Carnival Conquest Dec 15 Mini Review - Good and ...umm...??

[sharecruises]

Just back from the Dec 15 sailing of Carnival Conquest, my first time on her since she has always sailed from Galveston - she is "new' to Miami

 

Boarding was fine , crowded but glad to have the Platinum boarding help,

although after easy check in at Platinum lounge we had to weave thru crowds to get to the boarding area, got on after a wedding party, and

went to cabin to drop off carry on and on to buffet

 

Had a guy's burger - the one with onion ring and it was very very tasty (fattning but tasty haha)

 

Conquest looked to be in pretty good shape, Christmas decorations in lobby added a nice touch. Ship is pretty subdued, even a bit dark, but was pleasant. My cabin looked fine - inside, but down on deck one...I normally am not that particular about cabins. I refuse a balcony on carnival due the smokers, but this one was wayyyy in the front and I hated it. Very noisy with ? ship/mechanical sounds, maybe crashing waves, I don't know...most of my friends were near me and they hated it too

 

Room steward , a gal, was ok, had to ask for ice first 2 days, then they did put it in cabin. Was not the best really - ie, our past guest welcome letters were other people's names (the one with free drink coupon) so had to go to straighten that out. Some others on our floor were also messed up..

 

Had early dining which was a change for me, but worked out fine. Our service was always sloooowww....but our wait staff was very friendly and accomodating. Getting coffee - and time to drink it- at end of meal was a challenge however. Again slow - I do think they are understaffed. Drink waiters were more available this cruise however and a few at our table used them.

 

Food = always subjective, but I found the dinners to be good and sometimes pretty great <grin> . I enjoyed the fruit soups (will miss them)

Highlights for me - strawberry bisque, greek farmer salad, Lobster tails,

salmon (everyday menu), spaghetti carbonara (side dish), lamb shank,

bitter and blanc, warm choc melting cake, the date/fig/? cake and ice cream

 

The only "bad" dish I had was Oysters Rockefeller - just inedible - cold and piled with crunchy bread crumbs

 

Went to the seaday brunch on both seadays and loved the food there (service was spotty and slow however)....I loved the tomato soup and the salmon eggs benedict (yum)..I always order the hollandaise on the side and squeeze a bit of lemon on it - perfect

 

Other nice things on this cruise -

 

One "cutback" - the removed sushi bar - was not really missed IMHO

I enjoyed the lite bites of the Taste Bar - especailly the Nonna's Meatballs - yummy

This was however closed for a few days but reappeared the last night. No real rhyme or reason that I could tell??

[sharecruises]

Cruise director Gary was funny and pretty visable

I did some trivias that were fun.

 

The ports were good , rained in Belize

 

I enjoyed 7 Mile Beach in GC, and just shopped in Cozumel and Belize,

and went to Carnivals shopping area/beach in Roatan - nice

 

We were lucky to have a good duo who played in the lobby most nights.

They also had a Latin band in Alfreds and a band called Govenment Shutdown (haha) that had some good 70/80 nights and a Motown Night that was fun...so we were lucky there. Sometimes they had a guitar player

I peeked in Piano Bar a few times but guy on break or if playing seemed pretty low key, not much of a crowd.

 

 

 

Now for the bad part - the Playlist Production

 

Really awful.....Divas and Latin Nights were ...OK at best

mildly entertaining....something you might see at a retirement community in South Florida really - a local theater production

 

The Brits - UGH - should have been called the Bubble Gum show

Horrible cheezy cartoons, awful dancing...just an insult

The fashions looked like cheap Halloween costumes

Not even "historically" correct - the gals were wearing cheap "Mod" costumes, a bit London Look but the guys were dressed in California Hippe

outfits....the "British Invasion" was the 60's...the guys were more "70's Woodstock/Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrick costumes

 

it simply reeked = worst show I ever saw on a ship and one I would never want to see again

[Gingee]

Opinions can vary on the ships. I am not a big fan of the new shows but oh well.

[sharecruises]

I went to couple comedy shows early in the week, they did make you leave the room after the first adult show and line up - did not seem worth it

The one comedian Motzi? was funny, the other was so so

 

I made it to another comedy show with a different guy later in the week but did not bother to try and line up for late show. Not to mention - the seating is so bad in there. Ok - I will say it again - why not put at least the late show/s in the main theater?? Duhhh to Carnival

 

Hasbro ?? Oh no thanks....I sat through about 5 minutes of that and left

 

More passenger entertainment - karaoke - singing with the band

The last night they had "showcase of stars" - which many in my group felt had better voices and more talent that the paid performers

 

So the good and great - the food at dinner mostly good to great

ship was clean, staff mostly friendly, our waiters were nice

taste bar was nice, ports were good, Guy's Burgers,

Seaday brunch

Got a nice tote bag Platinum gift, past guest party was nice

I enjoyed the adult pool area, hot tubs were fairly hot. I found I did not miss the Serenity deck *Conquest did not get that upgrade

Seemed to be less smokers - great to have them off the lido deck IMHO

Holiday decorations, nice little Holiday show singing and dancing, Camp Carnival kids sang, Santa came :) "Snow" haha

 

The pretty good and "just ok" -

A fair amount of music - good duo in lobby = friends who were on Breeze said music was better on Conquest. They hated Playlist on both ships LOL

 

food at the buffet was ok, lines often long, often the food looked better than it tasted with exception of Guy's.

