Carnival Conquest - Just back from the 1/16-1/23 trip - comments about ship

[webzila]

Just got back from our Jan 16 - 23 cruise on the Carnival Conquest.

The ship went to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel.

I am not going to write a long essay about everything but I did want to post some things about the ship and a few things that happened.

 

This was our second time on the Conquest. We first went on it about 2 years ago. It was the itinerary that went to the Bahamas.

 

During embarkation the weather in Galveston and the Houston area was very cool and rainy but after we left the weather was perfect. Very warm and sunny each day.

 

Now this part is just my opinion but I think that the Conquest needs a lot of minor maintenance all over the ship. Compared to our first trip on the Conquest we found a lot of things that need to be addressed. I'll list some items:

 

- On the first day a water pipe broke in the staff dining room. Water was shut off for about 2 hours.

 

- We were in cabin 1315 and the toilet in our cabin is very weird. Most of the time after the toilet has not been used when you push the button to flush it does not flush - you would hear water running behind the wall and then it would flush on its own but it would take anywhere between 1 min and 10 min. We called maintenance 3 times and the last guy told us that this is just how the system works...its hard to believe but we just dealt with it since it would eventually flush just not right away.

 

- One of the bedside lamps in our room had a broken switch. About half way through the trip it broke completely and would not turn off. We had to unplug it from the wall. We let the steward know, hopefully they will fix it for the next trip.

 

- Our relatives had problems with their shower. The water was either cold or scalding hot no matter how they tried to adjust it. They had to call maintenance numerous times and the temperature was never perfect even after the adjustments by the crew.

 

- Bathroom door lock not working in the room of some of the people traveling with us.

 

- We heard from several cruisers that they had issues with their showers not draining properly and over flowing.

 

- One of the glass elevators was broken from day 1 and out of order the entire trip.

 

- We found quite a few bar stools (especially at the bar areas on the Lido deck) which were broken.

 

- Lots of burnt out light bulbs throughout the ship

 

So its minor things here and there but it all adds up. The Conquest is really a nice ship and its just sad to see it like this. Hopefully the maintenance crew will get to work and fix all these things.

 

Another weird thing that happened on the 2nd day. We heard a call for Sierra team to deck 10. Later that night we heard rumors that someone fell down the stairs by the water slide. Again these are just rumors but some people say the person died. No clue if its true or not or what exactly happened. We haven't heard anything else about this after that night.

 

The comedy shows were pretty cool. The best comedian hands down was Mutzie. That guy is hilarious. We went to all of his shows both family and adult.

 

Cruise director was Chris Jefferson. He was pretty good.

 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions

[ravenlair]

I hope the toilet and lamp have been fixed. I'll be in the same cabin on 02/13/11 departure. I'll let you know when I get back! :D

[krogers2063]

We are cruising on her April 3rd. I hope she is perfect but if not it still better than reading about her on the computer.

[capndinghy]

As a Stock Holder I do not like to hear these kind of comments. Because if they are letting the little things go....it is a very bad sign.

Thanks for posting your comments.

[Karshrimp]

We sailed on her January 2nd. One of the glass elevators was out of service the whole week then too. Wonder if it was the same one and it was never fixed by the time you sailed? Of the 3 glass elevators side by side, it was the one on the port side.

[sewut]

DH and I were also on this cruise. When they announced the water problem, I thought of the Splendor. It was fixed pretty fast though.

I also heard that someone had died on the cruise.

We had no issues in our cabin, 2398.

The weather was cold when we boarded, but warmed up on Monday. It was cold on Saturday and too windy to be out on deck. I had a wonderful Spatopia massage that day.

This was our third time on the Conquest. We're looking forward to the Magic's arrival.

 

Sewut

[truchattycathy]

I have sailed on the Conquest three times and didn't notice anything. I am sailing on her again in November. Hope everything is in ship shape!!! :D

[BallFour4]

First, sorry to hear about your experiences aboard the Conquest.

 

I took my family for a week aboard the ship departing Galveston on December 26 and we had a great time. The first two days at sea were too cold to be on the open decks in anything short of jeans and a sweatshirt.

 

We have sailed double digit times on Carnival and RCCL so we are platinum on Carnival. We were in cabin 1006 for this cruise and the one last summer.

 

I also took the Behind The Scenes Tour on this sailing to see the inner workings of the ship. This was a compliment to how I spent my sea days, as I putter around for most of the day.

 

I shared all the above to give you a somewhat objective observation on what I saw.

