Conquest 7/23/06 review

[cascole]

We were a group of 5. Myself & a friend (both 30 something gals), my sons (12 & 2), and a friend of my oldest boy (16). This was my 7th cruise, my oldest son’s 2nd cruise & everyone else’s first cruise. We had a wonderful cruise & are already thinking about where to go on the next one. After speaking to so many people on board with both bad & good experiences to share, one thing is certain – it pays to do your research! Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences & helped to make this one of the best trips ever! Please feel free to ask if I have left anything out.

 

Travel to Houston/Galveston: We flew to Houston (IAH) the day before the cruise, rented a one way car with Enterprise & drove to our hotel in Galveston. We stayed the night at the Hawthorne Suites at Victoria in a 1 bedroom overlooking the pool & the gulf. I would not stay here again. The housekeeping leaves a lot to be desired, among other things... but it was fine for 1 night, especially because we didn’t even arrive there until around 9pm.

 

Day 1, Embarkation: Arrived at the cruise terminal before 11am and had no trouble finding a porter to take our bags. I then left the rest of my party there while I drove to return the Enterprise rental car. Getting back to the terminal on the shuttle was easy, however by the time I returned, the lines were beginning to get long & although the rest of my group was told they should get in line & I could join them – I was not able to join them in the line. They had to wait for me. Not sure what the point of them getting in line until I got there was at all... oh well. This was the worst embarkation I have ever experienced. They did not even allow the first passengers onto the ship until at least 1pm. The lines were extremely long. We were glad to finally be onboard around 1:30pm & went straight to our rooms to drop off luggage & get the little one changed. Then it was time for a DOTD, exploring the ship and the muster drill.

 

Cabins: We had two cabins, 6450 (L shaped with extended balcony) & 6448 (inside).

The balcony was WONDERFUL!!! It was so much larger than the regular sized balconies I have had on previous cruises. There were 5 chairs & 2 tables set up on it. I was able to use a small inflatable wading pool on the balcony for my toddler without any problem. We sat on the balcony & enjoyed room service breakfast nearly every morning. Our room steward, Antonio, took care of both rooms & did a good job – and most days remembered to keep our cooler filled with ice. He also removed the contents of the mini-bar & stored them in the closet so I could keep milk for the little one inside. I had contacted the OPC prior to sailing so my room was decorated with Bon Voyage decorations; we also had a fruit & cheese basket waiting for us & a couple of key chains.

 

Day 1 & 2 (at sea): I’ve got days 1 & 2 intermingled in my head... days at sea seem to run together. We spent most of our time lounging in the sun on deck or reading on the balcony. On day 1 our roll call was supposed to meet, but I never made it as my little one was napping at the time. I did run into several of them at different times during the cruise, though – so met some very nice people! I took my toddler to Camp Carnival for a couple of hours so I could lay in the sun for a bit. I didn’t make it to the past guest party or to the captains cocktail party on this trip... it takes a lot of effort to get 5 people ready on time for dinner, much less any earlier! 

 

Day 3, Montego Bay: We spent the day at Sunset Beach... well worth the $ & highly recommended! They also only charged my oldest son at the child rate & did not charge for my toddler at all! We had no problem finding 4-5 lounge chairs on the beach under a palapa. Enjoyed several drinks, although I didn’t find the bartenders particularly friendly at any of the bars (strange as I was tipping them $1-2 each trip). We played with the kids in the pools & enjoyed great jerk chicken for lunch. My friend & the pre/teens snorkeled, although the said there wasn’t a ton to see, and there was a lot of garbage (mostly small plastic cups). My son & his friend spent some time while snorkeling picking the trash/cups up to be put in the garbage. I would go back here again in a heartbeat!

 

Day 4, Grand Cayman: I had booked the Rays, Reef & Rum Point tour through Native Ways & was so pleased with the tour & the guides! Everything was wonderful. They kept the group small (~15 people). We started out in the rain as we took the boat out to the first stop. The guides fed a moray eel & said their hello’s to a nurse shark. They were very attentive to each person’s needs & skill level. The second stop was Stingray City & again, the guides gave great instruction to each person, paid attention to the level of involvement each desired to have with the rays & even caught a ‘baby’ ray for my little one to interact with. The third stop was Rum Point beach. I simply loved this little slice of heaven... although the drinks (not included with the tour) were very expensive – the lunch (included) was wonderful, the water was warm & shallow, the sand was pink. Our guides engaged several people in a beach volleyball game here as well. It was a fantastic day for all ages & skill levels!

