Carnival Conquest Review (11/14-11/21)

[oeshpdog2]

We just got back from our 7 day cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. It was our very first on Carnival, but our 6th cruise overall. I have been on 4 other cruise lines prior to this cruise. I say all of that so you know the perspective that I am coming from. My review is fairly lengthy and is broken up into parts.

 

For the sake of making it easy for others to read, I have posted the review on my blog: Carnival Conquest Review. You are more than welcome to send me your comments etc or you can read it and come back here to do the same.

 

I hope to have pictures and video posted soon on Youtube and Flickr. I hope you find the review helpful and remember...it is from my perspective and based on MY experiences. :)

[Unknotted]

Will go check it out...I love reviews! Will comment somewhere (here or there?) when I'm done.

[kcroxyoursox]

Wish you would have joined us on the roll call prior to sailing. We had a great time and my review will come when I finish editing the 500+ pictures I took. We were neighbors, we stayed in 7256 across the hall :)

[oeshpdog2]

Wish you would have joined us on the roll call prior to sailing. We had a great time and my review will come when I finish editing the 500+ pictures I took. We were neighbors, we stayed in 7256 across the hall :)

 

I am slowly trying to go through my pictures as well. We loved the Empress Deck. Our table mates were on Deck 6 aft and said the noise was pretty loud at times from below on the Promenade. I look forward to reading your review as well :)

[Unknotted]

OK, all done with what you have finished so far. We are sailing on the Glory in January, so any Conquest class ship reviews interest me right now. Thanks for all the info!! Even the things that you weren't impressed with you presented in a fair minded way instead of outright complaining....I liked that. Will be watching for more!

[oeshpdog2]

Just finished the last part of the review. I hope it is helpful

[douglinc@msn.com]

We were on the same cruise as you & agree with quite a bit of what you are saying. Seems that a lot of the passengers were surprised to not see the cruise director out and about. The only time we saw him was at the shows. Never saw him out anywhere. We have only had one other that was that way, the rest of them are all over the ship. We did enjoy Popeye. He seemed to be everywhere and was very personable and wanted to make sure you were enjoying yourself. He will make a really good cruise director someday.

 

As you can see from my signature, we have been on several cruises and more than one cruiseline. So far Carnival has a definate edge when it comes to the food. Seems they are always very consistent and above average.

 

Seems to me like there were more photographers onboard for this cruise than normal. There were quite a few of them.

 

Overall, I can't think of anything that I would really complain about. We had a really good cruise and are booked on the Carnival Magic when it makes it's 1st. sailing out of Galveston 11-14-11.

 

We have no problem sailing with a ship full of Texans.....or anyone else. We also found there to be quite a bit of music that was not Country. There is usually something for everyone but you have to put in perspective that country music is number one in this part of the country. Always will be.

 

Doug

[marne001]

Great review and thanks for sharing.

 

Did you say there was a separate security line for VIP passengers?

[oeshpdog2]

Great review and thanks for sharing.

 

Did you say there was a separate security line for VIP passengers?

 

There sure was and we were THRILLED to see it after we saw the normal security line.

[parentsof5]

How much was parking? Can everyone go ahead and get in line, while the driver parks and catches up - or is that frowned upon?

[douglinc@msn.com]

We always use EZ Cruise Parking, it's just a couple of block over from the pier. $50 for 7 days. I usually just drop off the luggage, let the girls out, go park & walk back across to the pier. They have shuttles but if you have no luggage with you, you can usually walk back across faster than waiting for the shuttle to fill up. It works out pretty good.

 

Doug

[oeshpdog2]

I agree with Doug...the parking was pretty easy and the shuttles picked up frequently in the open air lot. We could have chosen to left one of us at the pier while the other went to park the car, but there was no real advantage for doing.

[oeshpdog2]

I have finally uploaded some of the pictures from the cruise to Flickr. Carnival Conquest Pictures

[C Cruise Dude]

Hope you will post more on CC!

[oeshpdog2]

Hope you will post more on CC!

 

Thanks and I do hope to.

