Adventures on the Carnival Conquest… a review of the Sep 26 7 day cruise to Cozumel

[*Mach*]

Mach you do a great job no matter what anybody says. Like you I absolutley love the Conquest. I've been on her twice, once out of New Orleans and last year out of Galveston. It's selfish but I can't wait til she returns to NOLA, about 4hrs. closer for us Mississippians.

 

 

Thanks so much.

It will be a sad day when the Conquest leaves... she's been here for so long now we feel like she belongs to us. But, Joe Farcus designed her for NOLA so to NOLA she returns.

My first sailing on the Conquest was from NOLA and I'm sure I'll return there to sail on her at least once more...

:)

[*Mach*]

I found it ! It was in the middle of the page

on Oct 1 !

 

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2010/10/01/the-very-first-time/

 

As I mentioned on Facebook, the Carnival Conquest was forced to miss both Grand Cayman and Jamaica this cruise because of bad weather. And while the vast majority of guests understand that this is way beyond any cruise lines control there are still those who aren’t as understanding obviously. Having been in this situation many times I know exactly what the ship’s crew is going through and in particular I know what the Cruise Director Chris Jefferson is having to deal with. Well luckily this cruise he has SWAT team of fun onboard with him……yep, it’s Host Mach and the Cruise Crazies. This morning Mach sent me this report:

Hello, my friend

What can I say? The world full of twits and xxxxx.

 

Chris and Sam, the ACD, have had a hard row to hoe to be sure. I’ve got to tell you that the entire staff, from Marvin Barrantes, the Hotel Director, to our cabin steward have been wonderful. The Conquest and her staff and crew continue to be my favorite for all the right reasons.

 

Yesterday, in typical Crazies fashion, about a dozen of us sat at a table on the Lido Deck across from the bar and cheered every Carnival employee as they walked by. We wanted them to know that we, at least, appreciated all they do for us. One of our folks described it as ‘inciting a riot of FUN!’ Brilliant… simply brilliant.

 

Cozumel is gorgeous this morning and the Crazies will be invading Nachi Cocom in short order for a day of fun in the sun, playing in the blue water and loving life in general. I hope that the people who were so negative yesterday can enjoy a day on shore and come back a bit humbled and a bit more realistic.

 

Please feel free to add this on the blog. I want EVERYONE to know what a fantastic job the staff of our Carnival Conquest has done.

 

Please send along our love to Heidi and Kye.

 

Thanks, John!

 

 

All the best.

Mach

Well Mach, I want to tell you that you and your group are amazing people. On yesterday’s blog I had mentioned how Chris had said that you and the Crazies had been his biggest supporters and I want to say a HUGE thank you to you all. Sitting on Promenade cheering the crew is something I have never heard of before and I have sent this report to some very high up beards. Thanks mate, I hope you have smooth seas on the way home and please thank everyone for being there and for being fun.

 

 

Thanks for digging that up... it was very nice of John to highlight the Crazies in such a fashion...

:)

[anamanxs]

Mach, Your review is wonderful if helps us that sail from other ports to see ships we may not have seen before and to LEARN! I am going to borrow the THREAD a second to support CC groups. I did a small group to ALASKA in May and it was wonderful, I have met people that were unable to cruise but I still write to on FB or CC, we had our Meet & Greet and a Blast! I am also signed up with one of the larger other groups on CC for a future cruise for the first time and I am telling you we are becoming friends before we will ever cruise and they have been so kind and supportive to all newbe such as myself and other as I am sure the CRAZIERS are also. So get off the group bashing! Group or no group your choice but let Mach and others have their choice also.

Thread returned to our Host Mach..... Keep up the GREAT work!

[tess2cruz]

It's amazing to me how well the crew can remember names, meet one just once and everytime you run into them, they will call you by name. We had a bar waiter last year that came up and called us by name 1st. time we saw him a year later.

 

Mach will Chris still be our CD on 11-14-10?

 

Doug

 

I am amazed that when you can't find your S&S card, they remember your Folio number so you can order a drink!!!:eek::o

[*Mach*]

Mach, Your review is wonderful if helps us that sail from other ports to see ships we may not have seen before and to LEARN! I am going to borrow the THREAD a second to support CC groups. I did a small group to ALASKA in May and it was wonderful, I have met people that were unable to cruise but I still write to on FB or CC, we had our Meet & Greet and a Blast! I am also signed up with one of the larger other groups on CC for a future cruise for the first time and I am telling you we are becoming friends before we will ever cruise and they have been so kind and supportive to all newbe such as myself and other as I am sure the CRAZIERS are also. So get off the group bashing! Group or no group your choice but let Mach and others have their choice also.

