Carnival Conquest Mini Review 10/12/15-10/17/15

[Ellanora]

Hello all! I noticed before my own Conquest cruise that reviews were difficult to find, so wanted to post a few thoughts for others. I was on the 5 night cruise 10/12-10/17, the final cruise to have the old menus, lol. Ports of Call were Nassau, Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk.

 

This was a girls’ cruise for me and my two cousins. We had taken a previous cruise together in 2010, a 3 night on Sensation, and wanted something a little longer this time. My son just began college this year, but they both have small children so we still couldn’t quite go for the whole week. The five nights plus one night in a hotel in Ft Lauderdale would have to suffice. :D

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites on State Road 84. Great little hotel, excellently maintained and a good breakfast for the price. For dinner we ate at the Shuck n Dive, a small Cajun place about 12 minutes from the hotel. Pretty good food, but they don’t have a full bar, just beer and wine. We got flavored mimosas, but would have preferred a regular mixed drink.

 

We used Park n Go to park the car, booked online ahead of time for the discounted rate. This is the second time I’ve used them, both times were outstanding service. Highly recommend them.

 

Now the cruise itself, let me first say, I am one of those people who vacation with rose-colored glasses. :D Something has to be pretty wrong for me to get bothered by it. And since there were only a couple of minor issues, that means I had an amazing cruise! I’ve read some comments that the Conquest is showing her age, and maybe she is. When I think back, I suppose there may have been some scratches on the bannisters here and there but that’s not the type of thing I pay attention to. I thought the ship was the prettiest Carnival ship I’ve been on so far; most of the light fixtures were shaped like flowers, especially the ones that run the length of the promenade, and I just thought they were lovely. (I love flowers!) There were beautiful fluted flower-like lights in one of the small lounges and also in the meeting room where they held the weddings (multiple on this cruise.) There was floral wallpaper and curtains in the Renoir dining room, and a huge lit sunflower hanging in the small aft atrium area above the Monet dining room.

 

I liked how the Tahiti casino had bamboo-looking accents on the outside walls. I did NOT like that practically all of the slot machines were digital, and I did NOT like that the first few I tried didn’t win so much as a nickel. I’m not a gambler at all, but I enjoy stretching out a ten or twenty dollar bill for a few minutes of gameplay on the penny or nickel slot machines. However, these just dropped straight down to zero in a couple spins. Very disappointing. The last day of the cruise, I finally found a slot machine that let me play almost a half hour on $20, and walk away with $30, so that was nice.

 

Not much point in reviewing the dinner food in the MDR since those menus are gone now, but we enjoyed pretty much everything, with particular love for the lasagna Bolognese and the jerked pork loin. We did eat in the steakhouse on the first night (free bottle of wine!) and everything was excellent, particularly the escargot soup! That was something I’ve never had before and absolutely loved. Oh also, I’m not usually a big fan of focaccia, but wow, the rosemary focaccia in the steakhouse was amazing!

 

We did Your Time Dining in the MDR the other four nights. The first night service was fine, the last night service was fine. The two in the middle, we were sat in Assadee’s section. She is OUTSTANDING, and she keeps her team moving and shaking throughout the meal, has her eye on everything happening, and was also very kind and smiling. She was so impressive, and apparently everyone else on board thought so too because multiple people, hostesses and other waiters, mentioned that she was highly requested. In fact we did request her again the last night, waited 45 minutes for our pager to go off, and still were sat in a different section because apparently there was just not enough room for all the people requesting Assadee!

 

Guy’s Burgers overall were very good, though the hamburger itself is just average, the bun is good and the toppings are great. The Blue Iguana Cantina was outstanding, really. I had a shrimp burrito for lunch and huevos rancheros for breakfast and just loved them. My cousins both tried the breakfast burritos and also thought they were incredibly good. Fish & Chips were the usual, fish a little greasy but tasty. However, the oysters were NOT good, tiny and muddy tasting. I think whoever the supplier was of these is not providing a quality product.