 

The Conquest is showing a little age. Bear in mind it made the first port of call the week of Thanksgiving in 2002. My dad and I stood on the lido deck of the Celebration watching it arrive in Cozumel from New Orleans.

 

Switches fail, plumbing leaks happen, toilets fail. but the lack of attention to prompt repairs does not make sense.

 

I am curious what the Guest Services people said when you reported the problems specific to your cabin and your parties cabin?

 

This past cruise was perhaps the nicest one we have ever taken, and that includes a trip aboard the Freedom of the Seas from the other guys. Sorry your experiences were less than that...

 

In a few days you will get an email survey about your experiences. Why not fill in the specific details and see what happens.

 

.

[scperk]

We sailed on her January 2nd. One of the glass elevators was out of service the whole week then too. Wonder if it was the same one and it was never fixed by the time you sailed? Of the 3 glass elevators side by side, it was the one on the port side.

That elevator is still out of service....We were also on the Jan. 16th sailing and had no water for about 2 hours after sailing and also had problems gettiing water for early seating....2nd day our water was off for several hours again on deck 7 port side forward and when it came back on there was no hot water....took a trip to purser's desk to get it fixed after calling from our room twice.....our door handle on the inside was sticking and room steward called and then next day had another trip to the purser's desk to get that fixed and explain what a door handle was to the lady working the purser's desk....I think they are cutting back on maintenance like they are on every thing else although I know this is an older ship...Dennis

[Cajungranny]

Just got back from our Jan 16 - 23 cruise on the Carnival Conquest.

The ship went to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel.

I am not going to write a long essay about everything but I did want to post some things about the ship and a few things that happened.

 

This was our second time on the Conquest. We first went on it about 2 years ago. It was the itinerary that went to the Bahamas.

 

During embarkation the weather in Galveston and the Houston area was very cool and rainy but after we left the weather was perfect. Very warm and sunny each day.

 

Now this part is just my opinion but I think that the Conquest needs a lot of minor maintenance all over the ship. Compared to our first trip on the Conquest we found a lot of things that need to be addressed. I'll list some items:

 

- On the first day a water pipe broke in the staff dining room. Water was shut off for about 2 hours.

 

- We were in cabin 1315 and the toilet in our cabin is very weird. Most of the time after the toilet has not been used when you push the button to flush it does not flush - you would hear water running behind the wall and then it would flush on its own but it would take anywhere between 1 min and 10 min. We called maintenance 3 times and the last guy told us that this is just how the system works...its hard to believe but we just dealt with it since it would eventually flush just not right away.

 

- One of the bedside lamps in our room had a broken switch. About half way through the trip it broke completely and would not turn off. We had to unplug it from the wall. We let the steward know, hopefully they will fix it for the next trip.

 

- Our relatives had problems with their shower. The water was either cold or scalding hot no matter how they tried to adjust it. They had to call maintenance numerous times and the temperature was never perfect even after the adjustments by the crew.

 

- Bathroom door lock not working in the room of some of the people traveling with us.

 

- We heard from several cruisers that they had issues with their showers not draining properly and over flowing.

 

- One of the glass elevators was broken from day 1 and out of order the entire trip.

 

- We found quite a few bar stools (especially at the bar areas on the Lido deck) which were broken.

 

- Lots of burnt out light bulbs throughout the ship

 

So its minor things here and there but it all adds up. The Conquest is really a nice ship and its just sad to see it like this. Hopefully the maintenance crew will get to work and fix all these things.

 

Another weird thing that happened on the 2nd day. We heard a call for Sierra team to deck 10. Later that night we heard rumors that someone fell down the stairs by the water slide. Again these are just rumors but some people say the person died. No clue if its true or not or what exactly happened. We haven't heard anything else about this after that night.

 

The comedy shows were pretty cool. The best comedian hands down was Mutzie. That guy is hilarious. We went to all of his shows both family and adult.

 

Cruise director was Chris Jefferson. He was pretty good.

 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions

 

We are scheduled to board the Conquest Jan.30th. Disappointed to read about the issues. This will be our 3rd time on Conquest and everything was fantastic the other two times. Wonder if the ship will go to dry dock before they move it to New Orleans later this year???

[mdrobtx]

We were also on this sailing. Here's a few observations.

 

EMBARKATION

We arrived at the pier at 11am and didn't get on till 12:55pm.

 

MDR

People wore whatever they wanted. Many guests in flip flops and tshirts. Most were dressed nicely on elegant nights.