Fish and Chips had good cerviche. Desserts at buffet were pretty bad

Pizza is thinner but tasty, however lines were often backed up. Not sure the "new" system is crowd friendly

 

The bad -

noisy cabin, way in the front, not very attentive cabin steward (ie, one day she left cleaning towels on my bed LOL)...

tried twice to order room service - NO Luck, phone never answered (midnight haha)

 

lines at buffet, horrible disembark (huge lines), selling selling selling got annoying, lack of entertainment - one night a juggler who was not that funny or entertaining.

 

I didn't enjoy Playlist Productions = 2 shows were mediocre, the Brits was a joke

These were so sad to see after enjoying the fantastic huge shows on MSC Divinia with professional dancers and singers and cirque type acts.

 

The backdrop of LED lights was annoying and ugly, and cheap looking , maybe ok the first show but then ...ugh same over and over. I have no idea why they made such a big deal of the 2 girls kicking and splashing water on Latin Nights - what was that about? It was a sad joke IMHO

 

I really felt the cutback in entertainment - my thoughts now are - what of the future?? Would I want to see those same shows again? My 2 friends who were on Breeze hated them on both ships and seriously don't want to cruise any Carnival ship that has Playlist Productions

 

I really don't want to see Playlist Productions again - now the 2.0 "upgrade" seems like invasion of the Bodysnatchers....they add the Burgers but take away the shows. I have zero interest in Hasbro

 

 

I love - Big Easy , Ticket to Ride, the "world" show on Liberty...heck I would even like to see the old couch show from Imagination haha (Nightclub Express)....any of the old shows were better than these

 

I would like to look forward to another Carnival cruise but....would not want to see those same shows over again and again. Is Motown show any better and what ships have it?

[13607]

Thanks for taking the time to do an review. We have been on several ships over the last year, and we are finding just what is being reported - very slow dining room service. It doesn't ruin our cruise and we are not complainers but it does not seem to be a problem on one ship, it seems like it is more widespread.

[sharecruises]

Thanks for taking the time to do an review. We have been on several ships over the last year, and we are finding just what is being reported - very slow dining room service. It doesn't ruin our cruise and we are not complainers but it does not seem to be a problem on one ship, it seems like it is more widespread.

 

I do think they are overworked. Our team was nice and fun but ...yeah slow. The dining room food itself was really good for the most part and if you don't like, order something else :) I tried a few new things this time and enjoyed them. Shared a mac and cheese the last night with a few friends and we all liked that for instance.

 

All in all this was a good cruise, we had fun, but the entertainment was a let down. Conquest is in good shape, nothing bad, will be great for first time cruisers.

[lovestocruise19]

I'm on the Conquest in 20 days. We've seen Latin Nights and Divas and also weren't too impressed. The Britain one you described sounds pretty awful, but maybe we'll give it a shot.

 

DH wants to listen to more music on this cruise. What venue did Government Shutdown play in? I've heard some good things about them. We were also going to try the Piano Bar for the first time.

 

I think I will miss Serenity. When we first booked this ship, I didn't realize that it didn't have Serenity. All the other Conquest class ships do. Heck, even the Pride has Serenity. I'm not sure why they never put it on the Conquest.

 

I'm hoping the weather is okay. We have the Xunantunich Mayan ruins excursion booked for Belize and the Pirates, Birds and Monkeys Tour booked for Roatan. We might stay on the ship in Cayman as we've already been to that port and we will probably hang around the cruise port shopping area in Cozumel.

[sharecruises]

I'm on the Conquest in 20 days. We've seen Latin Nights and Divas and also weren't too impressed. The Britain one you described sounds pretty awful, but maybe we'll give it a shot.

 

DH wants to listen to more music on this cruise. What venue did Government Shutdown play in? I've heard some good things about them. We were also going to try the Piano Bar for the first time.

 

I think I will miss Serenity. When we first booked this ship, I didn't realize that it didn't have Serenity. All the other Conquest class ships do. Heck, even the Pride has Serenity. I'm not sure why they never put it on the Conquest.

 

I'm hoping the weather is okay. We have the Xunantunich Mayan ruins excursion booked for Belize and the Pirates, Birds and Monkeys Tour booked for Roatan. We might stay on the ship in Cayman as we've already been to that port and we will probably hang around the cruise port shopping area in Cozumel.

 

In Cayman I would suggest Royal Palm - closest to port - drivers will try to push you to others but it is best, nice adult pool, swim up bar, only $2 entry fee - right on 7 Mile beach

 

I actually did not miss the windy serenity deck - they enforced adults only on aft pool and it was nice, hot tubs fairly hot, they closed the roof on a rainy day.

 

The food is good on Conquest (better than my last Glory cruise - same food, maybe just better chef/s?)

 

Government Shutdown plays mostly near the Casino - on 70's night they dressed the part haha

 

I think they were in the lobby one night when the duo was off

 

Latin band plays mostly in Alfreds - on deck 4 near the Monet restaurant (the former cigar bar )...pretty dreary room actually very dark

 

The duo is good.

 

The shows?? well the singers and dancers would not be seen on other ships IMHO. Guy lead was pretty good, the gal had a very "small" high voice, on key but not a Diva voice

 

The Brit show was a joke to us Baby Boomers - the costumes look so cheap, stuff you can buy at a halloween online store. The cartoons were garish and too busy and just ugly. The dancers? OMG so bad

 

Latin show had 2 cheap looking costume changes, some good songs, the dancing was atrocious. They make a big deal of the splash zone - some huge attraction - well near the end of the show two of the dancers come up from below on a little stage/baby pool? of water and they jump around and kick the water into the first rows....what is that about?? It was ridiculous. Nothing "Latin" about it, not spectacular ...a huge joke