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Just off Conquest....Oct 17-25th....A quick review

pkrplyr

By pkrplyr,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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pkrplyr

pkrplyr

Posted
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Here is a quick review of our 8 day conquest cruise.

 

This was our 7th carnival cruise and 2nd time on the Conquest

 

Pre cruise:We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express cruise/airport . Just as advertised, clean, plenty of food and shopping across the street. Would highly recommend.

 

Transportation: Free shuttle from airport by hotel, $21 round trip shuttle at hotel, went smooth and would recommend.

 

Boarding: No fttf, from shuttle drop off until stepping on ship it was maybe 45 minutes so no complaints here.

 

Cabin: As always we did a balcony room deck 6. Room was as expected with literally no changes or updates since we have started cruising except the change to a flat screen tv. Ac worked enough to keep comfortable but by no means cold. Room steward was just as I like, did his job after a $20 tip when we met and kept us supplied with ice.

 

Ship: Yes, Conquest shows her age but I constantly saw workers cleaning and replacing floor tiles, wiping surfaces, etc. However, ship does need a major overhaul if for nothing else to update the decor. Condition of ship did not hamper our fun in any way,

 

Food: Ok here we go.....We ate breakfast in the dining room every morning and enjoyed it as usual. Just can't do the buffet.

 

Guys Burgers: Visited nearly everyday . Good but not great. Never waited more than 5 minutes and we had a sold out ship. I recommend without cheese as it's not as greasy. Fries were top notch. We did miss the hamburgers at midnight....just what we like.

 

Blue Iquana: By far our favorite and a great addition to carnival. Fresh made tortillas with chicken, pork, fried fish, or ask for grilled shrimp form burrito bar and they will take care of you. Really good stuff and again never waited more than 5 minutes.

 

Steak house: Ate here 1 night but was not impressed at all. My food was average at best. Have done the steakhouse on every cruise and was fabulous so maybe just time for us to have an average outing.

 

Pizza: Great. Some waiting here but very good if you like thin crust and I do.

 

Dining room: Ok here is where you will hear some complaints. Yes it is true, the conquest is the "training" ship for dining staff. It shows! For the first time we had just terrible service. To the credit of the staff, they apologized over and over again as they knew we had cruised many times and knew things were not good. Some of the problem was that this cruise was the first for the new American table menu. That can account for the slowness but not the lack of service from staff. I had to ask for coffee over and over. The staff was just overwhelmed to the point that around the 3rd night we noticed management staff assisting our section so they were trying and service did improve but was disappointing for sure.

 

The food was ok. Portions have been cut back but just ask for two, not a big deal. But you will notice the difference, even the coffee cups are smaller. Bread offerings were lacking as well. But you will find good items on the menu. Quality is still acceptable as I understand they are feeding the masses and have to aim for the middle on taste.

 

If you can't find something to eat on a cruise then cruising just isn't for you

 

My take on the buffets is that it's not really the food that is the problem....it's the way the people act. It's as if they have to be slobs in order to get their monies worth. Just too much to watch.

 

Ice cream was the standard good but I can't understand how many of them are always out. I watched several times when the machines were out of ice cream yet you have someone there filling cones? Same thing with the coffee. I tried to get coffee many times when only 1 machine was working out of 4....And why do I have to go to the lido deck every time I want a simple cup of coffee Carnival?

 

Entertainment: Just awful. Not a big deal for me but it's not good.

And I hate to bust the bubble of all you folks who like the love and marriage show. If you didn't know already it's set up with canned answers. I got this straight from a newlywed participant and his father. Sorry folks.

 

All the ports are the same to me so I'm not a good person to review. I will say Grand Turk was very nice and Margaritaville is the place to be.

 

Cruise Director was Wee Jimmy. We have been with him before and he is good and works very hard to make the ship fun.

 

Casino was fun but the smoke is very tough to take at times. I think all Carnival ships should go to non smoking and I am sure they will in short order.

 

At the end of the day we had a great time as our expectations were realistic and were met by Carnival. What I do see happening though is if Carnival continues to make cut backs they are going to drive folks like us to Royal Caribbean and that would be a shame. It's not so much that our cruise was average, it's the fact that Carnival has not done a good job updating the ships and your experience on them. Even the Carnival infomercials on my tv were the same as they were in 2006.