 

We had multiple umbrella drinks throughout the trip and all were good, generous pours. So generous, in fact, that our pitcher of margaritas had practically no margarita flavor and was essentially a gigantic shot of tequila! :D This is not a complaint, because we love tequila, lol. However, I do also like the flavor of a margarita, so a little more lime would be nice. It was nice to be able to order a pitcher, that was a first for us on a cruise. Other drinks were all good as well, and the Funship Special is still my favorite cruise drink!

 

Splitting this review into two posts, next up is the shows and ports.

[Ellanora]

We did enjoy the shows. Epic Rock was awesome and the guy that sang Dream On was fantastic. Divas was enjoyable if not great, and Latin Nights slightly less so, although it may have been affected by being on the last night of the cruise and most of the theater was empty for the late seating, so tough to build energy from a nonexistent crowd. The comedians were GREAT, both the adult and family friendly versions. We saw/heard the DJ at various times, and he was pretty cool and seemed to be having a great time. We did not make it to the piano bar (or the Alchemy bar! My biggest regret of the cruise!)

 

I was so excited after boarding and finding out Wee Jimmy was the cruise director. I had sailed with him before and he had been my favorite cruise director since then. He absolutely still is! He is always involved and engaged with the guests, he’s funny and enjoyable to listen to, and his team seems to like being around him. He hosted two of the very best trivia games I have ever seen on a cruise ship, both held in the lobby. This had the effect of “crowding” the lobby which could have been annoying yet somehow really created a great atmosphere with lots of participation. One game was 80s songs where he played a snippet of the song and you had to write down the song name and the band, and the other was Disney songs/movies where he played a snippet of the song and you had to write down the movie. Then he would go back and replay them to give the answers but also pick people to come up and sing them, and wow, some people could really sing! This also led to some really funny, spontaneous moments and was part of why it was such an enjoyable event. I could also see from my vantage point that some of the atrium bar staff and the guest services staff were enjoying the music, pretending to hold up lighters and swaying, or dancing to the music. People gathered at the edges of all the floors above the atrium watching, and the atmosphere was just the best.

 

Wee Jimmy also led the Seussapalooza parade and read The Cat in the Hat at the storytime where members of the audience played the parts in the story. Lots of fun for the kids, and very cute to watch!

 

We spent time in the sauna in the spa, and at the aft adults pool during the day while we were in Nassau. Always love to stay on the ship and enjoy the pools and other facilities with no crowds since we’ve been to Nassau many times already. Unfortunately, we did not make it to HMC, in fact, they announced during the day in Nassau that weather would not allow us to even attempt it so we would be travelling on to Grand Turk. It was strange because we only got a little bit of light rain in Nassau, no storming, and the water while sailing that night really wasn’t too choppy at all. And the weather in Grand Turk was perfect. The good news was, we would arrive in Grand Turk at 8 AM instead of the scheduled 11 AM, so we would have a lovely long day in Grand Turk. But missing HMC was a big disappointment. Now, I am fully aware of the contract and that Carnival can miss or switch ports at any time, yada yada. I have no problem with that, and if I’m stuck on board with no ports for seven days, you better believe I’m still going to have a great time on my cruise! That said, there’s a point where if Carnival is missing HMC a significant portion of the time, then it is disingenuous to include it in the itinerary at certain times of the year. Either Carnival needs to start being a little more honest about their schedule, or build a pier at HMC. That’s my 2 cents on that subject, YMMV.

 

Now this is the second time I’ve missed HMC, and this is an example of how having a great cruise director can elevate an already good cruise. On the other cruise, the unexpected day at sea had a few extra trivia and karaoke times, that was about it. On this one, there was a special family friendly comedian show set up in the middle of the day and both comedians performed. The Dr. Seuss activities I mentioned above were moved from the morning of Grand Turk to the new sea day. Extra fun and games were scheduled out at the pool. It was just very clear that the entertainment crew in general and Wee Jimmy in particular were making the extra effort to provide a really great sea day in exchange for missing HMC, and this was something I REALLY appreciated.