 

Day 5, Cozumel: In Cozumel I had booked a private half day fishing charter through fishingcozumel.net which turned out to be Wahoo tours. While the site had promised to be all inclusive of transportation, we had to take a taxi both to & from the marina and were not reimbursed nor was the price lowered to cover this expense (~$20 RT). My son & his friend love to fish and had been hoping to ‘hook up on a Marlin’, but were quickly dissuaded from going for Marlin & decided to go for Barracuda & Dorado. Overall, it was a productive day: 1 Barracuda, 1 Rainbow & 4 Tiger fish. We had a good time (and the guacamole prepared by the crew was great) but I would probably choose a different operator in the future. All went fine, but no one was friendly or made any effort to communicate whatsoever. Most questions were answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The day just felt kind of strange.

 

Day 6, Last day at sea: The last day at sea we spent soaking up our final sun of the trip, enjoying a few more cocktails & buying souvenirs. I love lazy days at sea, waking when you want, relaxing on the balcony with a book, sitting by the pool while enjoying a frozen drink... ahhh, paradise!

 

Day 7, Debarkation: Our flight was just before 2:30, so we were given tags for priority debarkation. Just after self-assist & before they call regular color tags. This worked out well & we were able to debark without much ado. The biggest problem upon debarkation was not with Carnival, but with the Enterprise desk in the cruise terminal. There must have been 20 people in line & only 1 person working when I got there. He took 20-30 minutes per customer to process the rental. At that rate, I knew I would not make my flight. Looking across the room, I noticed (along with a couple others) that there was no line at the Hertz counter. I quickly inquired if they had availability & they did. I took a smaller car from them for the same price as the mini-van I had booked through Enterprise & made it to the airport in time to grab a quick lunch & board our flight home. Next time I will book a limo to take us back to the airport.

 

Food & Dining Staff: I thought the food was good overall, and was definitely better than on the Paradise in May. We ate in the Renoir dining room on all but 2 nights when were just too tired/lazy to get dressed in time for the 6:15 seating. Our waiter was ‘fine’ but never went out of his way to provide great service. I believe he was just too busy with too many tables. In fact, I would say that the service declined through the trip instead of improving. For example, on more than one night he forgot about the open bottle of wine he had held for us. On one night, my son was not given a bread plate – even though he is the biggest bread eater of all of us! On one night we had to ask for butter for the bread. On most nights we did not have any sugar on the table for our coffee – and we asked for it each & every night. On another night, they kids menu was not there. On another night, they did not take my toddler’s order at all until after the appetizers had been delivered to the rest of the table. We ate in the buffet for lunch each day & the selection was adequate. I enjoyed the oysters from Sur Mer; the kids enjoyed the pizza & cheeseburgers. There was always something for everyone. My little one loved the ice cream!

 

Camp Carnival, 2-5 year olds: My son spent a few hours there during the first two sea days, then went again for the entire day while we were in Cozumel fishing. He made several crafts & had fun playing while he was there, but he was never happy to leave me. Once I was out of sight, he did well. I always hung out around the corner for about 5 minutes & then peeked back around to make sure he was off doing something else. Most of the staff was good with the kids – although there was one staff member who just seemed like she didn’t want to be there. I don’t know if she just didn’t communicate well with the parents or if there was something else going on, but she just wasn’t ever friendly.

 

Shows & etc... : I didn’t get to a single show all week since my little one was usually already in bed by the time the shows started. The rest of our group loved the hypnotist show, and the teens enjoyed the juggler/comedian show and the magic show. I also couldn’t tell you who the cruise director was if I hadn’t gone to the ‘deal or no deal’ bingo show one evening. I did step into the piano bar one evening & was very disappointed. It was virtually empty (maybe 4 other people there) and the piano man was ‘dry’ at best. He did a ‘mangled’ rendition of “Piano Man” – I left midway through. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all. I hope they put someone better on that route soon – Conquest deserves better.

 

Casino: The casino was fun, not a huge mix of slots & of course the payouts were tight. I didn’t play tables at all this trip since my time in the casino was limited – but I did enjoy the time I had there & broke even. One service I felt was lacking in the casino was the drink service. On Paradise in May it was quick & attentive... on Conquest I felt it was slow & almost difficult to find a wait person.

[momof4boys]

Thanks for the review. Glad you had fun. Did your older son mostly hang out with his friend or go to shows and activities?

[bluestorm19]

Hi, Cascole.

Great review!

I was on the same cruise & I totally agree about the dining experience. A lot of things were forgotten like parmesan cheese for pasta dishes, crushed pepper for the salads, sugar, etc.. I can't really blame the waitstaff, though. Our waitress looked exhausted and I could tell she was trying her best to please people. She covered a large area of tables, I noticed.

