holmes96

Compared to Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess and Celebrity, I thought Carnival bingo prices were great and agree with the costs listed in the post above. They are the cheapest of all the major cruise lines.

I was on the Conquest in April 2016 and they offered a couple of different Bingo 'incentives':

1)one session was $10 off whichever package you chose, i.e. if you normally played the $30 package, it was now $20.

2)if you play one session they gave out green order forms for the next session that enabled you to get 3 free jackpot cards. They handed out the green order forms at every session. That's a lot of free jackpot cards. :D

3)one of the sessions included 4 games, instead of the normal 3, for the same package prices. For two of the games, you used the same bingo card, just layered the #s on top of each other. This was an interesting twist.

Good luck!

Hi carolTC - unfortunately the Amber Cover Ocean Cabanas don't include fresh fruit so we didn't receive any. The cabanas at Half Moon Cay do include fruit, though.

Coachbradu - regarding the menus, on the original post, when you click on the pics link you have the option to make an individual picture bigger or smaller by using the magnifying glass option. Hopefully that will help with being able to read them.

Hi Kabux, we didn't reserve our ocean cabana until the week right before our 4/24/16 cruise so they were still available online. When we got to Amber Cove all 6 ocean cabanas were reserved. The Grand Cabana was not reserved.

Regarding the lounger question, there wasn't an option for it, BUT I suggest doing the following since everyone was very accomodating:

1. definitely ask your attendant...in our case, Isaiah was very solicitous so I'm thinking it wouldn't have been a problem. Especially since the Grand Cabana wasn't reserved right next to us they could have pulled the 3rd lounger from there.

2. at a minimum, the pool is nearby, so someone in your party, or one of the Amber Cove attendants, could bring a pool lounger into the cabana.

Hope this helps!

We did the 4/24/16 6 day cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest, traveling to Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and Half Moon Cay. In summary, we had a great time and I included a link to the FunTimes, plus a separate link to other misc. documentation.

FunTimes Link:

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/janetcole72/library/Carnival%20Conquest%20Funtimes

Misc Documentation Link: (Express Luggage Program, Bingo costs, Internet costs, Club O2 Schedule, Weekly Entertainment Schedule, Arcade info, Laundry costs, Seaday Brunch menu)

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/janetcole72/library/Conquest%20Misc%20Docs

Background:

This was a Girls cruise so I traveled with my twin sister (mid 40s) and mother (mid 70s). We have cruised with Carnival before on the Victory, plus 10+ cruises on other cruise lines with our family members. The timeframe, itinerary and cost were just right so we went with Carnival for this vacation. I was pleasantly surprised with everything.  Our families will be on the Pride in late July so I was interested in the teen activities, too.

Cabin:

We were in Grand Suite 7315, which was mid ship and a great, quiet location. We had twin beds, plus the sofa bed was made into a comfy single also. Our room steward offered to pull the sofa double out, but we elected to keep it collapsed and made up as a single to save room. It worked out very well. I thought the cabin showed some wear and tear, mainly on the balcony and in the bathroom.

Our room steward Ritchell was the best. She introduced herself early on the 1st day, asked us when we would be having dinner and proactively told us the cabin would be made up twice/day. She was very pleasant and efficient. Great towel animals.  We tipped her extra at the end of the cruise.

Ship:

Overall I thought the Conquest general areas were in great shape and very clean. I did notice the extensive decorating as every surface, i.e. floors, walls, ceilings, are covered with detailed art of some form. I liked it as there was always something to see.

There were some decks where you could not walk from Aft to Forward, which was confusing for the first few days, but we got the hang of it eventually.

Pools/Loungers:

We didn’t use the pools. There were plenty of loungers to use, but there was a serious lack of loungers in the shade, maybe less than 10 total. I think this happened when the 2.0 renovations occurred and restaurant seating was installed by the pool. This was a bummer as you couldn’t even pull the loungers into a shaded area.

Entertainment:

1. Our cruise director was Josh (Big Sexy) and we thought he was great, very funny. I thought his announcements were informative and timely. He was very active around the ship.