Thread returned to our Host Mach..... Keep up the GREAT work!

 

 

Most folks don't realize that what little income there is from group cruises helps to support these boards. The group cruise threads are allowed to stay on the main forum for a reason... it's called 'advertising'...

I, like you, have made many life long friends through our group cruises. Folks who I trust, care for and love like family.

If anyone hasn't tried a group cruise I'd recommend they give it a shot. I can't imagine someone being disappointed by the experience...

:)

[*Mach*]

It's amazing to me how well the crew can remember names, meet one just once and everytime you run into them, they will call you by name. We had a bar waiter last year that came up and called us by name 1st. time we saw him a year later.

 

Mach will Chris still be our CD on 11-14-10?

 

Doug

 

 

Hey, Doug...

I just checked with Chris and he'll be on board until Nov 28 so he'll be your cruise director for sure.

Be sure to tell him that the Crazies and I say hi!!!

:)

[graphicguy]

Mach....I would like to say another big THANK YOU for your review and posts.

 

I don't have a lot of posts, but have read threads, almost on a daily basis, and just recently registered.

 

Your review was special as the Conquest is the very first Carnival Ship I cruised on when it first hit the water (several years ago). I loved it.

 

I've sailed other cruise lines, but that ship, Carnival as a cruise line, holds a special place because of how much I enjoyed that first experience.

 

Albeit cliche-ish, as they say, it's not the destination. It's the journey. As shown by missing a couple of ports (which does happen during hurricane season), you embraced the journey and as a result, was greatly rewarded with a wonderful experience.

 

Again, thanks to you and Stitch!!!!!!

[*Mach*]

Mach....I would like to say another big THANK YOU for your review and posts.

 

I don't have a lot of posts, but have read threads, almost on a daily basis, and just recently registered.

 

Your review was special as the Conquest is the very first Carnival Ship I cruised on when it first hit the water (several years ago). I loved it.

 

I've sailed other cruise lines, but that ship, Carnival as a cruise line, holds a special place because of how much I enjoyed that first experience.

 

Albeit cliche-ish, as they say, it's not the destination. It's the journey. As shown by missing a couple of ports (which does happen during hurricane season), you embraced the journey and as a result, was greatly rewarded with a wonderful experience.

 

Again, thanks to you and Stitch!!!!!!

 

 

Thanks so much.

I'm proud to say that the Crazies are travelers... not tourists.

We love the Conquest and I'm sure that we'll be on her many times in the future. We're sailing from Galveston again on Oct 30, 2011... the last seven day voyage before she repositions to NOLA.

Y'all should come along!

:)

[waiting4acruise]

Today, Monday, was a busy day for the Crazies, as days at sea go. We had the Poker cabin crawl at 11 AM followed by our Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle at 3 PM in Vincent’s, the large lounge on the port side of the ship across from the piano bar and it’s the first Elegant evening.

 

Considering that the cabin crawl concluded by about noon we had time to grab a bite for lunch, chill on our balcony and just enjoy the view.

 

 

Now, there’s a story that goes with this image. Along with the much vaunted red bras that Stitch was inundated with came a pair of white leather shorts that XTeach281, aka Susan, found at some store like Goodwill for $2.50. The card that came along with them detailed the story of ‘The Craziehood of the Traveling Pants’, or some such thing. The instructions that came with them stated the following:

 

• Put the pants on (or hold up) at a location on board or in port.
  
• Take a picture.
  
• Pass the pants on to another Crazie (male or female)
  
• Repeat
  
• Return to Stitch before debarkment
  

Anyway, it was Stitch’s responsibility to get a picture taken wearing (I think they were a size two or something like that…) or holding them up in front of her and then pass them along with the directions to another person, a Crazie, who then, in turn, had to do the same. It was a ‘girl – boy – girl –boy’ kinda thing and the next person to be the recipient was KK, aka Andy.

 

 

He cuts a rather dashing figure in white leather shorts, don’t you think?

 

Now, I enjoy inventive cooking even if it’s only a question of mashing various stuffs together until it looks like what you might want. I was so impressed by this hot dog, that contained nearly everything in the known universe, that I had to have a picture.

 

 

Pity the poor cabin steward that had to clean HIS bathroom!!!