Glad you had a great cruise. I'm ready for another one! :)

[cascole]

Hi Momof4... my son mostly hung out with his friend. They would have been in different age groups for activities... but they did go to some of the shows in the evenings together & enjoyed them!

 

 

Bluestorm... I was glad to read in your review that I hadn't imagined the decline in dining room service as well. Glad you had a great trip as well! I told my steward that I'd be hiding under the bed for the next cruise so not to check there when he made up the room! How I wish I could have stayed onboard!

[okiemom]

Thanks for the review. Can't wait until our turn!:D

[232271]

Thanks for taking the time to review the Conquest.

You did 2 things in Port we are doing, and i am so glad you loved them! It is hard to know which things to do.

 

Sounds like you had a great time!

Have a great day!:)

[pacerzfan]

Thank you for the review cascole!

[kadao]

Hi Cascole! Thanks for the review. I had a great time also. We must have been lucky though, we had a great waitress and assistant waiter. The food was great, though sometimes the service was a little slow because of the huge area each person had to cover. But I wasn't in any rush so it was okay!

 

We did the snorkle and sail in Jamaica and that was really nice, though there weren't as many fish as I would have liked. The Tulum ruins tour was totally awesome. If I had never been to Cozumel before I would have been disappointed because there wasn't any time for shopping other than at the ruins, but I would definitly recommend going to Tulum. Also since it is a 7-hour trip, I would book it through the ship. We barely made it back in time!

[luvtocruise52]

Cascole - Thanks for sending the link to your review. Still haven't written mine yet. We were fortunate to have a great waiter and helper, and things were always done well. The service wasn't as as attentive as on the Rhapsody, but I think the waiters just have too many tables to cover. I thought the food in the dining room was very good. I enjoyed Sunset Beach but don't know that I'd do it again at that cost. We don't drink, so it wasn't as good a value for us. We also ate at the buffet, which was mediocre at best. I was disappointed in the beach - smaller and narrower than I had imagine. But we had fun on the lazy river at the water park, and the kids enjoyed the water slides. NativeWay was excellent in Grand Cayman. In Cozumel, we went ot Paradise Beach, which was great.

[BrendaB1]

Thanks for the review. I have the same cabin & my friends will be in the one next door. Can't wait to get back on Conquest......always one of my favorite ships.

[slick52]

On the Conquest 7/16. Dining room, waiter and food were not consistent. I think that was my biggest complaint, many things just lacked consistency with the exception of our cabin steward. She was great.

[txwildflower2002]

Any last minute tips I should know about for those who have sailed? Any secret places? What is not to miss? DOD? Thanks!

[Matomatic]

We (wife and two kids ages 12 & 6) flew from Sacramento to Houston Bush on a 12:15am red-eye from hell. At least 7-10 infants on the plane and some lady that snuck her dog on in her carry on. Needless to say, sleeping on this flight was minimal.

We had a one way rental from Enterprise that went extremely well, including an upgrade at no cost. Being a baseball fan, I decided to get off I-45 on the drive to Galveston to check out MinuteMaid park in downtown Houston. First of all, the park looked great, especially the locomotive on top of the stadium. However, downtown Houston has a serious problem with their stoplights. Driving through downtown at 7:00am shouldn't take an eternity. The stop lights all change at the same time, in other words if you're traveling south, all of the southbound lights go green/red at the same time. This was excrusiatingly (is this a real word?) painful and frustrating. I'm used to stop lights being independent, in other words if there aren't any cars coming on the cross-street, the light doesn't change or if you're at a red light and there are no longer any cars coming from the cross directions, the light will change to green. Sitting at stop lights waiting for an entire street to turn green, when there wasn't any traffic, got me pretty grumpy on my drive to Galveston.

Not wanting to venture too far off of I-45, we ate breakfast at a Denny's kind of near the Univ. of Houston. Breakfast was adequate, nothing special.

Got to Galveston's Enterprise around 8:45. Had to wait about 15 minutes for the shuttle to the Conquest. We had a very interesting shuttle driver, very personable, and a good since of humor.

Getting on the ship was a worse experience than driving through downtown Houston. We ended up being the 5th "group" in line to board the ship. We knew we were early, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was after we actually checked in to board the ship, they seated us in some chairs where we waited for 2 hours to get to finally go on the ship. Every once in a while a gentleman from Carnival would stand in front of the crowd to tell us what was going on. But, because of the softness of his voice and his Texas accent, I had no idea what he was saying.

Finally boarded the ship and ate lunch in the Cezanne Grand Buffet. Food was good, son and I had cheeseburgers from the grill. Wife and daughter had the buffet.

After the muster drill, spent the rest of Sunday getting to know the ship.

