Conquest vs Rhapsody out of Galveston

[Live_2_cruise05]

Hello, we are thinking about booking a cruise this July or December either on the Carnival Conquest or RCI Rhapsody. THe price ranges through our TA are really close to the same price ($100 more or so), but I just would like to see others opinions on the two ships. We are loyal Carnival sailers and have sailed Royal Caribbean once (Grandeur of the seas) which I have heard is like the Rhapsody. I personally prefer Carnival over RCI, but I still would cruise either one anyday! My DH and I want to try out RCI again but my DD wants to sail the Conquest hehe. We will see how it works out :D .

 

Thanks for your help!

[Oma24boys]

How old is your daughter? If she is a teen the Conquest has a really nice teen club. I am a RCCL fan but did a ship tour of the Conquest and it is a beautiful ship. The lunch we had while on board was wonderful and the buffet is actually food stations that offer different cuisines...i.e. Asian, Deli, etc.

 

The customer service on the Rhapsody is great! I have been on her twice and am booked for a third time this fall.

 

Hope this information is helpful...I think whichever ship you choose you can't go wrong, you'll be on a ship:D

[cmich068]

Rhapsody is a great ship. Loved it so much, went on it's sister ship the year after.

 

Conquest is a large ship, but I hear that Carnival's large ships arn't planned out very well in terms of lines.

 

If you ever make it to Miami, try a Voyager or Freedom Class Ship. You will become loyal to RCCL in an instant :P

 

You can't go wrong with either.

[JackOxford]

I've sailed 5 times each with Carnival and RCCL on various classes of their ships but have only been on the Conquest (out of New Orleans) and not the Rhapsody. I would say if you have a teenage daughter, the Conquest, without a doubt would be the way to go! If it were just you and your Hubby, take the Rhapsody. I find that RCCL ships have a bit more polish to them, but the food choices/variety on Carnival have always been excellent!

 

Cheers,

[piercetc4]

Between the conquest and the rhapsody- i would go with conquest. If it were conquest against a voyager class ship- i would go with voyager class ship-

more to do on the voyager class - liked the conquest though and would go on it again -

[lisad63]

My family cruised Grandeur in 2003, Rhapsody in 2004 and Conquest this past January. We have a teenage son and daughter. We all preferred Rhapsody and Grandeur over Conquest. Rhapsody is identical to Grandeur except for some of the decor. The Conquest wasn't awful, we still had a good time, but think the RCI cruises were just a bit better to our taste. Singing and dancing every night in the dining room on Conquest got old after the second or third night (just give me good food and service), the layout of the ship is chopped up and takes a while to learn to navigate, and the dance/musical shows were too suggestive for the 3 generations traveling together with us. Conquest's 24-hr ice cream and water slide were nice, tho.

 

But, If you know you like Carnival and your daughter is wanting to go on the Conquest, I'm sure you'll have a great cruise.

 

I wouldn't turn down a free trip on either!

[helicopter]

We have sailed on the Rhapsody twice (3rd time coming up) and the Valor (sister ship to the Conquest) by far my husband, kids (19-32 - sailed the Rhapsody when they were in mid teens to mid twenties) and grandkids (10 and 15 - sailed both) prefer the Rhapsody. We personally just don't like the layout on the Carnival ships.

[kendy]

We always prefer Rccl. We went on the Conquest with all 5 of my kids plus 1 a couple of years ago. One of my sons main complaint was that they, conquest, didn't have pizza for roomservice!! and Rccl does. AND rccl has great cookies and the equal of them you must pay for on conquest. The pool deck is better on Rhapsody but Conquest has a slide.These are the things they remembered most.?

 

That being said. The conquest was too big and choppy for us. it seemed it was always crowded and everything was far away, the decorations were too LOUD for our tastes. Our teens did not like the conquest teen area. of course the speciality restaurant was very good and Rhapsody doesn't have one.

 

BUT Really now ,,, either one would be fine. Do you like one's ports better? Do you like 2300 people on a ship or 3000. Questions???

 

Good luck!!!

[Live_2_cruise05]

Thanks everyone for your comments! This is really helping me with my decision! Although I think we need a little more time lol.

 

Oma24boys: I have 2 daughters, 15 and 5..They really liked both Canival and Royal Caribbean! My 15 year old said she either wanted to go on the Carnival Conquest or RCI Jewel of the seas. The only thing about the Jewel is it's in Florida, and we're in Texas (I am not really on flying...).

 

 

I would also have to agree with you all on how bad the layouts are Carnivals ships. They are a bit choppy!

 

Thanks again!

[Cruising89143]

Well you are on the RCI board and will get more answers towards cruising RCI. For me there is no question, I detest the Conquest class vessels of Carnival. They have dead ends and are crowded. Poor designed pool area too. I love the Spirit class ships though.

 

I have other reasons for liking RCI over Carnival but it sounds like you are more of a Carnival fan and if that is the case then I say go with what you like.

[DALSAL]

Ive ONLY been on the Rhapsody,but plan on sailing the Conquest while its here in Galveston.I loved ROTS! One thing I loved was walking the track all the way around the ship each morning.I miss being able to do this on Carnival ships.It takes me till the end of the cruise to be able to figure out how to get where Im going :) Dot