 

Our Meet & Mingle was fantastic. We had nearly 100 folks in attendance many of whom were not Crazies but soon found out what we are all about. I had to rip off a drink waiter from the art auction that was being conducted in the Degas Lounge, just aft of us and I’m sure he was thrilled because he had just been standing there, scratching his butt, waiting for someone, ANYONE to order a drink. No such issues at our M&M. The poor guy was inundated with orders but he did a fine job of keeping up and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

 

 

I took a little time to welcome everyone and explain to the non-Crazies what we were about, when we cruise, etc. When I say it was a Meet & Mingle it was exactly that. It looked like folks were playing musical chairs after I put the mic down and got off the stage. We did overstay our welcome by a few minutes but Charlieanne, the Events Coordinator, said it was fine as the room wasn’t scheduled again.

 

I met a bunch of folks whose posts I had read on the boards, passed out some Cruise Critic thingies and had a great time in general. I’d like to thank everyone who attended for helping to make it one of the best Meet & Mingles I’ve been at.

It was great to meet some of the Non Crazies Cruise Critic members at the Meet and Mingle.

[melodystrother]

You have no idea...

Last year when we sailed on the Conquest, during the Welcome Aboard Show, the cruise director, Kyle Post, asked all the new folks to raise their hands... He said... all you folks follow the Crazies... they KNOW how to cruise!

:D

 

Stupid question ... How to you sign up to be a crazy?? new to this board but see alot of postings..

[waiting4acruise]

I am amazed that when you can't find your S&S card, they remember your Folio number so you can order a drink!!!:eek::o

I am amazed when you forget your cabin number they can tell you which one is yours.

 

SSHHHHHH!!!!!! Don't tell anyone this happened to me on the first night.

[*Mach*]

Stupid question ... How to you sign up to be a crazy?? new to this board but see alot of postings..

 

 

Hi, Melody!

There really is no joining of signing up to do. Just jump on one of our cruises!

We have one currently scheduled for Feb 5 on the Ecstasy. We've got a great group of folks going, almost everyone from this cruise plus many of the Crazies who did not sail this time.

The group thread for the Ecstasy is here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1158661

Just got to the last page and say hi!

We're going to do one more sailing on the Conquest before she repositions to NOLA... Oct 30, 2011. After that... who knows!!!

:D

 

[okgirl]

I did see that John Heald really praised Mach and the "Crazies" for keeping such a positive attitude during the problems on the ship

 

I am not sure which of the days it was but he wrote some very nice things about you all

 

We had soooo much fun with the crew..........it was like everytime they would see one of us Crazies......they would come running for support.....I felt like I was a member of the crew myself.........

On Wednesday in the afternoon Chris, Sam and Donkey hosted an impromptu Q&A session in the lobby.........They were concerned that is was going to turn into a gripe session, but it was some of the best fun I've ever had and they answered a lot of really interesting questions.......:p

Mach.........I agree with a PP.........more food porn please.......surprisingly......I was so busy having fun with the Crazies and the Crew on this voyage, I actually lost weight and didn't get around to eatting many of my favorite dishes.........:eek:

[colsbom]

I just wanted to thank you for your excellent, detailed review! We are new to cruising, will be sailing on the Liberty next January for our first cruise, so I am eagerly gathering all kind of information from these boards and the reviews. Can't wait to read about your visit to Nachi, as we have booked a day there as well. Happy cruising!

[rob6465]

Host Mach,

I noticed that some of the guys wore ball caps to dinner. :eek: I heard the dining room staff ask guests to remove their hats at dinner. Don't they do that on the Conquest?

 

Yea, who was that guy with the Yankee Baseball cap? Should be banned from the ship. oops, that is me !!!:D:D

I will admit that once it was announced about the caps, i did remove it and did not wear it for dinner.

[*Mach*]

We had soooo much fun with the crew..........it was like everytime they would see one of us Crazies......they would come running for support.....I felt like I was a member of the crew myself.........

 

On Wednesday in the afternoon Chris, Sam and Donkey hosted an impromptu Q&A session in the lobby.........They were concerned that is was going to turn into a gripe session, but it was some of the best fun I've ever had and they answered a lot of really interesting questions.......:p

 

Mach.........I agree with a PP.........more food porn please.......surprisingly......I was so busy having fun with the Crazies and the Crew on this voyage, I actually lost weight and didn't get around to eatting many of my favorite dishes.........:eek:

 

 

Hi, Janey!!!

I'm working on the review right now. I had to write another thing this morning so I didn't get a lot extra done after the two earlier entries.

Chris emailed me asking 'what the word on the street' was. I told him that the vast majority thought everything was great, applauded the staff for the wonderful job.

He's on board until 28 November so all y'all sailing before then please tell him hi from the Crazies and me!

:D

[*Mach*]

I just wanted to thank you for your excellent, detailed review! We are new to cruising, will be sailing on the Liberty next January for our first cruise, so I am eagerly gathering all kind of information from these boards and the reviews. Can't wait to read about your visit to Nachi, as we have booked a day there as well. Happy cruising!

