Conquest Review for Nov 20 Sailing...Day One

[texas greeneyes]

This is my review of my first cruise, aboard the Conquest for Thanksgiving week. It will be long and detailed, so I will break it up into sections. I was still on that beautiful ship just nine days ago, but it seems like forever! Here goes Day One...

 

Embarkation was an absolute dream, after the expectations I had from reading the negative experiences of others. We arrived at EZ cruise at around 11:45, after dropping our luggage at the pier and, of course, tipping the porter. We took our time walking back to the pier, and arrived at about 11:55. The Skippers Club benefit of priority check-in was great! With no waiting beforehand, we got our S&S cards while sitting in an office off to the side of the long line of passengers wainting for regular check-in. When we asked if the other members of our party could check in with us, Carnival staff cheerfully cooperated, and the people in the two cabins that were not suites were given the Skippers Club priority boarding as well! All six of us had our S&S cards very quickly. We were given the option of skipping the embarkation photo op, and thereby the long line to board, and we readily agreed. We were then escorted by a uniformed Carnival rep past the lengthy line of folks waiting for their photos to be taken; through the velvet rope barriers that he unhooked to let us pass. Boy, did it make us feel like VIP's! We were aboard the ship by 12:15...it was a breeze!

 

Following advice I received from fellow CC'ers, I went to the dining room immediately upon boarding to request a change in our dining assignment. (The 16 in our extended group had linked our bookings together and had all requested early dining, since we had a three year old and a six year old amongst us. However, we were assigned 8:30 in the Renoir.) I was told that the Maitre'd would not be available for dining assignment change requests until 4:30, so I rejoined the two sisters of mine who were sharing the cabin with me and we looked around the ship for a few minutes.

 

The ship was awe-inspiring for us newbies, as I am sure it is for most first-time cruisers. The lobby had the air of a grand hotel; very elegant. There were lovely garlands and wreathes hung for Christmas, and several decorated Christmas trees were located throughout the public areas. Nice backdrops for photos!

 

We were naughty...it was not even 1:00 and we went straight up to our cabin, #7273 on the Empress Deck/Deck 7, to see if it was ready, though we had been instructed to refrain from doing so until 2:00. Our wonderful room steward, a young man named Dave from Trinidad and Tobago, greeted us warmly and showed us where we could stash our carry-on luggage so that it would be out of his way while he finished preparing the room. We took this opportunity to tell him that we wanted the twin beds configuration rather than one queen, as three adult women would be sharing the cabin. We also asked Dave to keep our soft sided cooler filled with ice. We gave him a nice tip and said that we looked forward to a wonderful cruise.

 

Then it was up to the Lido deck for a Funship Special with the prerequisite umbrella...our cruise experience was finally beginning! We enjoyed just walking on the deck sipping our drinks, occasionally pinching ourselves just to be sure we weren't dreaming. Then we hungrily hit the grill for lunch. More details on food and dining later.

 

Next we returned to our room, which had been prepared as requested with the twin beds. Our cooler was full of ice, as well. Most of our luggage had arrived at this point, and we had a boat-load of it, pardon the pun. ;)

Between the three of us in our cabin we had seventeen pieces. But in our defense, at the end of our trip it was down to nine pieces. More on this later too.

 

We had agreed to meet the rest of our friends and family, an extended party of 16, as well as fellow CC'ers, at the Skypool Bar at 4:00. I didn't plan this very well; we CC'ers should have agreed to wear something identifiable or found some other way to know who each other were. I resorted to just walking around the area like some silly town crier, inquiring, "Cruise Critic? Cruise Critic?" Met a couple of fellow CC'ers that way, but we didn't really get to know any of them during the cruise, though they seemed very friendly. I am sure that having such a large group of our own family & friends did not lend itself to meeting & getting to know new friends. But there's always next cruise for that...:D

 

I left the Skypool area to head back down to the Renoir for my chat with the Maitre'd. He told me that it was unlikely that they could accomodate my request for our party to change to early dining, due to it being Thanksgiving week and having such a large number of children aboard. He said I would be notified the next day as to the result of my request. (Next day, I got a call in my cabin to inform me that it would not be possible to change our assignment. Oh well, I tried. My poor little three year old niece was asleep in her macaroni and cheese by the time the main course arrived, every single night! :()

 

Up to the room to meet up with my sisters and grab our lifejackets, as the muster drill was scheduled for 5:00. Following CC advice we waited until the last minute to report to our station. Fairly painless, lasted only about 15 to 20 minutes, then we were first out because we were last in. Back to our rooms to drop off the life vests. All of our luggage had arrived, save one piece, so we all unpacked. I am pleased to report that my, ahem, creatively filled soda bottles, ahem, arrived just fine!

