Carnival Conquest review 6/21-29

[bell777]

Just want to start with please no critics, this is for enjoyment and done in a hurry for the pleasure of those which just want some info on the trip. These are my observations and review based on my experiences so please respect them. I will answer as many questions as possible so if you have any just ask and i will try and answer to the best of my opinion. thanks

 

This is my 3rd trip with Carnival we have been on the Breeze and on the Dream before and have also taken 14 cruises with RCL in the past so I consider myself not an expert but experienced in cruising.

 

We drove down to Port of Everglades on Sunday and I am very glad we left early as we were held up by an accident which would have delayed our arrival time. We made the decision to park at the Park and Go and prepaid for approximately 70.00 for 8 days but it MUST be prepaid and you can do that online. My husband first dropped us off at the port with the luggage and carry on bags and then drove there parked and they drove him via shuttle to the enterance of the port. This is was much easier as we tipped $2 a bag and they were delivered to our room by 300 pm which is great as we were unpacked and ready for fun by 4 pm. We were at the port and in line by 1030 and waited in the sitting area to be called. Those who came after us waited hours in line before getting seated. What a mess first they called the Platinum and the fttf and then 1 and so on a so forth so needless to say 2 hours later it was our turn to board. I am not complaining as at least i waited sitting in an air condition room and just played with the phone but those poor people waiting standing up for hours just to get in to sit and wait some more is just shameful and the port in Miami and Canaveral are not like this what a mess. The excuse was that the system was down and everything had to be done manually, what a mess. Ok so much for venting on that next is boarding.

[Banks822]

Going on the Conquest in April, so I'm following :)

[ProfCruise]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I'll be on the Conquest in December, so I'll be following along.

[bell777]

We had 2 interior rooms one for the two 17 year old and one room for my husband and I they were on deck 7 towards the middle front mainly front. We were about 8 rooms from the elevator and i consider the location to be very good. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by our cabin steward which was very nice and always had a smile on his face. The room was actually bigger then i thought as we had only experience inside rooms with RCL and expect much small but no the room was fine for 2 people. I have to say i really missed my balcony room but hey a cruise with any room is a good room. It was clean but the drain was alway backing up but it was my fault as I did not want to sit in the room and wait for it to be fixed and i thought at some point when the steward cleaned the sink he would notice it was not draining but he didnt and we had a slow drain all throughout the cruise. Although it did not bother my husband since he turns off the water when brushing his teeth but i dont. Anyways the one thing i did not like is that the toilet always smelled like pee mainly when you flushed it was gross and made me gag. The bed was extremely hard and hurt my husband back throughout the cruise. The room was always kept clean and picked up and he was like a ninja in and out most of the time. I was worried at first cause it was hot in the room on the first day but when the ship left port it started cooling off and was fine for most of the trip other then one night which did get hot again. The room was quiet other then the last night which we could somehow hear the music on the ship. It was also a bit confusing what time it was since it was so dark so we but on the tv to the promanade and that helped. Overall from 1-10 the room was a solid 7.

[bell777]

[bell777]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=354322&stc=1&d=1435772740

[bell777]

We proceeded to have lunch at the Lido deck 9 which also had Burrito bar and Guy burger and towards the back the pizza place. As usual the Pizza is great but slow as can be at lunch or on port days. The burrito and burger were very slow and long lines on port days. However any other time the wait is not too bad. We had lunch at the buffet which was good and had both american type dish on one side and on the other was ethinic food of the day. I cant understand why they put the salad bar before the food and not in a seperate area to keep the line moving faster.There was alway salad and deserts at least 4 to 5 to pick from and free 24 hour ice cream vanilla, choc and strawberry.

 

The free drinks consist of water, tea, lemonaide, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, passion fruit , 2% milk (no whole) fat free milk and choc milk and hot choc. I found the juices and lemonaide to strong so i added water and milk to the hot choc.

 

I drink all kinds of water, spring, not spring, desani walgreen , publix, crystal etc... I like them all but I could not no matter what i tried drink the water on board it was like drinking milk of magnisium without the milk so needless to say although i purchase a 24 pack i was dehydrated by the end of the trip.

[bell777]

these are the buffet

[bell777]

We are still on day one and it was not time for the safety drill. This ship was totally full to capacity.

 

There are so many people that feel the need to keep you waiting in the heat till they decide to show up. I think if they show up late they should make them stand outside for 30 minutes in the heat like they make everyone else. Well we did the drill in the heat deck 4 outside and it took about 30 minutes or so.

