bragstarr

I like some of the new suggestions of what to pack in the packing cubes! Actually, the idea of the folding cubes isn't bad, especially if I can find the real cheap ones in Target or the Dollar store. Really, a couple of drawers might have been a good idea on their part. I don't quite understand that decision!

 

A lot of luggage also comes with those clear heavy plasticized zipper bags for your toiletries. I've saved them from every piece of luggage I ever had. Bring them all....great for the toiletries, charging cords, suntan lotions etc. I print out quick labels on my P-Touch after I pack them so I know what's in what. Always room on those bottom bathroom shelves to stash them all....I probably pack every medicine known to man JUST IN CASE!!

 

One more thing...I bought a cheap pop up hamper a few years back for my dirty laundry...bear in mind I am not flying but live in a NYC suburb, take the train and a taxi to the port so I don't have to worry about being under 50 lbs. It lays flat at the bottom of my luggage and makes keeping the laundry together a breeze!

I first used these on a two week land tour to Italy a couple of years ago. Our friends all laughed and by the end with all of our packing and unpacking they were all considering them for the future. This is a different experience as we only have to unpack one time, but after hearing there were no drawers in our inside cabin, the first thing I decided to do was pack in the cubes. AND lots of lightweight hangars from the cleaner! Also, as you empty them out, you can put the dirty stuff right back into them and it's easy to repack to disembark! I'm on the 12 nighter in January so will definitely need to organize!

The fur babies are adorable!

 

Loved the pic of your DH in the subway with the Metrocard. As a native New York city girl, those pics make me laugh.

 

What hotel in NYC UPGRADED you to a private bath? Are there really still hotels with shared baths?

 

Question.....you said something about lunch in Moderno at the buffet rather than the usual lunch buffet. What's up with that? Is this something that goes on all the time? Is there a charge? What food?

 

Thanks!

Not really. Some chair scraping and music noise during deck parties....I was at one and the other time, we went to bed very early because we were so pooped....and nothing ever keeps me awake on a cruise! The location was wonderful for getting to places, being by the center stairs is the place to be.

Grand Cayman was warm and went back and forth from sun to clouds. Cozumel was a dreary day, breezy but warm. Belize was about as good as it gets....Roatan was cloudy but warm, we got back on ship just as it started to rain, about 1:30 . Sea days were nice and warm for the most part.

Being that it’s a snowy, cold and miserable day in NY (I need a cruise!) I’m finding time finally to post this review.

 

Background on us, we're New Yorkers, DH is 61 and I'm 57. Cruise #12 for me and 11 for DH, I went with the gals one time so I'm one up on him. Our third Carnival Cruise, also done NCL, Royal Caribbean (Oasis was best cruise ship ever!), and one Princess in Alaska. I like Carnival, food is good, they don't push and oversell you, although there were times they could have been a but MORE informative about things....the muster drill was a joke (people still talking loudly and crew already demonstrating how to put on life vests), barely heard from the captain, hard time finding weather info, only tender info I found was in Fun Times. Good network TV stations, though! The big sell on this cruise for us were the ports, we hadn't been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel since our first cruise in 2002 and never to Belize and Roatan. I figured if I kept up doing this cruise review on my iPad notes during the cruise I'd get a review done, I always intend to and never quite get to it.....I worked on it a lot during Karaoke and lounging in the cabin!

 

Our cabin was great, we were in an inside (8322) ... roomy with plenty of storage although they should give more hangars for clothing, yes I know I could have asked the steward but I worked it out. We had a problem with the toilet and they fixed it promptly. Not so prompt with fixing the broken hinge on the bathroom door. Nice steward, good service, did his job, nothing special. One of these days I'd like to come back and find a unique or unusual towel person or animal! We had a great location near the center staircase and walked the stairs to burn calories. We didn't book this trip long before we left and this one cabin was open dead center while others were way down low or near the back of the ship so we grabbed it. Normally I would not book under an open deck and a few times we heard noise of scraping chairs or music from Deck 9 Blue Iguana above us. The same cabin on deck 7 would have been perfect. I do wish they would get rid of those dumb shower curtains in the bathrooms…..