 

Let me tell you, Category 11 Suites on the Conquest leave nothing to be desired in the storage department. Three women and seventeen pieces of luggage...and we still had more than adequate room to unpack all of our things and stow all of our luggage out of sight. There are drawers, cupboards, and closets everywhere they can find space to put them. We had a few cupboards that we did not even use, and I am a shoes and purse freak! Plus we had eight of the seventeen pieces of luggage still packed (with donations for a Jamaican orphanage) so they could not be placed inside one another before stowing underneath a bed or in a closet.

 

The over-the-door shoe holder was a great organizer; I'll never cruise without it. The duct tape came in handy several times, especially for the balcony decorations I put up. I hung a red, white and blue banner across our balcony above the door that had triangular flags with stars and stripes. Also taped a Texas flag to the balcony, but the flapping bothered one of my sisters so that came down. The banner stayed for the whole cruise, though, and it was great, because we could spot our cabin while tendering and in ports. I also brought magnets and ribbons for door decorations for our group's cabins, so I decorated our door and delivered decs to the others' cabins. Sure made it easy to find our group's rooms, since we were scattered on four decks! If any of you who were on our sailing walked past rooms with "Crazy Sister" decorations on them, you know what I mean.

 

We wanted to be up on deck for sailaway, but if there was an announcement or other sign that we were about to sail we all missed it. Thank goodness we had a balcony, so at least when we felt the ship begin to move we could step right outside and hear the ocean sounds as we sailed out of Galveston Bay.

 

Luggage unpacked, balcony and door decorated...what to do now? We planned three surpise celebrations while onboard and I ordered a total of five cakes for them. The first celebration was a birthday party for our oldest sister, so we went ahead and wrapped her gifts and decorated our suite for the party. The cake I ordered from Carnival for that party was waiting for us when we first arrived in our room, as I had ordered it to be. However, the cake read only "Happy Birthday" rather than the custom message I requested. Strike one on the cakes I ordered.

 

Party preparations handled, we used the remaining time before dinner to explore the ship, another Funship Special in hand. After preparing for dinner, our large group entered the Renoir and had the pleasure of meeting our waitstaff, Claudia and Svetlana. Claudia, from Romania, was a true delight. Warm and caring while still professional and attentive, she was a gem and truly added to the pleasure of our dining experience while on our cruise. Svetlana seemed shy and more reserved, but still did her job of assisting Claudia quite well. I will do a separate review of the food and dining to cover what we ordered etc.

 

After dinner we went to the casino to make a few donations, then we went lounge-hopping to see what was going on where. Memory gets a little blurry as the night wears on, but I know we were having a fabulous time dancing and, at one point, singing in the piano bar. Fun fun, fun! Finally made it back to the room about 2:00 in the morning. A turkey sandwich and some pretzels from room service, pop the bungee on the door so we can listen to the ocean, and its off to La-La land. Our first day on our cruise...and it was wonderful!

 

Stay tuned for the next episode...

[gypsyrose]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering where you have been. Sounds like you and your sisters had a great time. Waiting on the rest:)

[JiminyCricket]

This is my review of my first cruise, aboard the Conquest for Thanksgiving week. It will be long and detailed, so I will break it up into sections. I was still on that beautiful ship just nine days ago, but it seems like forever! Here goes Day One...

