My wife, myself, our son and his wife and my sister recently returned from our June 25 - July 2 cruise on the Carnival Conquest. This was the 2rd cruise in 2 years for myself and my wife. Our first cruise was the Ecstasy which wetted my appetite for a ship with a balcony room.
We drove from San Antonio to Houston on Saturday and spent the night with relatives, this saved us hotel expense and made it more comfortable than trying to rush on Sunday. We picked up my sister from Ohio at the San Antonio airport before leaving Saturday making it a little rough on her (my job as a big brother). The port is easy to find if your paying attention and not listening to a CD with red neck jokes on it. I missed our exit and ran out of road so turned off the CD and retraced our steps to find the exit. We dropped off our luggage at the front of the terminal and everyone got out and waited for a porter while I parked the truck at B parking lot. After parking and riding a bus back to the terminal we proceeded inside the terminal and began the long line waiting for processing our sign and sail cards and showing passports and birth certificates. We had to pass through another long line for security and then on to our adventure inside the Conquest.
Once on board, we headed for the buffet for a great lunch. After eating we went to our cabin and found it was ready except for a few snacks hidden in one of the bedside cabinets from a previous cruiser. My wife, sister and myself shared a balcony cabin room 6411 aft for the first time and were not disappointed. The cabin had plenty of room and of course the wonderful balcony. The only disappointment in regards to sharing this room was the cabin steward who could not understand three people meant three cups, beach towels, bathroom towels, robe, etc. which made my sister feel like baggage during the entire cruise.