2. Bingo was offered 1 or 2 times daily, except for the last day. I loved the Bingo sessions. They were hosted by ‘Curly’ who I thought had a great personality. They did some interesting twists, i.e. Balloon Bingo where the last bingo winner chose a balloon to pop and inside was her monetary amount. The other twist during a session was a single card lasted for two games. You played the 1st game and then the 2nd game built on the #s you already had. I also liked that they gave out green order forms to everyone and when you turned them in at the next session you received an extra 3 bingo cards to be used in the jackpot game.

3. Curly also hosted Quest, the adults-only game show, which I thought was funny, too. This was the first time I attended Quest on any of the cruise lines. Don’t go if you’re easily offended. I enjoyed it. 

4. Comedy club – I enjoyed the comedy shows immensely. There were 2 comedians onboard: Mark Sweeney and Al Romero. Both did PG and 18+ shows in the evening. The shows were offered daily, except maybe 1 night, and I laughed out loud at all of them. Note: regarding the PG shows, I noticed kids/teens at some of the shows and none of them were laughing. While the content was definitely PG (i.e. no cursing), the material was geared towards adults in their late 30s+. I don’t think the kids ‘got’ the material.

5. Casino – my mother went to the casino every night for hours. She LOVED it and played the penny slots. The casino was even open during the Grand Turk port day. My sister and I also played the slots. There was A LOT of smoke and you could smell it in all the general areas around the casino.

6. Hasbro show – my sister and I attended this show and enjoyed it. I was on the red team that won the Connect 4 game. 

Ports:

My sister and I got off the ship at all 3 ports and liked them all. We only did one excursion, which was to reserve an Ocean Cabana in Amber Cove. It was heavenly. I wrote a detailed review with 25 pics. Here’s the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=49879508#post49879508

Food:

Overall, the food was good. The buffet was hit or miss…in other words if we found food we wanted it was good. I found it odd that they didn’t serve fries every day. Sure, you could get them at the burger place, but rarely in the buffet.

Guy’s Burger Joint and the Point Steakhouse were awesome. We also did AnyTime Dining. The food was good, but could be lengthy at times.

Faster to the Fun:

Definitely worth it just for the dedicated Guest Services line! The first time I went in the FTTF line, they didn’t want to help me because I didn’t have a FTTF sticker on the back of my sail card. It was supposed to have been placed on the card at embarkation. Anyway, they fixed that. Loved the fact that our cabin was ready and our luggage did come quickly.

Embarkation/Disembarkation:

Check-in was quick, but we didn’t board until 12 or 12:30 due to an every 6 month coast guard drill. The crowd was getting a little restless. Disembarkation didn’t start until after 8:30 AM due to terminal congestion and it was still congested when we got off. Customs took a while, but I was feeling pretty mellow from vacation so all was good. 

Hi goofygal531, yes, we did bring the blue towels from the ship. We brought 2 per person. I liked that Carnival kept a huge stack at the gangway so I always grabbed an extra!

I obviously wasn't on top of my game last night when I posted the original ocean cabana pics. :rolleyes: I've added 10 more pics for 25 total. The additional pics are of the safe, ladder, shower, back lower deck, TV and back cabana views.

Click on the 1st picture and then use the left/right arrows to navigate through the pics. I hope you enjoy them!

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/janetcole72/library/Amber%20Cove%20Ocean%20Cabana

Hi E&B, the ocean cabanas are close to the pool, maybe a 2 minute walk. Not bad at all, but just far enough that the pool music was somewhat muted. I really enjoyed the location of the Ocean Cabanas. It was about a 5 minute walk from the end of the pier. I wanted peace, beautiful scenery, access to activities and food and they delivered. :)

Hi, if you still need answers I just posted an 'Ocean Cabana Review with Pics' today, written by Holmes96. Happy reading! :)

