selected, though!

You can also request that they print your photos in color, but I love the black & white.  I think they will also take the photos somewhere on deck if you wish, but I'm glad we chose the studio.

I'm back!

WOW!  Has it really been almost six years since I posted here?  Oh my goodness!  I'd intended to post here after every family vacation, sharing things we did and our experiences.  Well, as usual, life got in the way!  I would eventually like to get caught up with everything from the past several years.  Guess I'll just take a little at a time!