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!