On May 3rd, some of the Berry Clan-Willie, Wanda; Junior and Sylvia; Patsy and Charlie Pilgrim; and Rita and Bob Seaton headed on a 7 day venture to the Caribbean!
Let me begin by applauding our Travel Agent Extraordinaire Ms. Sylvia Taylor Berry who had everything planned to the T as usual. When Sylvia , AAA Florence Manager, plans your travel you just have to does what she says and remember what she says and everything is awesome! All our cabins were within yelling distance from our decks which was neat...I would go outside and lean over and saw either Rita or Bob or someone I knew doing the same! We didn't have time to do this much because we were always out and about exploring the ship! The beautiful Carnival Conquest!
I flew from Birmingham INTERNATIONAL (ha) Airport (that's o.k. , it's small and I love it!)
and the rest got on board in Huntsville. We arrived in Houston about the same time which was neat and checked into the airport hotel. After checking into our room and resting a bit, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for an "introductory" meal. We had a great celebration for finally being almost there after months of excitement and were expecting great things to come our way! We were all so excited and were all thrilled that the Berry Matriarch, Willie Myrtle Marie Stults Berry, had felt so inclined to join us in this venture!
With earpatches close by , you know the ones you get in case you are seasickness prone, we all got up early the next morning to catch the first Shuttle to Galveston so we could be one of the First to Embark. ...Well, we had a new bus driver who got lost so we were slightly delayed! She stayed on the phone asking directions which caused Junner and I to glance worried eyebrow raised glances at each other...hoping and praying she knew where she was going! By the way no one used the patch and no one got sick in our group! Yeah!
When we got there hundreds were already there...we were bustling through security and for some reason they always check Miss Willie out real good , she finally passed so they let us in :)
In fact they escorted Mother and I, then Bob and Rita to the short line since they have some mobility issues. Junior, Sylvia, Charlie and Patsy were headed on through the long "cow line" so we were separated early on and had separate photos made getting on the ship. We all met on deck and yes...you're guess is right..we went right for the food and the drink of the day was shared around, there were many photos taken and videos too! What a fun afternoon!
We scurried off to see our beautiful Staterooms a few hours later to rest and get ready for our first dinner at the first (6:15) sitting. Joseph, the Matri'd introduced himself and we met Christina, our server for the week, and Elisabeth, the bus person. We had a wonderful meal, then headed on for the night's entertainment!
Every night we would place our request outside the Stateroom requesting Coffee, Juice, and wheat toast to start out our day, then we would later go down and have eggs and oatmeal or just anything we wanted...there was plenty of fruit and healthy food but you could also go the sweet roll, donut, pancakes, french toast. ANYTHING you wanted was basically the chose!
We took a Galley tour one afternoon, relaxed on Lido deck, shopped the Photos, many Photographs are taken for all occasions. We all did our thing and would run into each other from time to time always meeting up at dinner.
Tuesday nite was the Captain's reception and dinner, there were free drinks, a band and dancing so of course I had to start the dancing escorting Mother onto the dance floor, we all ended up dancing a slow song either on the dance floor or beside our table! Fun! Of course, we all dressed up in our beautiful long gowns and all the men were in suits. We looked SO good! We had a family photo made that night which turned out great!
We were at sea two days arriving in Montego Bay on Wednesday a.m. Mother, Patsy, Charlie and Bob took and Island Tour while Rita, Junior, Sylvia, and I opted for the Zipline tour in Chakku ! It's also called zipcording, and Canopy tour. We had a blast ! They suited us up with our tour and we all hiked up to the first platform, Orlando was our Guide and he had a helper who was also great! We were lectured, educated for a long time it seemed as safety is of utmost importance! I asked many questions, many questions of the guide to be sure I didn't mess up. In our group I went first and was exhilarated to make it across! I knew the rest would be incredible...well as the tour went on...the hikes were longer...more uphill ...we were all sweating bullets but enjoyed the beautiful rain forest so much! The last leg was the longest and Junior videotaped the whole trip. I can't wait to show the video to Sara and Katie so they can see my Tarzan routine ! Also Diego is one of their favorite cartoons! If you ever get a chance I would recommend Zipcording...it is exhilarating and adrenalin producing and really makes you feel like you accomplished something! Fun! Fun! Fun! When we got back there was Jamaican Music, food, drinks and of course they give you time to purchase CDs of the photos they take! We boarded the bus and took the long winding road back down the hill, through the orange groves, through the City of Montego Bay where the school children were playing and walking home. Nice, but not the best of conditions American kids enjoy. We have so much to be grateful for! After an hour or so we were back at the ship, dragged our tired hot butts on board, showered and all headed for another feast at dinner.
The next morning we were in Grand Cayman and all eight of us took the Island Tour visiting a beautiful Turtle Farm, Rum Factory...the flavored rum samples were delicious, and also different flavored Rum Cakes (samples) . We then headed for Hell! Yes Hell! It's a place with pointed gray limestone, appears to be a field which as been burned. There is a big business there selling post cards, T shirts, etc. exploiting the visit to Hell, i.e. I went to Hell and back, etc. There were scriptures on the walls in large letters talking about the love of Christ so it is all in fun! This was a four-hour trip so we all headed back to the ship, rested, and again enjoyed dinner and entertainment!
Friday, we spent the day in Cozumel doing different things...shopping, drinking margaritas, Coronas, eating Lobster for lunch! yum ....I did the Congo line in Carlos and Charlies , Mother and I had coffee at Cozumel Starbucks which she loves (Lattes). Mother and I took a carriage ride around the city stopping at an old Catholic Church that was just beautiful! We had so much fun all day, then talked about our lout and funny things that had happened all day! So much fun!
We then started the trip back to Galveston, we all scurried to find all the Photographs we wanted to buy, relaxed by the pool, had long relaxing breakfasts, lunches, and dinners enjoying all the other people on board.
Debarking is a breeze. We went to an area to get Mother a wheelchair to ride out in. I pushed it following a guide with another lady and we were off that ship in no time! Went through customs. This time we all stuck together! We boarded the bus and had to wait quite a while until we had enough people to travel to the airport. All went well , they headed for their flight home and I headed for mine! It was such a fun, memorable, wonderful cruise!
