We had just gotten off the Magic in May of 2016 when the post-vacation blues began to set in. We knew that we didn't have another cruise until the spring of 2017 and decided we needed something before then. After checking through several itineraries, we picked the Southern Caribbean as our next destination and settled on November. I had read the reviews of the Conquest and felt leery about booking a cruise on her, but, in the back on my mind I kept thinking, "Any vacation is what you make of it". The Conquest was sailing the week after Thanksgiving and she was visiting Aruba and Bonaire (as well making as 2 stops in the Dominican Republic). DH and I were eager to get our plans in order so despite the negative reviews we booked a sailing on the Conquest.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale airport which is incredibly close to the cruise port. Our cab had us to our hotel in just a few minutes. We stayed at the Fort Lauderdale Hilton Marina which is almost a walk-able distance to the cruise port. I wouldn't recommend that though. What I can recommend is that if you stay there, you will be able to walk to the grocery store if you have forgotten anything for your trip. It's only a 10 minute walk to the Winn Dixie. There's also a dollar store, a Ross, a bagel shop, and liquor store within the same distance. I liked the hotel we picked. We had a marina view room which had a balcony overlooking the marina. Our hotel room was nice and clean. My only issue with the room, which wasn't even really an issue, was that the bathroom door kept closing on its own. I like to keep the door open so the mirror doesn't fog up when the shower is running.

On Saturday morning, we took a cab to the port and were there in record time. We dropped our big luggage off with the porters at the curb and walked inside the port with our carry-ons. There was virtually no wait for us to get our sign & sail cards. The line was moving right along. After we received our cards, we went to find a seat where we would wait until they called the guests with "Faster-to-the-Fun". During our wait, we spotted some of our new friends, and sat and chatted with them until it was boarding time. We boarded sometime between 11:30 - 12. Read more