 

When we were dismissed it was time to get dress and go to my anytime dinning. Word to the wise for anytime dining if you dont want to wait very long be there around 535 so you can get in right away. We had Jerryco and ask for his table every night as he was experienced and good and also one of the table dancers he was very nice and I think from Phillipenes ,his assist was alway on top of things as well. We normally started dinner around 615 and done by 730 a table of 4. The food was much better and warmer then on the Breeze and Dream and i think its the ship size which contributed to the quality of such.

[bell777]

Some dinner foods.

[bell777]

2nd Day

 

This was a sea day and the seas heading towards our first stop to the Grand Turks was fairly smooth and no meds required. As usual we went to breakfast buffet where they have pancakes, waffles, french toast , toast , bagels, cereal, grits, oatmeal, scrabble eggs, sausage, bacon, hash brown , ham, and omlet to order and eggs sunny side what you want and they had pastries and some other stuff too much to mention. I just wrote some of the stuff i ate thru out the cruise.

 

I headed out the the specialty cafe for an expresso which by the way is terrible and i think its due to the water but i had withdrawals thru out the whole trip.

 

We proceeded to scout out the ship. First we went and by the smoke stack was the mini golf cute place but very windy because of the location. Next deck was jogging and basketball which was very very disappointing as it was half court very small and very full and next to it with couple of feet volley ball not at all like the breeze or dream which were very adecuate. We proceeded to the pool on deck 9 main pool lido and did i say the ship was at capacity well i will provided photos. It was a soup of people with green water and i never went in because it was like this most of the trip.

 

We went down to the promanade deck 3 where they have live music bank and trivia thru out the trip it was nice and the group was good and they had dancing and a nice bar area. This deck also has the shore excurtions and guest services. They have an atm machine and a machine to keep up and manage your room card very good and helpful.

 

Deck 4 had a game room which was always very cold and crisp. And the dining room and hosting room.

 

Deck 5 had the casino and the teen room, lots and lots of bars a cafe and all the shops. It also had lots of space for sitting and just people watching and listening to music, and a piano bar and the comedy show was help towards to back.

 

Deck 1,2 and 6,7,8 are mostly statemrooms.

 

And I think deck 10 or 11 was the spa which as very small compared to the Breeze and Dream.

 

My husband and I went to the casino to make our daily deposit. On the first day we lost but racked up alot of points from small wins which on the slot was the only thing you can hope for. The problem is that the pay on bonus games are so low that it is hard to ever get ahead. I did manage to get a jackpot on the fish machine for 127.00 and 25.00. I tried 100 on the roulette but here is thing roulette minimum is $2 chip with a min. play on the inside of $10 that my friends is steep for me, anyways lost in 30 minutes and swore to not play again which i did. My husband lost his 150.00 for the day without a single $20 win. I kind of broke even but accumulated 500 points and on my was towards the 1500 in poinits for free drinks.

 

Time to get dressed for formal night and dinner which was lobster night and Just waiting for it. Arrived at 530 and waited very little asked for jerryco and dinner is served. Finished dinner by 730 and went to the show.

 

We saw The Brits and it was terrible but the The Epic show was very good not Vegas good but better then Carnival norm ship good. The lady singers made up for the lack of luster.

 

After the show back to the casino for couple hours but the smoke was so so intense we had to leave. I thought the smoke at Hard Rock and other casino was bad that was good compared to how bad the smoke in the casino was.

 

We decided to call it a night and go to bed to be able to get up early and get off at the Grand Turks since the stay there was short you had to be back by 2.

[bell777]

pictures of the casino

[bell777]

Formal dinner plates

[bell777]

deck pictures

[bell777]

pool

[bell777]

area decks

[bell777]

area pictures

[bell777]

Day 3 Grand Turks next.

[John F]

We will be on the Conquest in Aug. Hope you retained and can scan the daily Fun Times. Many thanks!! :)

[rooster1961]

I'm curious,what was it about The Brits show that made it awful? i saw the show on my Memorial day cruise and I thought they did a good job. Now if you want to talk about bad, the lady from the duo onboard could not sing however the guy in the duo had a wonderful singing voice.

Edited July 2, 2015 by rooster1961
forgot something

[Coopdog08]

Just want to start with please no critics, this is for enjoyment and done in a hurry for the pleasure of those which just want some info on the trip. These are my observations and review based on my experiences so please respect them. I will answer as many questions as possible so if you have any just ask and i will try and answer to the best of my opinion. thanks

 

This is my 3rd trip with Carnival we have been on the Breeze and on the Dream before and have also taken 14 cruises with RCL in the past so I consider myself not an expert but experienced in cruising.