 

We are booked on the Vista in Jan of 2017 but I am thinking about trying the Oasis or Allure of the seas instead to see what everyone is bragging about.

 

Glad to answer any questions

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dwaterhouse

dwaterhouse

Posted
Posted

I was also on this cruise, and I was hoping I just needed time to be objective about this cruise, but I totally agree with your opinions.

 

We turned platinum this cruise, so I thought maybe my expectations were high, but this cruise was just.... Ok....and am ranking this cruise dead last as far as our cruises go..... But I have really been on some great ships.......

 

I would do the oasis or the allure again in a heartbeat... It meets all the hype.

 

We started out flying into Miami the morning of the cruise, arrived in miami at 830 am, checked in at the carnival counter, had our boarding passes at 9 am, then sat in the terminal til 1030 waiting for the bus to leave, well with 20-25 passengers on the bus, it stalls out on the highway, the bus gets to the side of the road, he gets it started, we start off again, 5 minutes later, stalls out again.. We wait on the bus for about 45 minutes on a broke down bus, and the driver never even put out the emergency triangles.... New bus gets there, we transfer over to the new bus after having to crawl over the concrete barrier, and hubby and 2 other passengers help shlep the luggage over to the new bus.

( not carnivals fault... Just **** happens). When we got to the port carnival tried to do the right thing, escorting all of us to the front of the line for security, and boarding, but it turned out taking longer waiting on everyone; but a nice effort.

 

We had the end balcony Cabin on deck 10. It was a few inches short on the door entry, We kept hitting the closets; shower was slow to drain... Which always flooded the bathroom. Curtains had plenty of holes in them and the bed sheets were wearing thin and has fuzz balls on them. The steward was great and no problems, we even tipped him extra at the end.

The cabin was HOT.... We brought a fan, so I survived.

 

Entertainment; totally agree

 

MDR; we had great servers... Yes slow, but we were usually in no hurry

But I agree on the portion size has changed , and it's just ok. Buffet...ok

 

Definately not enough bar servers... It took forever to get a drink

 

I know all the above sounds so negative, but I really did have good time... I am just stating my oberservations.

 

 

Here is a quick review of our 8 day conquest cruise.

 

This was our 7th carnival cruise and 2nd time on the Conquest

 

Pre cruise:We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express cruise/airport . Just as advertised, clean, plenty of food and shopping across the street. Would highly recommend.

 

Transportation: Free shuttle from airport by hotel, $21 round trip shuttle at hotel, went smooth and would recommend.

 

Boarding: No fttf, from shuttle drop off until stepping on ship it was maybe 45 minutes so no complaints here.

 

Cabin: As always we did a balcony room deck 6. Room was as expected with literally no changes or updates since we have started cruising except the change to a flat screen tv. Ac worked enough to keep comfortable but by no means cold. Room steward was just as I like, did his job after a $20 tip when we met and kept us supplied with ice.

 

Ship: Yes, Conquest shows her age but I constantly saw workers cleaning and replacing floor tiles, wiping surfaces, etc. However, ship does need a major overhaul if for nothing else to update the decor. Condition of ship did not hamper our fun in any way,

 

Food: Ok here we go.....We ate breakfast in the dining room every morning and enjoyed it as usual. Just can't do the buffet.

 

Guys Burgers: Visited nearly everyday . Good but not great. Never waited more than 5 minutes and we had a sold out ship. I recommend without cheese as it's not as greasy. Fries were top notch. We did miss the hamburgers at midnight....just what we like.

 

Blue Iquana: By far our favorite and a great addition to carnival. Fresh made tortillas with chicken, pork, fried fish, or ask for grilled shrimp form burrito bar and they will take care of you. Really good stuff and again never waited more than 5 minutes.

 

Steak house: Ate here 1 night but was not impressed at all. My food was average at best. Have done the steakhouse on every cruise and was fabulous so maybe just time for us to have an average outing.

 

Pizza: Great. Some waiting here but very good if you like thin crust and I do.