 

The dining room food in general was good. Dinners were excellent. Stop making those poor waiters dance and sing already! The brunch was awesome both times. Strongly recommend the blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes. Hubby strongly recommends the small filet Mignon and eggs. That filet did show up one night at dinner which I had and it was excellent. If you like lox aka smoked salmon, not available on buffet but brunch gave a HUGE portion. We both had two lobster tails at dinner. Good chateaubriand the second night. We were able to switch from late assigned to open time dining without much trouble. Kudos to Monet dining room hostess Simona for helping us with that. Desserts in dining room were good too, although the chocolate melting cake was overdone once. Of course, any dinner review is not long for this world with the upcoming menu changes.

 

The buffet in general was good although lines long after port days. Guy's Burgers met all expectations and more. Yum and double yum. Fish and chips are great along with the boullibaise there, it's hidden up on deck 10 from center of buffet so be sure to look. Offerings in front of buffet and mid buffet are different...look in both places. Front one is comfort food and the other a daily change. Combo hot pastrami and corned beef sandwich at Deli was yummy. Hubby liked the Reuben. Got over easy eggs from buffet omelet station one am and they were nicely done. Carnival also does a good French toast which was a breakfast staple for me. Didn't eat at Blue Cantina so cannot remark (except for the slices of watermelon we kept swiping from their fixings bar). Had pizza late one night and also quite good, that's open 24 hours. Also late night from 11:30 to 1 am they put out some snacks across from the pizza by the aft pool but we never had those. DH nearly wore out the soft serve ice cream machines!

 

The buffet desserts were awful. Except for acceptable chocolate chip cookies, the baked goods look good and tastes horrible. OK, I had one good chocolate layer cake once. Lots of foamy mousse looking things that tasted like packing peanuts. I seriously think they're trying to steer you towards paying cash for a tasty treat at the coffee bar, Cafe Fans. Very disappointing. Good hot chocolate to satisfy a sweet tooth, and we brought root beer on board (thanks to the CC boards for that hint!) and made our own floats with the soft serve! Some tasty treats also showed up at the chocolate buffet which was at noon in the last sea day. I guess leaving you with good memories.

 

Taste Bar was open four nights, Had tastings from Steakhouse, Blue Iguana , Red Frog appetizers and Cucina del Capitano (not on board as a dining option). Yummy stuff, we went there for our appetizers for dinner! The guys behind the counter were really nice and friendly, too.

 

Had some good drinks, not a big drinker, I'm a fan of the BBC so stuck with that. Did try a Chocolate Mocha Getaway and liked it, tasted like candy until I took a two hour nap after drinking it.....I was going to have a chocolate martini the last evening and my third Guy's burger of the cruise wasn't sitting well, so I avoided alcohol at that point.

 

Staff of the ship is very friendly. Didn't have any personal dealing with officers or CD Gary so I cannot remark on them. Gary was very funny at the talent show the last night. CD staff did their job well enough. Nothing stood out one way or another.

 

The ship decor for the most part is nice. I liked the whole impressionist theme. I was on Glory and barely recognized it as the same ship, although it gave me a leg up on figuring out the layout. DH was continually lost. I did see a few areas that could have used some repair or sprucing up. Ship is showing her age a bit in spots. We did see people in the buffet area late one night painting table bases and replacing tiles. Everything upgraded for 2.0 was really nice. Also wish the ship had a promenade that wrapped around for walking......the running track, ten times around for a mile, didn't do it for me.

 

The Headliner comedy club as far as I am concerned is a new strength for Carnival. Saw two shows with comedian Jason Blanchard, one family friendly and one adult. Both were hilarious. Saw adult comedy with Jim Brick later in the week, who insulted people left and right and was funny, funny, funny. Don’t sit in the front! Last show we saw was adult comedy with Steve White, who I'm pretty sure I saw on Glory a number of years ago and cracked me up then and now.

 

Shipboard music was pleasant, there were groups playing in many places and all of it good. Government Shutdown was quite popular. DJs seemed to do a good job too, although a bit loud and funky for my taste at poolside a couple of times. Stopped in piano bar once, found it dark and unpleasant.