 

Grand Turk was awesome, and having the extra time there was great. We did some shopping, swam at the beach, then hung out by the pool, grabbing a few drinks from the swim up bar every so often. Jello shots at the swim up bar are $1 apiece, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. (We were. :D ) The giant nacho platter is incredibly expensive but also incredibly tasty if you need something to munch on with your drinks.

 

On the last day of the cruise, which was the final (and originally, only) sea day of the cruise, we tried the seaday brunch. The huevos rancheros at the sea day brunch are very good, and so were the cheddar grits! However, service was not great, they kind of left us alone for long stretches of time, and I had to ask for my pineapple juice multiple times before finally getting a glass after the meal was served. I think it was just luck of the draw which server section we ended up in, I’m sure there were other servers doing a great job.

 

We also hung out on our balcony this day. It was the only truly rainy day of the cruise and was nice to sit out and get a bit of a mist from the rain plus the temperature combined with the wind made it very cool and comfortable. We had 1031 on Panorama near the front of the ship, starboard. We loved the location! Very handy to walk across the lido deck to the pools or restaurants, or take the elevator straight down to the promenade and atrium. Also, we almost NEVER felt the ship move. Seriously, it wasn’t until the last day that we could really feel it, and then it was just a bit. I’ve never been one to get sea sick anyway, but this was the most stable I’ve ever felt on a Carnival ship.

 

Now the minor issues – the room just never got better than barely cool. We lived with it because it wasn’t really hot enough to complain and have it checked out, but it is the warmest I’ve ever have a cabin be, and not very comfortable at night. Also, my bed was the worst Carnival bed EVER. It was a little saggy and not at all enjoyable to sleep on. I’ve loved the Carnival beds in the past but this one needed a switch. I did mention it to the room steward, hopefully it will get replaced soon. The stewards did a good job, no complaints there.

 

Finally, the one big Carnival complaint I have. It’s the same complaint I’ve always had when it comes to Carnival. I just don’t understand why the debarkation has to be so awful, and it has been every single cruise. I’ve sailed on Disney multiple times – you just walk straight off the ship when you feel like it. They do have you assigned to a breakfast time in their main dining room that you can attend and then leave, but you don’t have to. You can go to the buffet instead or you can just walk off the ship. There has NEVER been a line on the Disney ship waiting to disembark. I’ve only sailed with Royal once, on Allure earlier this year. It is a giant ship, but when our number was called around 9 AM, we walked straight off the ship, again no line until we got to luggage/customs. How is it that on Carnival there is ALWAYS a LONG LINE, and it takes FOREVER for the number to be called? We did self disembark and still had to wait until 9:30 AM to be called to leave! Almost two full hours after they started calling for self disembark! I can’t even guess how late the guests who didn’t carry off their own luggage had to wait. I know that Carnival does not control customs or port authorities, but on a standard day where they start debarking at the usual time, there is just no good reason for it to take so long to get off the ship.

 

Overall we had a splendid time and I wish I could jump right back aboard Conquest! I do have a family cruise planned for Carnival Vista in 2017, but I sure hope to sail again before then! Let me know if any questions, I’ll be happy to try and answer them. If you’re sailing on Conquest, I hope you have a great time!

[bankofdad]

How is it that on Carnival there is ALWAYS a LONG LINE, and it takes FOREVER for the number to be called? We did self disembark and still had to wait until 9:30 AM to be called to leave! Almost two full hours after they started calling for self disembark!

 

Thanks for the review! I look forward to sailing Conquest next year!

 

A question for you on the debarkation, as it has been many years since we have sailed out of Port Everglades (and we only did it once). I keep hearing about the debarkation issues and long waits and am wondering if you have sailed on any other cruise line out of Port Everglades as well and had a different experience? I ask because I am trying to understand if this is a customs/immigration thing like most others say it has to be or maybe a facility capacity based upon where they dock:confused:

 

Also I wonder if the cruise lines have any input or can request staffing based upon the number of passengers. I would think somewhere along the line, someone is paying the bill for these services (not sure how that works), because the port authority/government aren't doing this for free I am sure!.

 

Thanks again and I am glad you had a great cruise!!:D

[nydney1]

We were on the same sailing and I agree with everything in the review.