 

We're not foodies, but I couldn't get a hot meal. Either luke warm or cold.

Met the maitre d. This turned out to be a good thing. Our service was terrible the first night. The head waiter had 5 tables and no help. I've never seen a head waiter work so hard to not only deliver food but try to keep water, tea and coffee filled.

After talking to the maitre d this problem was resolved. We couldn't have gotten better service.

Also guests not at dinner were using the Renoir dining room as a cut through to other areas of the ship. We had the maitre d close the dining room doors and curtains to eliminate this problem.

Next I asked him to bypass the $10 corkage fee on the bottle of wine I brought to dinner. He asked why? I told him because I'm asking. I finally explained we opened it and served it ourselves. He relented.

I did tip him the last night. He deserved it.

 

CHEFS TABLE

Totally worth the price. $75 per person. Tips are not included. It ranked up there with one of the top meals I've ever had. Galley tour with horderves and champagne to start. Learned how to make chocolate melting cake. Then a private dining room with eight or nine chefs serving you. Great attention to detail. They even escort you to the bathroom and back.

It lasted just at 3 hours with all the wine you can drink.

It was Tuesday night on this cruise.

If you'd like pics and the menu I'll post on this thread if asked.

 

COMEDY CLUB

Totally agree with the OP. The comedy club shows were great. Get there early because they are standing room only for every show.

 

The illusionist, Barman, was excellent. He came around almost nightly to one of our two tables to perform. He did some of that mindfreak stuff that was amazing. His show in the small evironment of Vincent's lounge is not to be missed.

 

KIDS

Pleasantly surprised at the good behavior of the children onboard. We usually cruise when school is in. Kudos to the great parents out there.

 

PORTS

Montego Bay

We ziplined with Zipline Adventure Tours and booked with them online. Excellent excursion. This was the 5th time I've ziplined in the Caribbean. One of the best or the best I've done. My parents who are in their 70's took part in this and though tired, had a great time.

 

Grand Cayman

Did a two tank dive through the ship with Don Fosters Divers. 14 or us on a boat made for 25. Wasn't as bad as I thought though I still prefer to book independent of the ship. Some really bad divers on this one.

 

Cozumel

Rented a car through Avis right there at the Puerta Maya pier. $76 with insurance for a nice SUV. Drove around to the east side by way of the Money Bar, Playa Bonita and Coconuts.

The only problem is the main street downtown is torn up replacing water and sewage pipes. What a cluster. Practically grid locked with Allure in port and horse drawn carriages bringing traffic to a standstill. Finally just went inland and got around the mess.

Ended up at Paradise beach. Got pics and videos of the new pool and bar area if anyone would like. Unbelievably nice.

 

SMUGGLING

No problem. Carried on liquor and used rum runners in the checked luggage. All of us got our hooch onboard.

The ports were hit or miss. I got a bottle of rum on in GC and a six pack in COZ. Others had their's confiscated.

 

DEBARKATION

Did the self assist. Walked off the ship at 7:45am. On the road at 7:55am.

[liddybugg]

please post menu and pictures of Chef's table. We leave sunday and have already booked this...thanks a bunch

[mdrobtx]

please post menu and pictures of Chef's table. We leave sunday and have already booked this...thanks a bunch

Ok, let me scan it and get it on here.;)

[mdrobtx]

please post menu and pictures of Chef's table. We leave sunday and have already booked this...thanks a bunch

Here you go.

One of the horderves was a small steak taco and a duck pot sticker. Oh man. I could have just had a half dozen of them and been happy.:D

They also took a group picture and gave us a signed cooked book.

You couldn't take pics in the galley but all you want at the dinner itself.

And Barman, the illusionist, gave us an up close performance that enthralled us all. How does he do that stuff??

And some pics in the next post.

 

[mdrobtx]

Carnival Conquest Chefs Table

The pictures of the food may look like small servings. And they are. But...all of us were stuffed. A couple of guests couldn't finish.:p

 

Chowing down.

 

Waiting to serve us the next course.

 

Barman performing while prepartion of the next course.

 

Sea Bass

 

Filet Mignon

[Tree Hugger]

I could have downed a dozen of those steak tacos. Amazing.

[Tree Hugger]

doublepost

[Cajungranny]

Just got back from our Jan 16 - 23 cruise on the Carnival Conquest.

The ship went to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel.

I am not going to write a long essay about everything but I did want to post some things about the ship and a few things that happened.