 

Finding a deck chair on a nice sea day, especially if you want to be near the action/music, is tough. Go early. I hate to promote chair hogging but it happens...we ended up in either very blowy or shady areas until we learned our lesson. I don’t think anyone ever collected chairs from towels that had been there too long. Cracked up the Roatan morning when we went out into deck after breakfast before we disembarked and found different towel animals lounging on a bunch of the chairs. Hot tubs were crowded, too many kids using them as pools, but unless I missed it there is no kids pool. Also a bunch of young folks over 21 on their booze cruise who amused us with their antics took possession of one of the hot tubs, but were willing to share and they were a riot!

 

Stage shows we just OK. No story lines, just singing and dancing around the theme of the songs (Divas, the Brits and Latin Nights). They sing well and dance well but a far cry from a longer show with at least a pretense of a story, music is all canned, no live band. Sad. Half an hour flat on each show. I did enjoy The Brits the best, loved all the 60s tunes and psychedelic costumes. Good use of the video screens behind the players in that one. There was one night literally nothing much was going on show wise. Carnival slipping on this one, especially with ships that are showing Broadway shows out there!

 

Can't comment on Hasbro show as I only watched on stateroom TV, it seemed ok. Hypnotist one night was adequate...Seen similar before, although I did run into one woman he had hypnotized on a shore ex and she said it was for real. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the well attended karaoke sessions we made it to.

 

There is usually a lot going on. It IS a fun ship! Trivia, games, hairy chest, ice sculpture, etc. and they don't try to constantly sell you things. Red Frog deck party was enjoyable...especially under a full moon. Didn't go to the subsequent Blue Iguana one, although we did hear it in our cabin! Note: daily crossword puzzles and Sudoku found after 9am sitting on the Cafe Fans counter, mid deck 5...we did them daily.

 

Excursions: we booked our own in three ports, not through the ship. Stingray Sailing in Grand Cayman was awesome, snorkeling and swimming with Stingrays was a blast. We just shopped in Cozumel, which was a cool cloudy day, and took care of the souvenir obligations...I was glad we had nothing planned. Hung out on ship after late lunch, got a decent chair, played cards (new deck obtained from guest services!) and read. Our cave tubing expedition in Belize got cancelled but we stuck with the company, cave-tubing.com and did their ATV course, which ended up being a blast. Was disappointed caves were closed but water levels were way too high, which stunk as it was a magnificent day weather wise. In Roatan I booked with South Shore zipline and did that and their Eco walk across suspension bridges. Considering I was a bit scared of the zipline to say the least I loved it! All three companies were well run and worth it....I have posted individual reviews on the port of call boards if you want to read more.

One more thing….we stayed in Florida three days pre cruise and a week post cruise since we have lots of friends and family there. Both times we rented cars, once from Alamo and once from National, which for all intents and purposes is the same company. Dropping off and picking up cars from their Miami terminal was seamless, and their free shuttle buses to and from the cruise port invaluable. The way to get to and from the port!

 

Don't know what else I can say but if you have specific questions.....let me know and I'll attempt to help!

It's only burgers. I really did wish they had had a grilled chicken breast to doctor up in the Guy's way. It's pretty funny, last night the inlaws took us to dinner here in FL and on the cover of the place we went to there was a picture of Guy and the caption "featured on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins!" I told DH Guy had followed us off the ship......

I just got off Conquest yesterday. We had a great time too! I took notes on my ipad so I'm going to try to post a short review, and reviews of our excursions......

Just got off Conquest. First thing I ate was a Guy's burger. Awesome! Had my third one yesterday afternoon before I got off today and unfortunately am now nursing a case of heartburn because of it! The fries were also yummy......

I got a really good laugh out of parts of this....your kids are pretty good natured about going along with it!

Cookie calories also do not count when crumbled over or in ice cream.:D

(Cue Music) Nananana Nananana you are entering the Twiligt Zone. Must add this to my list of things to try on my cruise next week!

There was a picture floating around on CC a few years back (wish I could find it) of a snowman built on the deck of a ship ported in NY. Imagine being a crew member who has never seen snow in their homeland's warm environment. I've cruised out of NY a few times in winter. Once it was warmer leaving than the cold front we hit in Florida....the temperature in Cocoa Beach was 30 degrees and there were icicles on the cars there! So you never know. My argument has always been the cruise ships built to sail out of NYC (NCL Breakaway for one) not having pools with retractable roofs. At least Carnival has those...but try finding a deck chair!