 

Dining room: Ok here is where you will hear some complaints. Yes it is true, the conquest is the "training" ship for dining staff. It shows! For the first time we had just terrible service. To the credit of the staff, they apologized over and over again as they knew we had cruised many times and knew things were not good. Some of the problem was that this cruise was the first for the new American table menu. That can account for the slowness but not the lack of service from staff. I had to ask for coffee over and over. The staff was just overwhelmed to the point that around the 3rd night we noticed management staff assisting our section so they were trying and service did improve but was disappointing for sure.

 

The food was ok. Portions have been cut back but just ask for two, not a big deal. But you will notice the difference, even the coffee cups are smaller. Bread offerings were lacking as well. But you will find good items on the menu. Quality is still acceptable as I understand they are feeding the masses and have to aim for the middle on taste.

 

If you can't find something to eat on a cruise then cruising just isn't for you

 

My take on the buffets is that it's not really the food that is the problem....it's the way the people act. It's as if they have to be slobs in order to get their monies worth. Just too much to watch.

 

Ice cream was the standard good but I can't understand how many of them are always out. I watched several times when the machines were out of ice cream yet you have someone there filling cones? Same thing with the coffee. I tried to get coffee many times when only 1 machine was working out of 4....And why do I have to go to the lido deck every time I want a simple cup of coffee Carnival?

 

Entertainment: Just awful. Not a big deal for me but it's not good.

And I hate to bust the bubble of all you folks who like the love and marriage show. If you didn't know already it's set up with canned answers. I got this straight from a newlywed participant and his father. Sorry folks.

 

All the ports are the same to me so I'm not a good person to review. I will say Grand Turk was very nice and Margaritaville is the place to be.

 

Cruise Director was Wee Jimmy. We have been with him before and he is good and works very hard to make the ship fun.

 

Casino was fun but the smoke is very tough to take at times. I think all Carnival ships should go to non smoking and I am sure they will in short order.

 

At the end of the day we had a great time as our expectations were realistic and were met by Carnival. What I do see happening though is if Carnival continues to make cut backs they are going to drive folks like us to Royal Caribbean and that would be a shame. It's not so much that our cruise was average, it's the fact that Carnival has not done a good job updating the ships and your experience on them. Even the Carnival infomercials on my tv were the same as they were in 2006.

 

We are booked on the Vista in Jan of 2017 but I am thinking about trying the Oasis or Allure of the seas instead to see what everyone is bragging about.

 

Glad to answer any questions

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CruzinScotty

CruzinScotty

Posted
Posted

Dining room: Ok here is where you will hear some complaints. Yes it is true, the conquest is the "training" ship for dining staff. It shows!

 

Glad to answer any questions

 

Thanks for your review.

 

I'm just starting to gather info as the Conquest is our next cruise. How/where did you hear this ship is the training ship for the dining staff?

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pkrplyr

pkrplyr

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And on the newlywed game the way it works is the canned answers are on the cards when they give them to the participants. What I was told from the newlywed and her father. If you think about the answers given it is obvious

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RiotAct

RiotAct

Posted
Posted
And on the newlywed game the way it works is the canned answers are on the cards when they give them to the participants. What I was told from the newlywed and her father. If you think about the answers given it is obvious

 

ohhhh. LAME.

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tmg698

tmg698

Posted
Posted

bar10

 

Not sure how long Wee Jimmy will be on Conquest but I do know I was on Oct 4th-12th sailing and he told us that he got on with us to take over as CD. We thought he was a great CD probably best we have had.

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sg4crzn

sg4crzn

Posted
Posted

We will be on the Conquest for Thanksgiving week. Thanks for the info. I am a Carnival junkie and have only been on the Magic the past cruisers so I will keep an open mind about all the comments for Conquest. I have been on the Oasis and it's to big for my liking. Not even like a cruise ship for me.

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nwo4life

nwo4life

Posted
Posted

Surprised to hear about the Newlywed Game. So, they basically pick the contestants well in advance and coach them on what to say?!?



 

 

The CD does not always read the answer written and will sometimes substitute an answer he knows will get a laugh.

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