 

Wee Jimmy is great. I think second only to Cory Rodgers.

 

We had room 9200, our first 6K. The room stayed cool but it was disappointing that the windows were so dirty when we boarded.

 

Our deparkation was good, we were in zone 1 and we're off the ship very quickly. However we waited about 20 minutes in line at Customs. We spoke to our porter and they did away with the porter only lines like the have in Miami.

 

I agree 100% about the comments on HMC. It was the reason we booked the cruise.

 

Regardless it was a good trip and we will sail Carnival again.

[PurdueChefAmber]

Thanks for the review!

[Ellanora]

Thanks for the review! I look forward to sailing Conquest next year!

 

A question for you on the debarkation, as it has been many years since we have sailed out of Port Everglades (and we only did it once). I keep hearing about the debarkation issues and long waits and am wondering if you have sailed on any other cruise line out of Port Everglades as well and had a different experience? I ask because I am trying to understand if this is a customs/immigration thing like most others say it has to be or maybe a facility capacity based upon where they dock:confused:

 

Also I wonder if the cruise lines have any input or can request staffing based upon the number of passengers. I would think somewhere along the line, someone is paying the bill for these services (not sure how that works), because the port authority/government aren't doing this for free I am sure!.

 

Thanks again and I am glad you had a great cruise!!:D

 

Hey, yes, my Allure of the Seas cruise this past March was also out of Fort Lauderdale and it also was much smoother than all of my Carnival cruises, which have been out of all of the Florida ports except Jacksonville. I do think it's possible to be a combination of things including staffing. It could be that Royal/Disney have more staff assigned/supplied for moving luggage off the ship and setting it up in the terminal. It's also possible that they don't have a large enough terminal to put out all of the luggage at one time (I believe this is how Disney can let everyone off on their own terms), and so the wait includes not only people getting off the ship, but also having the new luggage laid out as space opens up. In which case, Carnival needs to upgrade their terminal.

 

I know customs/immigration or lack of staffing in those areas can sometimes cause problems, but there were plenty of customs lines going when we finally made it down to the area, and that has usually been the case on my cruises.

[Ellanora]

One thing I forgot to mention in my review that was also annoying enough to mention in my comment card was Room Service and night time food selection. On cruises, we stay up very late (or very early) for the deck parties, for the late shows, the late comedians etc. If you're going to bed 3-5 hours later than your usual, your body is going to get a little hungry. The deck party did not have a late night buffet or Mexican buffet like they used to; maybe because it was a shorter cruise? I don't know. So the only options were pizza and room service. The pizza line was LOOOONG every night. The worst part was trying to call for Room Service. We sat on the phone for over 12 minutes with no answer. I say over 12 because we sat for some number of minutes before beginning to time it, and then sat for an additional timed 12 minutes before hanging up. This is unacceptable.

 

Also, while I'm not thrilled with the idea of paying for room service items, I can understand Carnival trying to make extra money by providing items through room service that you can't get anywhere else on the ship. However, there is no way I will EVER pay $6.00 for cheese and crackers! That is outrageous. Also not impressed with the menu selection for the free items, definitely less than it used to be. It makes no sense why they can't provide at least the same sandwiches that they make in the deli - obviously they have all the ingredients.

 

So while food was plentiful and good throughout the day, the night time selection could still use a little work.

[tattoos]

Regarding your comments about the lack of food available late at night, we sailed the Conquest in May and there were always hot sandwiches, French fries, hot dogs available on the aft Lido deck on the starboard side after 11:00 p.m. (same area where the adult only pool and ice cream machines are). If I remember correctly, they had chicken sandwiches and ham and cheese, sometimes we just ate a big plate of fries.

[mrpayroll]

Thanks for the review. We will be getting on Conquest on November 8th. Looking forward to a relaxing week. Been to all ports before so we will be staying on ship except for Key West.

[carey4612]

Thank you!!! Nice to hear positivity! Always going to be some disliked things because everyone has opinions but I don't let it shape my outlook. I like to hear opinions which is why I read but the positive comments aid in the excitement and anticipation!