Marrie, I love the New Years picture. I'm from New York....you have a small scale version if what goes on in Times Square!

 

I'm waiting to eat dinner and your pics were making me starved.

 

What construction were they doing on the water slide? That had better be open when I go Sunday. Hubby will not be happy if it is closed!

Years ago back in 2002 I asked if I could wear a nice, embellished (read| nice bling on it) knee length skirt made out of denim on a casual night and almost got my head removed on the boards. My have things changed......

Frankly I'm so confused:rolleyes:....formal night not a problem as DH will willingly wear long slacks, shoes and a collared dress shirt then. It's the casual evenings/ Carnival is a bit confusing in their post.....so the question is can DH wear, to dinner, on a casual night, a collared polo, long casual shorts and deck shoes?

Forgive me but I don't feel like combing pages of posts for the answer and would like to know the current update....in the Conquest dining rooms on Casual nights (not dress up, obviously) men can wear nice jeans, right? How about shorts, as long as they are nice near the knee length cargo type shorts? What I have to drag with me to Florida depends on the answer!

Marrie you are doing a great job. We will be on Conquest on January 12 so looking forward to more pictures soon! Glad you enjoyed!

To Discover Mexico Park? Is it safe? Website says it is in Puerta Maya, but it could be miles away from the pier.....

I'm shocked....I just looked at a schedule I have of Carnival 2.0 upgrades.....and According to it Splendor isn't even scheduled for the upgrade. Very odd. I was careful when I picked this cruise to get one with a 2.0, being that I had been on Glory already pre 2.0. Hey, a cruise is a cruise....I'm taking this one because of the ports, was originally wanting to cruise on NCL Epic but when I saw the ports..Nassau again!

Thanks for the review. Going on Conquest January 12 and looking for any and all info on her. Been on Glory pre 2.0 upgrade. I do think that pig patty is the first thing on my agenda. Then the fish and chips. Do they have a dedicated seating area upstairs for the fish and chips? Took possession of a booth up there sailing home from Canada to NYC in hurricane type conditions and read my book....nice centered spot on the ship and always very private.

 

I got a good laugh out of your description of Bernard and his rum punch. DH got absolutely trashed on it on the way back to the ship on his tour. I have pics of DH sleeping in the back seat of the van with his mouth gaping open like a giant fish from that punch!!!!

Good heavens and I thought I was hungry before I read this thread. Now I am drooling. So glad I booked Conquest with the 2.0 upgrade. I'm now having visions of sizzling hamburger and bacon.....mmmmmm.....

Has anyone been on this specific tour (Zip and Dip Excursion?). I'm just a bit stymied here....when I look on his website I see that the excursion allows an hour to an hour and a half at the zipline and monkey farm. I'm trying to figure out how you can do all of that sufficiently with that amount of time. The excursion also goes to the beach, which I'm not as interested in, but I want to get sufficient time with the zipline and monkeys. Unfortunately, no option to do just that and since it is just DH and I it makes no sense to book a private tour. Anyone have any feedback on this?

Funny thing is DH and I are volunteering to work at a hotel in NYC on Friday, manning a Super Bowl desk, there is a huge volunteer effort all over the city. Wish I could volunteer on the ship! DH wants to be in NY to see Super Bowl (at home on TV with friends, not in NJ) and then we were going to book flight to FL to see relatives and possibly cruise on Epic. Now I see Getaway has a two dayer right after Super Bowl to Bahamas for $99...so tempting, but need to get to FL from Bahamas.....grrrr....

Hello folks, haven't been on CC for a while since I had no cruise planned, although I was thinking about Epic out of FL in February. I see this was discussed earlier but I'm just wondering if anyone knows. I live in NY, and am actually volunteering Super Bowl Weekend on Friday night at a NYC hotel so I need to be home for that. We were actually planning on flying to Southeast Florida right after the Super Bowl. NOW they announce Getaway as the official Bud Light Super Bowl ship and I saw this two day cruise for $99 to Nassau...if that ship had been going right to Miami I'd already be booked! We called NCL and they said the February 5-8 is a private charter from Nassau to Miami before the inaugural. Anyone know who has that charter? I'm currently investigating cheap ways to get from Nassau to Miami or Fort Lauderdale....boy that airfare is high for an hour flight!