Regarding the handicapped accessibility, we rented an Ocean Cabana during the 4/24/16 week and it is accessible to a motor scooter or wheelchair. The inside is big enough to navigate around in my opinion. The back deck of the Ocean Cabana is two tier, though. So...the person would have access to the whole inside cabana and main back deck and then it is a single step down to the lower deck. There is no furniture or anything on this lower deck. It could be used for sitting and putting your feet in the water. Hope this helps. :)

We rented an Ocean Cabana at Amber Cove during our 4/24/16 week Carnival Conquest sailing. In short, it was a terrific experience and we will absolutely rent one if we port in Amber Cove again. We have rented cabanas in several ports and in waterparks and the ocean cabanas rank high.

Pictures

Here is a link to 15 Ocean Cabana pictures (outside AND inside). Click on the 1st picture and then use the right/left arrows to move through the pics. I wrote descriptions with more information for each pic. Enjoy! :)

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/janetcole72/library/Amber%20Cove%20Ocean%20Cabana

Pier Transportation Carts

When we left the ship we choose to use the bicycle/cart transportation to the end of the pier. It was a hot day and it was so worth it for us. The sign says something like "no fees, but tips appreciated." We tipped $10 each way. Probably could have given less, but we were wicked happy with the service. It would have been a long walk, certainly doable though, for someone with no mobility issues. If you have an older person, or someone with even the slightest mobility issue, I recommend these carts. You can definitely fit 2 people, possibly 3 if the 3rd is a small adult or child.

Walk to the Ocean Cabanas

At the end of the pier, you walk to the left to go to the shops, or to the right to head to the pool, restaurant, zipline, and all the cabanas. After turning right, you first hit the pool area on the left, which is AMAZING. Big, clean, but somewhat loud with the music. If you get a poolside cabana, just know it will be in a congested, loud area (my opinion), but close to all action. Pros and cons there.

Past the pool on the right hand side is the Water Activities booth. This is where we turned in our ocean cabana excursion ticket and the nice staff there checked us in. We both received wrist bracelets and one of the employees walked us to our cabana. We could not select our cabana, it was already assigned to us, which was completely fine. On the 2 minute walk to the cabana pier, we were asked if we wanted water noodles (no charge). Yes, please! We were then shown hammocks (no charge) we could use (although, I think anyone could use them) and then the restroom right by the cabana pier. The restrooms here (one male, one female) were very clean and monitored by an attendant. No lines here. :)

Once on the cabana pier, there is a relatively big covered bar area that is used to service only the cabanas, manned at times by 1 or 2 bartenders. I think pool guests could come over and use the bar if they wanted, but they had a bar area that was closer so no one seemed to come over except for cabana guests. The bartenders were great. I was disappointed they didn't have amaretto for amaretto sours, but I quickly recovered. ;) I did find out later the bartender talked to the 'big boss' who said she would bring down a bottle, but it never happened. They kept apologizing, but I told them it was all good...

After the cabana bar, there is a roped off entryway, manned by a security person (only employee we encountered that didn't know English), where the 7 ocean cabanas are. There 3 regular cabanas to the left, the grand cabana in the middle, and then 3 more regular cabanas to the right, all in a row. We were in B-5, so basically the 5th one in line. Loved this location! All cabanas were being used, except for the Grand Cabana. B-5 was next to the Grand Cabana.

Inside the Cabana!!

In reading past reviews, there hasn't been a lot of details given, so here goes:

1. there is a front door that can be locked with a key (in case you want to zipline, kayak, etc,). You can leave the door opened or closed.

2. the furniture inside the cabana is all very comfortable, cushioned and sturdy. One long couch, 2 single chairs, and a pretty big coffee table. The couch is big enough to lay down on for a nap...just saying.

3. there is a refrigerator (includes the 5 bottled waters, single Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta Orange, Dr. Pepper and 2 local sodas.) There is a freezer section, but nothing was in there.

4. the coffee table had a basket of local goodies on it: 3 bags of different types of chips, lollipop-like candy, cookies, and some type of white pastry, and a nut bar. Just tried the cookies and they were good, similar to a butter or sugar cookie.