[Ellanora]

Regarding your comments about the lack of food available late at night, we sailed the Conquest in May and there were always hot sandwiches, French fries, hot dogs available on the aft Lido deck on the starboard side after 11:00 p.m. (same area where the adult only pool and ice cream machines are). If I remember correctly, they had chicken sandwiches and ham and cheese, sometimes we just ate a big plate of fries.

Now that's interesting! I did walk by that section one of the nights after picking up a plate of pizza and nothing was going on over there. Maybe they opened it on other nights, though, I didn't check. Or maybe because it was a shorter cruise, they did less, not sure. But I'm glad that at least some of the time, they have other options!

[y7anks3]

do you have the new menu would love to see the new food choices

[tmg698]

We were on Conquest 10/4-10/12 which is when Wee Jimmy took over as CD and I am so glad he did he is great. Best CD ever. As to late night food I agree there needs to be more to choose from other than pizza and room service. But I must say that room service BLT was great. Disbark was a nightmare.

[LaCal]

Thanks for your review. Were on the Conquest March 2016 and Can't Wait 😜😜

[KARTI1955]

Thanks for posting the review. Sounds like you all had a lot of fun! Can't wait til Dec 12th to sail.

 

How did you find the aft pool? Is it truly adults only?

[Ellanora]

Thanks for posting the review. Sounds like you all had a lot of fun! Can't wait til Dec 12th to sail.

 

How did you find the aft pool? Is it truly adults only?

 

The pool itself and the direct area around it, yes it was. The pizza and ice cream is also located to each side of the aft deck so there were occasionally kids in that area, but there were none in the pool chairs or pool/hot tubs. We also spent our time there while docked in Nassau, so it was relatively quiet anyway, and tons of chairs by the pool available.

[KARTI1955]

The pool itself and the direct area around it, yes it was. The pizza and ice cream is also located to each side of the aft deck so there were occasionally kids in that area, but there were none in the pool chairs or pool/hot tubs. We also spent our time there while docked in Nassau, so it was relatively quiet anyway, and tons of chairs by the pool available.

 

Thanks!

[Pellaz]

Regarding your comments about the lack of food available late at night, we sailed the Conquest in May and there were always hot sandwiches, French fries, hot dogs available on the aft Lido deck on the starboard side after 11:00 p.m. (same area where the adult only pool and ice cream machines are). If I remember correctly, they had chicken sandwiches and ham and cheese, sometimes we just ate a big plate of fries.

 

I was on the 10/12 cruise also. The area you mentioned was NEVER open on our cruise at night, or at any other time, for that matter.

 

However, in addition to the pizza at the Pizza Pirate, they added items to the menu there at night, including lasagna and caesar salads. Those were served on the other side of the Pizza Pirate kiosk from the pizza line...and there was seldom a wait. And the lasagna was quite good!

 

Otherwise my impressions of the cruise were very similar to the OP's. Wee Jimmy was a great CD, the live shows and performances were among the best I've seen on a Carnival ship, and the specialty food options were really good, particularly breakfast at Blue Iguana.

Our MDR service (YTD in Renoir) was great the first night, but very spotty the second night. Our next-door neighbors fared even worse: his fried chicken was raw (there was blood in it!), and then when they were missing a wine-glass, the waiter took one from an adjacent table that still had dirty dishes on it. :eek::eek: (That's the sort of thing that gets you shut down by the Health Dept. back home.)

Our extra time at Grand Turk was GREAT but missing HMC wa a real bummer, since I had booked the Private Oasis for our CC roll-call and it was all for naught.

(Even more interesting was the fact that our credit for port-fees was posted to our shipboard accounts even before we left Ft. Lauderdale, so we were never expected to be stopping at HMC.)

 

Still, it was an enjoyable and relatively inexpensive cruise, and our CC Roll Call was the best I've ever experienced. :D

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Thanks for your Review.

[Kao2293]

Thanks for the review!

 

We are also sailing the same cruise conquest for our delayed honeymoon!! How funny!! When did you guys get married?