 

Embarkation was an absolute dream, after the expectations I had from reading the negative experiences of others. We arrived at EZ cruise at around 11:45, after dropping our luggage at the pier and, of course, tipping the porter. We took our time walking back to the pier, and arrived at about 11:55. The Skippers Club benefit of priority check-in was great! With no waiting beforehand, we got our S&S cards while sitting in an office off to the side of the long line of passengers wainting for regular check-in. When we asked if the other members of our party could check in with us, Carnival staff cheerfully cooperated, and the people in the two cabins that were not suites were given the Skippers Club priority boarding as well! All six of us had our S&S cards very quickly. We were given the option of skipping the embarkation photo op, and thereby the long line to board, and we readily agreed. We were then escorted by a uniformed Carnival rep past the lengthy line of folks waiting for their photos to be taken; through the velvet rope barriers that he unhooked to let us pass. Boy, did it make us feel like VIP's! We were aboard the ship by 12:15...it was a breeze!

 

Following advice I received from fellow CC'ers, I went to the dining room immediately upon boarding to request a change in our dining assignment. (The 16 in our extended group had linked our bookings together and had all requested early dining, since we had a three year old and a six year old amongst us. However, we were assigned 8:30 in the Renoir.) I was told that the Maitre'd would not be available for dining assignment change requests until 4:30, so I rejoined the two sisters of mine who were sharing the cabin with me and we looked around the ship for a few minutes.

 

The ship was awe-inspiring for us newbies, as I am sure it is for most first-time cruisers. The lobby had the air of a grand hotel; very elegant. There were lovely garlands and wreathes hung for Christmas, and several decorated Christmas trees were located throughout the public areas. Nice backdrops for photos!

 

We were naughty...it was not even 1:00 and we went straight up to our cabin, #7273 on the Empress Deck/Deck 7, to see if it was ready, though we had been instructed to refrain from doing so until 2:00. Our wonderful room steward, a young man named Dave from Trinidad and Tobago, greeted us warmly and showed us where we could stash our carry-on luggage so that it would be out of his way while he finished preparing the room. We took this opportunity to tell him that we wanted the twin beds configuration rather than one queen, as three adult women would be sharing the cabin. We also asked Dave to keep our soft sided cooler filled with ice. We gave him a nice tip and said that we looked forward to a wonderful cruise.

 

Then it was up to the Lido deck for a Funship Special with the prerequisite umbrella...our cruise experience was finally beginning! We enjoyed just walking on the deck sipping our drinks, occasionally pinching ourselves just to be sure we weren't dreaming. Then we hungrily hit the grill for lunch. More details on food and dining later.

 

Next we returned to our room, which had been prepared as requested with the twin beds. Our cooler was full of ice, as well. Most of our luggage had arrived at this point, and we had a boat-load of it, pardon the pun. ;)

Between the three of us in our cabin we had seventeen pieces. But in our defense, at the end of our trip it was down to nine pieces. More on this later too.

 

We had agreed to meet the rest of our friends and family, an extended party of 16, as well as fellow CC'ers, at the Skypool Bar at 4:00. I didn't plan this very well; we CC'ers should have agreed to wear something identifiable or found some other way to know who each other were. I resorted to just walking around the area like some silly town crier, inquiring, "Cruise Critic? Cruise Critic?" Met a couple of fellow CC'ers that way, but we didn't really get to know any of them during the cruise, though they seemed very friendly. I am sure that having such a large group of our own family & friends did not lend itself to meeting & getting to know new friends. But there's always next cruise for that...:D

 

I left the Skypool area to head back down to the Renoir for my chat with the Maitre'd. He told me that it was unlikely that they could accomodate my request for our party to change to early dining, due to it being Thanksgiving week and having such a large number of children aboard. He said I would be notified the next day as to the result of my request. (Next day, I got a call in my cabin to inform me that it would not be possible to change our assignment. Oh well, I tried. My poor little three year old niece was asleep in her macaroni and cheese by the time the main course arrived, every single night! :()

 

Up to the room to meet up with my sisters and grab our lifejackets, as the muster drill was scheduled for 5:00. Following CC advice we waited until the last minute to report to our station. Fairly painless, lasted only about 15 to 20 minutes, then we were first out because we were last in. Back to our rooms to drop off the life vests. All of our luggage had arrived, save one piece, so we all unpacked. I am pleased to report that my, ahem, creatively filled soda bottles, ahem, arrived just fine!