 

This was our second time on the Conquest. We first went on it about 2 years ago. It was the itinerary that went to the Bahamas.

 

During embarkation the weather in Galveston and the Houston area was very cool and rainy but after we left the weather was perfect. Very warm and sunny each day.

 

Now this part is just my opinion but I think that the Conquest needs a lot of minor maintenance all over the ship. Compared to our first trip on the Conquest we found a lot of things that need to be addressed. I'll list some items:

 

- On the first day a water pipe broke in the staff dining room. Water was shut off for about 2 hours.

 

- We were in cabin 1315 and the toilet in our cabin is very weird. Most of the time after the toilet has not been used when you push the button to flush it does not flush - you would hear water running behind the wall and then it would flush on its own but it would take anywhere between 1 min and 10 min. We called maintenance 3 times and the last guy told us that this is just how the system works...its hard to believe but we just dealt with it since it would eventually flush just not right away.

 

- One of the bedside lamps in our room had a broken switch. About half way through the trip it broke completely and would not turn off. We had to unplug it from the wall. We let the steward know, hopefully they will fix it for the next trip.

 

- Our relatives had problems with their shower. The water was either cold or scalding hot no matter how they tried to adjust it. They had to call maintenance numerous times and the temperature was never perfect even after the adjustments by the crew.

 

- Bathroom door lock not working in the room of some of the people traveling with us.

 

- We heard from several cruisers that they had issues with their showers not draining properly and over flowing.

 

- One of the glass elevators was broken from day 1 and out of order the entire trip.

 

- We found quite a few bar stools (especially at the bar areas on the Lido deck) which were broken.

 

- Lots of burnt out light bulbs throughout the ship

 

So its minor things here and there but it all adds up. The Conquest is really a nice ship and its just sad to see it like this. Hopefully the maintenance crew will get to work and fix all these things.

 

Another weird thing that happened on the 2nd day. We heard a call for Sierra team to deck 10. Later that night we heard rumors that someone fell down the stairs by the water slide. Again these are just rumors but some people say the person died. No clue if its true or not or what exactly happened. We haven't heard anything else about this after that night.

 

The comedy shows were pretty cool. The best comedian hands down was Mutzie. That guy is hilarious. We went to all of his shows both family and adult.

 

Cruise director was Chris Jefferson. He was pretty good.

 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions

 

Don't know if you will see this in time but we board the Conquest Jan. 30th and I've been wondering about an article I saw from KHOU (a Houston TV channel) about construction @ the Galveston port in preparations for the new cruise ship that arrives this Fall. Was there any hassle with the embarkation process with construction, etc.?

We have gone on the Conquest in 2008 & 2009 and it was a great experience so disappointed to hear there are some "issues" with it. Maybe it will go to dry dock before moving to New Orleans in Fall 2011. Thanks for any info you have about the Galveston port itself.

[scperk]

Don't know if you will see this in time but we board the Conquest Jan. 30th and I've been wondering about an article I saw from KHOU (a Houston TV channel) about construction @ the Galveston port in preparations for the new cruise ship that arrives this Fall. Was there any hassle with the embarkation process with construction, etc.?

We have gone on the Conquest in 2008 & 2009 and it was a great experience so disappointed to hear there are some "issues" with it. Maybe it will go to dry dock before moving to New Orleans in Fall 2011. Thanks for any info you have about the Galveston port itself.

The Magic is coming when the Conquest leaves...It's a much larger ship and maybe issues with the boarding platform..Conquest is just getting older and needs more maintainece as it get older just like an older car...Dennis

[BONEHOWE]

My wife said that a man did die. She was right by him and said he got up and started shaking like he was having a seizure, and then fell down. She said they tried CPR for about 10 minutes but it was unsuccessful. Supposedly he had a heart attack and was only 46. He was and children were there by him.

 

How sad.

 

Maybe for privacy concerns they can not say anything about it....but it seems that it would nice to tell other passengers so they could contribute money or something towards the family to help out with added expenses the family might occur.

[webzila]

I hope the toilet and lamp have been fixed. I'll be in the same cabin on 02/13/11 departure. I'll let you know when I get back! :D

 

Hopefully the lamp got fixed. We told the room steward whose name was Ramil I think and he promised he would take care of it. I am not sure about the toilet though. We called 3 times about it. First two times we missed the maintenance person that came over...on the 3rd call we were there but he said that it's not something that can be fixed. He tried to explain something about the location of the room and some sort of a tank that either gets low or full (don't remember which) and therefore when that happens and you try to flush the vacuum does not work until the level in this tank or whatever he was referring to is brought back to normal.