5. there is a safe directly above the refrigerator, at least the same size as the ship cabin safe. There is a separate key to lock/unlock the safe. You need to get the key from the water activities booth. We didn't use the key.

6. There is a large mirror on the wall - used this to check out my hair situation from time to time. ;)

7. Small flat screen TV up in the corner with a posted list of channels. Didn't try this.

8. There was a ceiling fan and a wall air conditioner. We used both. In the afternoon when it got hotter we closed the 5 shutter windows to keep the cold air in. Truth be told, though, we probably would have been just fine with only the ceiling fan.

9. Everything was so CLEAN and in good repair. Loved the inside!

10. Behind the refrigerator there is a pair of available electrical outlets: 2 USA compatible, 2 USB ports and I'm not sure what the other was. We charged our phones/tablets here.

11. The front cabana view was of the water activities booth with their stock of kayaks, standup paddle boards (fun!) and some type of covered pontoon boat. The back view was of the ocean, the ships that are docked and of the gorgeous mountains. A very nice, relaxing view, for sure.

Outside the Cabana!!

1. At the back of each cabana is a two tiered deck. The main deck has two cushioned lounge chairs, each with an end table. The chair backs were adjustable and could be moved. We moved them in/out of the sun. The double doors leading from the inside to the back deck could be opened or closed, too.

2. Above the lounge chairs there are several 'misting' holes where water comes out. An employee came around to show us how to use it...it was great.

3. On the side of the deck, there is a ladder that moves with you as you go down into the water. I asked how deep the water was and they said 6.5 feet. The water was a murky greenish blue, but not gross. You couldn't see anything...no sea life or plants, etc. That was OK with me. The swimming area was a good size and roped off.

4. You could also take a step down or two onto a lower deck, where you could sit down and put your feet into the water. We only had two people in our group, but if you had more it would be nice to have this extra room.

5. The cabanas were staggered so if you looked out your window, you saw the cabana next to you, but not straight on, giving some privacy. I liked that.

6. I did the stand up paddle boarding (included) for the 1st time. The water activities booth will help you with this. They gave me a 1 minute lesson, had me sign a waver, and I was on my way. All the equipment was clean and in good condition. Note: if you are in the last cabana in the row (closest to the docked ships) you will get all the kayakers and paddle boarders close by your cabana. There isn't a lot of traffic, but just heads up if you are looking for privacy, this specific cabana may not be for you. Having said that, though, if this was the only cabana that was still available on my next trip I wouldn't hesitate to book it. :)

7. There is an outside shower on the back deck. Didn't try it, but liked that it was there.

Service

1. The service was simply awesome. We had one main server, Isaiah, who was so friendly and helpful. He brought a huge menu that we could order from and he would bring the food and drinks right to us. I have pics of the menu in the link above. We tipped him $20 at the end of the day and he was super appreciative. He stopped by several times to check on us.

2. Wifi: A port employee stopped by and asked if we could connect to the Wifi (included). I didn't have a problem connecting, but my sister did so he successfully helped her with that. We each had our own logon code. Truthfully, the wifi was spotty for the several hours we were there. Sometimes it was good for an hour, then go down, and we would have to reconnect. Not a biggee, but good to be aware of.

3. Food: We ordered chicken quesadillas, fries, and a cheeseburger. All yummy.

All in all, it was a great time! Very relaxing for us (just my sister and I this time). If a larger party reserved a cabana it would be a GREAT home base, allowing you to do all the activities the cabana offers (water sports, food, relaxation, zipline, air conditioning), plus go to the pool and shop if you wanted.

Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer then. :D

Deck - Penthouse (11)

Cabin # - 1641

Class – Aqua

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Bed near?(balcony or bath) – Bath

Quiet Cabin (With comments on problems. Note if connecting. ) – Quiet, but can hear through walls. It wasn't a big deal, though.

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – No obstructions; great view!

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

Was wind a problem? No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? No.

Any other comments? We loved the cabin!