Ok, here it is. My 2nd review of a cruise I have taken. I never understood why people cruise and why so much, until last year when I took my first cruise with my wife(maria). The reason I took a cruise was because when I would visit my mother in NY whose health was deteriorating last 3 years, she always told my wife and I to stop using our vacation days to visit her in a hospital but instead take a real vacation like a cruise. I always thought that cruising was for the retired and people with money. I WAS SOOO WRONG. We loved it so much that on January 2008 we booked a cruise for 9/21/08, which coincides with the anniversary of my mother passing away (9/22/06). It is my way of telling her thanks and her way of seeing me & wife have so much fun.

Since our cruise in 2007 all my wife and I did was talk, talk, talk about this cruise. We talked so much that my 24 yr old son (Michael) and his girlfriend came with us. My wife and I paid 50% of Stephanie's cruise because we like her and she gave me my 2 pomeranians. About 1 week before our departure hurricane Ike hit Texas and our worries turned to our safety and our house. We suffered slight damage but were left with no power and not knowing whether our cruise would be cancelled. Instead the Conquest would leave from Bayport terminal which is 20 minutes away. We arrived at the terminal at 9:30 and were on the ship by 10am . I still remember the look on my son and his girlfriend's face when they boarded the ship, it was the look my wife and I had last year.

We headed to the lido deck to purchase a soda card which was the smartest purchase we made those 7 days. We must've drank about $100+ in sodas for the $40 or less we paid for the card. We walked around the lido deck and came across Mark & Becca (CRAZIES) who were on their honeymoon and we finally met LAMBIE. We exchanged hugs and promised to meet again. My wife and I gave Michael and Stephanie the tour of the ship and showed them the beautiful balcony that would be their living quarters for 7 days. I think the excitement was too much because on the 1st night we had to escort Stephanie to the infirmary. Stephanie was vomiting, sore all over and had a fever. The pursers desk told us to take her from our cabins on deck 8 to deck 0 where the nurse will be paged and will be there in 15 minutes. We arrived in 20 minutes and waited 55 minutes, even the off-duty crew on deck 0 were calling the pursers desk every 10 minutes to ask why the delay. Read more