another May 21 Conquest review

[hunymoonr]

Thanks to all of you for the info before our first cruise!

 

We flew into Hobby Saturday and spent the night at the Marriott. We took a limo from Extreme Elegance to Galveston Sunday. I highly recommend this company and the driver, Mike. We had the same driver for both transfers.

 

We got to the terminal around 11:45. Embarkation was a nightmare. The funpass line was understaffed and moved way slower than the regular line. We FINALLY got on board at 1:30. We checked our dining assignment, then went to the Maitre'D to request a table for two. We are not anti-social, just on our honeymoon and preferred to dine alone. We then went to check out our room(loved it), and our luggage was already there! Met Sharif(steward), he was great! We went to explore and got our first drink. Sorry we missed the meet & greet. We were on our balcony for sail away.

 

We didn't get our dining re-assigned the first night. After meeting our table mates, we regretted asking for the re-assignment! We got our new assignment Monday and loved our table. Thanks Drago!

 

I preferred the dining room, DH liked the Cezanne better, we compromised. We went to the first formal night and skipped the second. Did anyone else see the man in ragged jeans, leather vest(no shirt), and ugly hat at the late captain's party? We also saw bathrobes and men without shirts in the buffett line. Okay, this did not ruin our cruise, but we thought it was rude.

 

We saw a lot of underage kids being served alcohol at two of the bars. Other bars were carding and refusing, but these two served anyone. Some looked to be 14 or 15.

 

Drink prices were ridiculous. Glad we took our Grey Goose with us!!

 

Jamaica-not at all what we expected. We LOVED it! We took a taxi($2pp) to Sunset Beach. We were not hassled once. Peter, the driver, was great. We paid $40pp to get in, food and drinks(alcohol too!!) included. We hung around the beach for a while, snorkled(this was great, there were coral reefs close to shore, and we saw millions of beautiful fish!) We spent most of the day at one of the pools with swim up bar. Jackie and Garcia were great, our drinks were never empty. They would have another one waiting before the first was empty! This was a beautiful resort and we have already booked our next vacation with them! We didn't want to leave!

 

Grand Cayman-HORRIBLE-Tendering was not organized well and we waited over an hour for our tour to Stingray City to start. The tour boat was way overcrowded. The captain had to move people from one side to the other to keep the boat from tilting. It took longer for him to position the boat and anchor than it did for Captain Queirolo to dock the Conquest in Jamaica! We had no food for the stingrays, the water and punch were hot, and the snorkle equipment was in a LAUNDRY BASKET! No sanitizer in sight. People were pushing and shoving you underwater, and we never got to hold or touch a stingray. We ended up swimming beside the boat and taking pics of the rays there.

 

Cozumel-tendering was much better-we loved the tenders! We shopped until we got tired of being hassled then took a taxi to Paradise Beach. I know a lot of you love this place, but we thought it was just okay(except for the guacamole, which was great). It was sad to see all the damage from Wilma.

 

Overall, we had a great time. Carnival crew were extremely friendly. We were sent a free bottle of champagne because there was some kind of problem with one of our bon voyage gifts that a family member ordered for us. We liked the shows and loved Todd. Hope you feel better soon, Todd.

 

Although it wasn't as great as we expected, we will cruise again, but after we spend a week in Jamaica!

 

We did not do self assist debarkation and were in the limo at 12:02.

 

[BUGBUG62]

Yes We Did See The Fool In The Leather Vest. Yuck. We Went On Capt Marvin's Sting Ray 1/2 Day Tour. We Had Max 20 People On A Boat That Could Hold 50 +. We Were Brought To The Boat Early, Left On Time, Snorkled And Kissed A Sting Ray. Sweet Girl She Was. Chris The Captain Was Great. Every Thing Was Clean And Great.

[nanuak]

BugBug62 -

 

Did you book the tour directly? Would you please let me know how you contacted them?

 

Rhonda

[enchantress13]

Sorry to hear the problems you had congrats on the marriage!! Did you book your sting ray tour thru carnival?

[BUGBUG62]

GO TO WEB SITE WWW.CAPTAINMARVINS.COM GO AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE IN THE DAY. WE JUST WENT DOWN TO DECK 0 EARLY AND JUST BLENDED IN WITH THE CROWD AND WERE FIRST ON THE TENDERS. GET OFF BOAT AND TURN LEFT AND GO TWO BLOCK AND CAP MARVINS IS A YELLOW BUILDING .. THE SHUTTLES ARE AIR COND TOO

[BUGBUG62]

We Parked At Ezcruiseparking Thats Their Web. Got Us To The Boat Fine. The Lot Was Good And The Price If Booked On Line Is 50. The Return Trip Took Fooorrrevver. Most Likly Would Use Them Agian Unless Cruise Critics Has Any Other Suggestions. This Is The Best Web Site

[hunymoonr]

Sorry to hear the problems you had congrats on the marriage!! Did you book your sting ray tour thru carnival?

Yes, we did book through carnival, but never again!! Carnival didn't recommend Sunset Beach and it was the best!

[GayleR]

We booked our Stingray excursion with Nativeway. I think we had a total of 15 people. It was great. Got to hold, kiss, etc. with the stingrays. We even had another family that we met on CC on our excursion.

 

We also did Sunset Beach (again with others we met on CC) and loved it. I was sad when it was time to leave.

 

Glad you had fun.

[suzy1212]

Thanks for the review. We are planning to do Sunset Beach in September. Glad to hear it is great.

We used Soto's for the stingray / snorkel tour in GC last December. They were great. Spent a lot of time feeding and holding the stingrays. I've also heard great things about Captain Marvin's on this board. We are planning to do Nativeway's Rays, Reef, and Rum Point tour this September when we go back.

[Scooters]

Just curious.... what happened to Todd? He was fine the week before on our trip.

[hunymoonr]

Just curious.... what happened to Todd? He was fine the week before on our trip.

Todd came down with a bad cold on Saturday, had to cancel the Dog House. He was sounding bad at the debarkation talk.

[robc]

I saw that you used EZ Cruise for parking. For you or anyone else who has done this I have a question. If you park here can you drop off your family and luggage at the terminal and then park and walk back to the pier? I would like to save the $20 but, just as you did, I have heard of problems with EZ Cruise's shuttle service.

 

Thanks!

[britishiles]

Had no problems with EZ Cruise shuttle last year. I would prefer to stay with the wife myself.