 

We drove down to Port of Everglades on Sunday and I am very glad we left early as we were held up by an accident which would have delayed our arrival time. We made the decision to park at the Park and Go and prepaid for approximately 70.00 for 8 days but it MUST be prepaid and you can do that online. My husband first dropped us off at the port with the luggage and carry on bags and then drove there parked and they drove him via shuttle to the enterance of the port. This is was much easier as we tipped $2 a bag and they were delivered to our room by 300 pm which is great as we were unpacked and ready for fun by 4 pm. We were at the port and in line by 1030 and waited in the sitting area to be called. Those who came after us waited hours in line before getting seated. What a mess first they called the Platinum and the fttf and then 1 and so on a so forth so needless to say 2 hours later it was our turn to board. I am not complaining as at least i waited sitting in an air condition room and just played with the phone but those poor people waiting standing up for hours just to get in to sit and wait some more is just shameful and the port in Miami and Canaveral are not like this what a mess. The excuse was that the system was down and everything had to be done manually, what a mess. Ok so much for venting on that next is boarding.

 

We were at the port around 1030am. When checking in they were up front that the systems were down. They started boarding ship 1145-12, we were zone 4 and on ship 1230pm. No issues with the boarding at all. And the process to leave was extremely smooth! Called self assist at around 9am for lido deck, we took elevator down and walked right out. Line at customs was long but it continually moved and probably took 15 minutes total at most. In taxi by 930am, extremely smooth!

[Coopdog08]

We are still on day one and it was not time for the safety drill. This ship was totally full to capacity.

 

There are so many people that feel the need to keep you waiting in the heat till they decide to show up. I think if they show up late they should make them stand outside for 30 minutes in the heat like they make everyone else. Well we did the drill in the heat deck 4 outside and it took about 30 minutes or so.

 

When we were dismissed it was time to get dress and go to my anytime dinning. Word to the wise for anytime dining if you dont want to wait very long be there around 535 so you can get in right away. We had Jerryco and ask for his table every night as he was experienced and good and also one of the table dancers he was very nice and I think from Phillipenes ,his assist was alway on top of things as well. We normally started dinner around 615 and done by 730 a table of 4. The food was much better and warmer then on the Breeze and Dream and i think its the ship size which contributed to the quality of such.

 

I guess I would be one of those people. We unpacked luggage right before muster. We waited as long as we thought we could. When we arrived we were placed in the line that ended up being closest to the crew who demonstrated how to use vests. And to top that we started that line so we were fortunate enough to be closest to the door that was left open blowing out cool air. Best outdoor muster ever! We have learned that there is no need to be the first, thousand or two thousand person to show up, we are fine as long as we are not last and we were far from that as at least 20 people were added to our row.

[bell777]

I'm curious,what was it about The Brits show that made it awful? i saw the show on my Memorial day cruise and I thought they did a good job. Now if you want to talk about bad, the lady from the duo onboard could not sing however the guy in the duo had a wonderful singing voice.

 

 

The show lacked luster and the voices on the musical were not good. If the vocalist are not real good then the techno need to make up the slack like in the epic show but the brit show was dull and the in my opinion as well as my husband thought the show was not good. Sorry this is my opinion.

[bell777]

We were at the port around 1030am. When checking in they were up front that the systems were down. They started boarding ship 1145-12, we were zone 4 and on ship 1230pm. No issues with the boarding at all. And the process to leave was extremely smooth! Called self assist at around 9am for lido deck, we took elevator down and walked right out. Line at customs was long but it continually moved and probably took 15 minutes total at most. In taxi by 930am, extremely smooth!

 

I was in line around the same time and the wait was not so bad but from 1030 to boarding 1230 is 2 hours sitting around thats not good. And as for the poor people that were in line at 11 they stood there for hours and then inside for more not cool. Departure was not too bad we ate breakfast then waited in the show room till everyone was called to leave. This was much better then the last departure of 3 hours on the Dream. I think if you depart from another port you will realize that the departure was not good.

[bell777]

I guess I would be one of those people. We unpacked luggage right before muster. We waited as long as we thought we could. When we arrived we were placed in the line that ended up being closest to the crew who demonstrated how to use vests. And to top that we started that line so we were fortunate enough to be closest to the door that was left open blowing out cool air. Best outdoor muster ever! We have learned that there is no need to be the first, thousand or two thousand person to show up, we are fine as long as we are not last and we were far from that as at least 20 people were added to our row.

 

That being said we go when asked and stood in the back of the line for a very long time until people decided to show up and then we were the last to leave and it was very hot and took way long. No cool air it was so bad and the kids around us were so unhappy and cranky. I felt so bad for them not to mention the elder which i thought at some point were going to pass out.