[Stepmstr]

Wish you would have joined us on the roll call prior to sailing. We had a great time and my review will come when I finish editing the 500+ pictures I took. We were neighbors, we stayed in 7256 across the hall :)

 

I was on the same cruise in 7389.

[oeshpdog2]

I was on the same cruise in 7389.

 

And the same deck...we were in 7273:)

[douglinc@msn.com]

Great pictures, thanks for posting them.

 

Doug

[Mekamax]

Doug - glad you had a good time! Did you miss us? LOL Hope you had that drink for us! We will have one for you in just a few days.

 

Sorry the guy does not like Texas people much. Personally I feel he is really missing out in life as Texans are a great group and he seems way too interested in what they wear than getting to know them.. And that is from a former New Yorker! Part of going out of a home port is getting to be with a great group of people from that state. I also really enjoyed our cruises out of New Orleans.

[oeshpdog2]

Doug - glad you had a good time! Did you miss us? LOL Hope you had that drink for us! We will have one for you in just a few days.

 

Sorry the guy does not like Texas people much. Personally I feel he is really missing out in life as Texans are a great group and he seems way too interested in what they wear than getting to know them.. And that is from a former New Yorker! Part of going out of a home port is getting to be with a great group of people from that state. I also really enjoyed our cruises out of New Orleans.

 

I for sure didn't say that I "did not like Texas people." It was a review. What people wear to such things as the main dining room is only a point of interest when more than a handful of people ignore what has been a long-standing policy in the cruise line industry for years. I made my points based on differences noted between this cruise and 5 others on 4 different cruise lines.

 

The demographics and what I observed is not arguable nor does it mean I am prejudice against folks from Texas. I guess I should have noted that one of the other noticeable differences attributable to the crowd was the abundance of "whistlers" during the production shows. Again...because of Carnival's price point and the home port, more of that was noted on this cruise than any previous cruise. It does not mean I judged anyone as less of a person, but it does mean some need to take note of that in case they prefer a cruise that is more diverse and with a crowd that heeds cruise line recommendations such as dress codes etc.

[oeshpdog2]

Great pictures, thanks for posting them.

 

Doug

 

Thanks and you are welcome. I am going to try to get at least one or two of the fun times scanned in today so I can either post them to Flickr or on here.

[Mekamax]

Any time you cruise out of a home port on any line (including RCL and NCL) you will find the demographics according to that state or nearby states. Going out of New Orleans is a very different cruising experience as well as I'm sure Alabama is. Personally I find this is a great way to really get to know people from that particular state. On my last Miami cruise most people on board were from New York. So you are not always guaranteed a diverse group from any port. I should not have said you didn't like Texans - I'm sorry that was over the top. I just want everyone to know to appreciate anytime you sail out of a homeport to know that you will enjoy the people from that state more likely than any other place. Although I have met many from California and Canada on the Texas Cruises as they have great airfare rates to Texas from both places over the rates to Miami... Really it is just part of that cruise experience. It can be beneficial to you price wise too as the New York kids go back to school after the Texas kids do so the rates on our homeport cruises go down dramatically before the New York cruises do. We had one lady with her kids on board from New York as it was cheaper to cruise with us and fly then out of New York before her kids went back to school.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Hey Debbie,

 

Yes we did miss you & I think I may have had a couple of drinks for you...... Everytime I walked out on the Lido deck, I thought sure you & Keith, Terry & Karen would be sitting there with a bucket of beer...

 

Doug

[usrbphi]

Glad to hear you will not be sailing out of Texas again.

[marne001]

There sure was and we were THRILLED to see it after we saw the normal security line.

Thanks for the reply. One of us is disabled and I am trying to determine when to arrive at the pier, parking, etc.

 

What time did you arrive and how long where you in line before getting to the VIP security line? I drove down to Galveston last Sunday and spoke with the Security Guard at the port. She was nice and suggested we arrive at 9:30am, which I thought was TOO early.

 

This is the first cruise for my boyfriend and I want it to be perfect. Ulterior motive=get him addicted to cruising!

Again thanks!