Without a doubt, the highlight of our ship experience was our 8:00pm dinners in the Monet dining room. The food was excellent, but, the best part of the dining room was our outstanding waiter, VanBurn. He is from Grenada, about 6'5 and looks like Michael Jordan. He was a tremendous waiter. During the dinner room staff dancing/singing, he was often the waiter featured in "solo" dances. This guy had great dance moves. VanBurn hit if off right away with our 6 year old daughter. She couldn't wait to go to dinner every night to see what VanBurn had in store for her. Andrea from Slovakia, who assisted VanBurn, was very good as well. Everything was delivered in a prompt, timely manner. They quickly learned our preferances. Needless to say, we ate every dinner in the dining room. The negative part of the dining room was our seating arrangement. The four of us sat in a booth, just like we did at Denny's. We talked to those around us, but it would have been much more enjoyable if we were seated at a large round table so that we could enjoy our conversations with our cruise mates.

Our room steward left a lot to be desired. His name was Michael and he was from India. He was not personable at all. He took care of the rooms, but when I asked to have a firmer pillow, he told me that the pillows that Carnival had were the best in the cruising industry. In fact he stated that Carnival had just spent not thousands, not hundreds of thousands and not millions, but..............billions of dollars to upgrade the pillows and linens for their ships. I don't care how much they spent, their pillows suck. Morning stiff necks were the norm for this trip. Also, he never left us a comment card to fill out, probably because he knew that he wasn't going to get a favorable review from me.

On Wednesday, we awoke in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We went to Sunset Beach. Had a really good time, although there weren't any water trampolines or icebergs that I had been told that they had. Also the miniature golf course was closed. The water slides were fun, except for the couple that decided to partake in the local custom of lighting up a joint in the castle portion of the water slide park. I had the great opportunity of explaining to my 12 year old what that "funny" smell was. The drinks were ok, the food was less than average, but we did have a good time overall.

On Thursday was Grand Cayman. Easily the best stop on the cruise. We signed up with Capt. Bryan's for Stingray City and 2 snorkeling stops. We had a relatively small group on our catameran (sp?), about 18 of us. The crew did a good job. Stingray city was phenominal. Everyone enjoyed. Snorkeling was good too, however, 10 minutes into the 2nd snorkeling stop, my 12 year and I got permission to start jumping off the top of our boat into the ocean while it was anchored. That was a blast too!

Despite using sunblock with a 50 spf, all 4 of us got burned pretty good on this 3 hour trip.

Friday morning was Cozumel. Easily the worse of the 3 stops. We had planned to go to Paradise Beach that day, but because of our sunburns, we decided just to walk around the town and visit the shops. This was a HUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEEEEE mistake.

We were hounded over and over and over and over, come into my shop, come see what I have. I thought Tijuana was bad, this place was worse. I wanted to put sign on my shirt that said leave me alone, I'm not interested. We finally got directions to Senor Frogs for lunch. First of all, the food was very good. The atmosphere was good too with lots of good rock'n roll being played over the sound system. My wife and I had a margarita, the kids each had 2 sodas. My wife had fajitas and my son and I had chicken enchilladas. My 6 year old didn't want to eat. All the prices were in pesos so I was a little shocked when I got the $65.00 bill. 2 drinks, 4 sodas, 3 meals, $65.00. It was pricey, but at least we knew we didn't have to worry about the water or bad food in this chain restaraunt. Headed back to the boat after lunch.

There were two categories of shows for this ship. Carnival produced shows which were terrible and guest entertainers that were very good. The ventriliquist, hypnotist, and the comedian Phat Cat, were all very good. The all-star Karaoke show on Saturday night was good too. The Carnival produced Point and Click show was horrible. Several people, including us, walked out on that one. There is nothing special about the two Conquest singers. I can't remember their names, but not too worry, they won't be performing anywhere else anytime soon. Just typical lounge singers. We didn't see Deja the magician.

 

Todd the cruise director was very good.

Getting off the ship wasn't nearly as bad as getting on. When we got to the Enterprise shop, I was told that they were out of cars, despite having a confirmed reservation. We have to wait 30 minutes for a car to be driven over to us from their main Galveston office. Nothing was done to compensate our wait or when the car did finally arrive, the guy from Enterprise wouldn't get out of it, he sat in the air conditioning on his cell phone while we roasted in the sun waiting for him to end his call.

The drive back to Bush was painless.

We had a good time on this cruise, but, in my opinion, the first cruise we went on, Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas, was as better overall trip. Nicer ship, better overall food & better service, except for our dining room staff.

 

 

[okiemom]

Thanks for taking time out to give a really well written review. Can't wait until our turn.:)