 

 

It certainly is my pleasure.

I love sharing these adventures with as many people as would like to read them.

A cruise is so much more than a vacation... it's an event to be celebrated, not a method of getting somewhere. If you're really interested in a specific port... fly. If you're interested in making the voyage the focal point... cruise.

:)

[okgirl]

Hi, Janey!!!

 

I'm working on the review right now. I had to write another thing this morning so I didn't get a lot extra done after the two earlier entries.

 

Chris emailed me asking 'what the word on the street' was. I told him that the vast majority thought everything was great, applauded the staff for the wonderful job.

 

He's on board until 28 November so all y'all sailing before then please tell him hi from the Crazies and me!

 

:D

 

I've said this on John's Blog and several other threads...........but this was by far out of 21 cruises.......and excluding the Med, the best cruise I've ever been on........

 

I will patiently await your food porn pics......

[rob6465]

As always love your review so far. Maria and I have to say it was our best cruise so far. Can't believe we missed 2 ports and I am saying that.:D:D

[Gwigg]

Enjoying the review ;..BUT...ball caps in the dining room??

That's "crazy" but NOT in a "fun" way IMHO

 

the (loose) dress code is pretty much "anything goes" first night yes,

and I am NOT one for "formal" wear

 

but...any way you look at it, wearing a ball cap to dinner is rude

it is rude anywhere

 

I think it looks really bad...

it is not like they were wearing something to be "funny" or cute

they just are sitting there with ball caps on in a nice dining room

 

 

 

 

Great review Mach, thank-you for including the photo of me wearing a ball cap at the dinner table, a ball cap that WAS removed when this common, unrefined person was informed that it was in bad taste and there may be some folks not from Texas eating with us and my cap may offend them! And as for that really nice fella sitting next to me with that “Yankee’s Cap”, I will be very glad to share a dinner table with you and your wonderful wife anytime and anywhere! But for you Snobs :mad: - I PROMISE to never ever wear a ball cap to dinner again while onboard ship. Also, my sister and I had a great time and we both chalked up the rough seas and cancelled port of calls as a great experience that neither of us had experienced before. We both look forward to cruising with the Crazies again.

 

 

p.s. I am very glad my sister insisted that I take part in the Cabin Poker Crawl with her, I had a great time and look forward to doing it again. :p

[rob6465]

 

 

Great review Mach, thank-you for including the photo of me wearing a ball cap at the dinner table, a ball cap that WAS removed when this common, unrefined person was informed that it was in bad taste and there may be some folks not from Texas eating with us and my cap may offend them! And as for that really nice fella sitting next to me with that “Yankee’s Cap”, I will be very glad to share a dinner table with you and your wonderful wife anytime and anywhere! But for you Snobs :mad: - I PROMISE to never ever wear a ball cap to dinner again while onboard ship. Also, my sister and I had a great time and we both chalked up the rough seas and cancelled port of calls as a great experience that neither of us had experienced before. We both look forward to cruising with the Crazies again.

 

 

p.s. I am very glad my sister insisted that I take part in the Cabin Poker Crawl with her, I had a great time and look forward to doing it again. :p

 

I'm sorry but for myself i can blame the "damn yankee" mentality. But we BOTH removed our caps the minute the announcements were made. I will add that based on what many were wearing, the caps did add a better taste to the dining experience. Some men and women went overboard on what they wore OR did not wear....lol Not talking about the cartel.:D:D Nice wheels !! Need to see pic of bike.

[hillcountry]

It certainly is my pleasure.

 

I love sharing these adventures with as many people as would like to read them.

 

A cruise is so much more than a vacation... it's an event to be celebrated, not a method of getting somewhere. If you're really interested in a specific port... fly. If you're interested in making the voyage the focal point... cruise.

 

:)

 

Well said!! Mach, as always, we are reliving it through your review. Thanks for sharing with all of us. And like the majority, this was the most fun cruise I've taken yet. :)

[miniwheat]

Still loving the review, I may have to use the traveling pants thing it's great!!:D:D

[Soonerbaby]

Oh my gosh...I have had butterflies all week! We will board the Conquest for our first cruise ever on Sunday. I was afraid this week would drag by, but this review is helping! :) I can't wait until Sunday. Love the pictures in your review!

[*Mach*]

Still loving the review, I may have to use the traveling pants thing it's great!!:D:D

 

 

It was great for us 'cause there were so many Crazies!

The shorts went all over the ship, all sorts of places and we ended up with a BUNCH of photos... The only problem is that the photos are all on different cameras!

:D