 

Let me tell you, Category 11 Suites on the Conquest leave nothing to be desired in the storage department. Three women and seventeen pieces of luggage...and we still had more than adequate room to unpack all of our things and stow all of our luggage out of sight. There are drawers, cupboards, and closets everywhere they can find space to put them. We had a few cupboards that we did not even use, and I am a shoes and purse freak! Plus we had eight of the seventeen pieces of luggage still packed (with donations for a Jamaican orphanage) so they could not be placed inside one another before stowing underneath a bed or in a closet.

 

The over-the-door shoe holder was a great organizer; I'll never cruise without it. The duct tape came in handy several times, especially for the balcony decorations I put up. I hung a red, white and blue banner across our balcony above the door that had triangular flags with stars and stripes. Also taped a Texas flag to the balcony, but the flapping bothered one of my sisters so that came down. The banner stayed for the whole cruise, though, and it was great, because we could spot our cabin while tendering and in ports. I also brought magnets and ribbons for door decorations for our group's cabins, so I decorated our door and delivered decs to the others' cabins. Sure made it easy to find our group's rooms, since we were scattered on four decks! If any of you who were on our sailing walked past rooms with "Crazy Sister" decorations on them, you know what I mean.

 

We wanted to be up on deck for sailaway, but if there was an announcement or other sign that we were about to sail we all missed it. Thank goodness we had a balcony, so at least when we felt the ship begin to move we could step right outside and hear the ocean sounds as we sailed out of Galveston Bay.

 

Luggage unpacked, balcony and door decorated...what to do now? We planned three surpise celebrations while onboard and I ordered a total of five cakes for them. The first celebration was a birthday party for our oldest sister, so we went ahead and wrapped her gifts and decorated our suite for the party. The cake I ordered from Carnival for that party was waiting for us when we first arrived in our room, as I had ordered it to be. However, the cake read only "Happy Birthday" rather than the custom message I requested. Strike one on the cakes I ordered.

 

Party preparations handled, we used the remaining time before dinner to explore the ship, another Funship Special in hand. After preparing for dinner, our large group entered the Renoir and had the pleasure of meeting our waitstaff, Claudia and Svetlana. Claudia, from Romania, was a true delight. Warm and caring while still professional and attentive, she was a gem and truly added to the pleasure of our dining experience while on our cruise. Svetlana seemed shy and more reserved, but still did her job of assisting Claudia quite well. I will do a separate review of the food and dining to cover what we ordered etc.

 

After dinner we went to the casino to make a few donations, then we went lounge-hopping to see what was going on where. Memory gets a little blurry as the night wears on, but I know we were having a fabulous time dancing and, at one point, singing in the piano bar. Fun fun, fun! Finally made it back to the room about 2:00 in the morning. A turkey sandwich and some pretzels from room service, pop the bungee on the door so we can listen to the ocean, and its off to La-La land. Our first day on our cruise...and it was wonderful!

 

Stay tuned for the next episode...

 

Great first day review! We are sailing 1/1/05 and also have a suite; our son and his girl have a balcony room next to us but it's not a suite. We were hoping to all do Skipper's club together. Was there anyone special you had to talk to to have the other members in your party included in your Skipper's club?

 

Looking forward to your next review.:)

[Luanne21]

Please explain Skippers Club. I love your review so far. We are leaving on the 18th.

Thanks,

 

Luanne

[texas greeneyes]

Skippers Club details:

 

You have to book a suite (Category 11 or 12) in order to officially be eligible for Skipper's Cub priority boarding, which is the only Skipper's Club benefit. As described in my review, it enabled us to check in and board without waiting in line behind other passengers. We just had those in our party who were not booked in a suite accompany us when we went to the Skipper's Club area, and asked the Carnival representatives there if they could check in with us. They cheerfully allowed them to do so!

 

I will say that I have seen other CC reviews where Skipper's Club priority boarding didn't seem to impress those that received it. They reported that little time was saved. Our experience, however, was great!

[Luanne21]

Thank you We are on the same floor as you but not a suite. Did you stay in Galveston, and where, and did you get the feel as to when to get to port, if you had not had skippers club. Thanks

 

Luanne

[oldmedic]

TexasGreeneyes,

when can we expect day 2?