 

So like I mentioned, technically its not really a problem because eventually the toilet does flush, just not right away at times :)

[webzila]

We sailed on her January 2nd. One of the glass elevators was out of service the whole week then too. Wonder if it was the same one and it was never fixed by the time you sailed? Of the 3 glass elevators side by side, it was the one on the port side.

 

Yep. It was the same elevator when we sailed.

Again, not a big deal for us since we took the stairs a lot but I am sure it was a minor inconvenience to some since most of the time the other elevators were full and people had to wait.

[webzila]

First, sorry to hear about your experiences aboard the Conquest.

 

I took my family for a week aboard the ship departing Galveston on December 26 and we had a great time. The first two days at sea were too cold to be on the open decks in anything short of jeans and a sweatshirt.

 

We have sailed double digit times on Carnival and RCCL so we are platinum on Carnival. We were in cabin 1006 for this cruise and the one last summer.

 

I also took the Behind The Scenes Tour on this sailing to see the inner workings of the ship. This was a compliment to how I spent my sea days, as I putter around for most of the day.

 

I shared all the above to give you a somewhat objective observation on what I saw.

 

The Conquest is showing a little age. Bear in mind it made the first port of call the week of Thanksgiving in 2002. My dad and I stood on the lido deck of the Celebration watching it arrive in Cozumel from New Orleans.

 

Switches fail, plumbing leaks happen, toilets fail. but the lack of attention to prompt repairs does not make sense.

 

I am curious what the Guest Services people said when you reported the problems specific to your cabin and your parties cabin?

 

This past cruise was perhaps the nicest one we have ever taken, and that includes a trip aboard the Freedom of the Seas from the other guys. Sorry your experiences were less than that...

 

In a few days you will get an email survey about your experiences. Why not fill in the specific details and see what happens.

 

.

 

I did fill out the survey and added my comments there. Hopefully they will read it and improve the maintenance on that ship.

 

Just wanted to point out that we enjoyed the cruise a lot. I am just pointing out the things that I found broken because I am kind of sad to see this beautiful ship not being taken care of properly.

 

When we called Guest Services about the toilet issue all 3 times they just said they would send maintenance. They did not say anything else. Then the room steward just asked us to report issues to him directly and he would call it in but we did not mention the toilet problem again but we did report the bedside lamp issue to him and he promised to take care of it. It was the night before last so it was not fixed for us but hopefully he did do it for the next sailing.

[webzila]

We were also on this sailing. Here's a few observations.

 

MDR

People wore whatever they wanted. Many guests in flip flops and tshirts. Most were dressed nicely on elegant nights.

 

We're not foodies, but I couldn't get a hot meal. Either luke warm or cold.

Met the maitre d. This turned out to be a good thing. Our service was terrible the first night. The head waiter had 5 tables and no help. I've never seen a head waiter work so hard to not only deliver food but try to keep water, tea and coffee filled.

After talking to the maitre d this problem was resolved. We couldn't have gotten better service.

Also guests not at dinner were using the Renoir dining room as a cut through to other areas of the ship. We had the maitre d close the dining room doors and curtains to eliminate this problem.

Next I asked him to bypass the $10 corkage fee on the bottle of wine I brought to dinner. He asked why? I told him because I'm asking. I finally explained we opened it and served it ourselves. He relented.

I did tip him the last night. He deserved it.

 

 

We saw the same exact thing in the Renoir dining room (late seating upper). People would constantly cut across from one side to the other because they have doors on both sides.

 

I really did not like the Renoir dining room compared to Monet which is where we were last time. Renoir does not have windows on the second level and just feels crammed. We still had a good time though...just my observation.

 

Our service was not great on the first night either but after that it got better. Our head waiter was very good...I think his name was Ido.

[webzila]

My wife said that a man did die. She was right by him and said he got up and started shaking like he was having a seizure, and then fell down. She said they tried CPR for about 10 minutes but it was unsuccessful. Supposedly he had a heart attack and was only 46. He was and children were there by him.

 

How sad.

 

Maybe for privacy concerns they can not say anything about it....but it seems that it would nice to tell other passengers so they could contribute money or something towards the family to help out with added expenses the family might occur.

 

Wow, that is sad.

We heard different rumors. Some were saying it was a child some were saying it was an adult. Very sad either way. I think it happened the day before we docked in Jamaica.