Review-Conquest Halloween Cruise

[waiting4acruise]

Conquest Cruise-October 26, 2008-Halloween.

I am 47 and went on this cruise with my DW 42. This was our fourth cruise and the third cruise on the Conquest. We stayed in balcony room 7344 on the Empress Deck. We drove down from Dallas to Houston the day before our cruise.

Hotel: We stayed at the Hampton Inn Houston NASA- Johnson Space Center. It was located on NASA Road One about 6 miles from the Bayport Cruise Terminal. The hotel had suffered some damage from Hurricane Ike the month before. As a result the hotel was doing repairs and renovations. The issue was the hotel did not have any carpet in the rooms or any in any of the common areas. The manager at the front desk said the renovations should be complete by the end of the year. Other than that the hotel was good. It had a nice breakfast in the morning. We drove to a strip mall that had a grocery store and Mexican restaurant. The food was very good. This area on NASA Road One has recovered from Hurricane Ike.

Embarking: We were anxious to get to the Conquest and headed out to the terminal at 10:15am. We arrived at the terminal around 10:25am. We headed to the luggage drop off point. A porter took our luggage immediately. My DW stayed while I went to park the car. I paid the $70 parking fee and was directed to a parking spot up front. It was a very short walk to the terminal. We immediately checked in. We had a short wait before we boarded. We were in zone 4 for boarding. There were plenty of chairs to sit in. We boarded the ship at 11:45am. Since our room was not ready yet we headed to the Lido deck for lunch. I wanted to go to Sur Mer, but I did not want to carry all of our carry on luggage up the stairs to get to it. A Lido staff waiter overheard our predicament and went to the Sur Mer to get us some fish & chips and gumbo. After lunch we headed to the Sports bar to watch football until our room was ready at 1:30pm.

Room Steward: Our room steward was excellent in cleaning our room. I am sorry I did not get his name. He was magic. The room was cleaned by the time we got back from breakfast and the turn down service was complete by the time we got back from dinner every day. He kept our ice bucket full. We had an issue with the water temperature in the shower the first night. We could not figure it out. We left him a note Monday morning. He fixed it for us and the shower water was perfect the rest of the cruise.

Dining Room Staff: We had a table for two #426 in the upper Renoir Dining Room. Our dining room waiter, Sandro, and assistant waiter, Saurdika, were excellent. After the first night when we ordered iced tea, they had the sweeteners and lemon already on our table when we arrived. They were very helpful in explaining some of the items on the menu, asking on how our day went, and memorizing our names. What is amazing about this after dinner the first night I was passing through Alfred’s Bar during Tea time the next day and Sandro saw me. He called me by my name and asked how my day was. The next day I was eating lunch in the Lido buffet. He saw me and called me out by my name and asked how I was doing.

The Assistant Maitre D, Slavica Dimitrieva, was wonderful. She passed our table and other tables at least twice every night. She remembered our names. She asked how our day was. She asked how our dinner was. Thursday we were eating lunch in the Lido deck. She stopped by to ask how our day went. She will be an excellent Maitre D.

Cruise Director Staff:Cruise Director, Ralph Valente, was excellent. He was very funny in the events he hosted. He had our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet posted in the Monday Capers. He also mentioned our Meet & Greet in his Monday morning announcement. When I met him at the events he was very nice in person. The only drawback about Ralph, if you can call it that, is that we did not see him out on deck when he was not hosting events like our past cruise directors. Now it is possible he could have been busy or at other places on the ship.

Ralph’s assistants were wonderful. I went to many events and trivia contests. (I won five Ship on a Stick playing trivia) All of them were very nice.

Sunday: The Muster Drill was at 3:45pm. We headed down to deck 4. As soon as the drill was over we went back to our room for sail away. Our dining time was 6:00pm in the Renoir Dining Room. The food was very good. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The comic, Kim Harrison was excellent.

Monday: I got up at 7am to meet some of our Cruise Critic Roll Callers for morning coffee. About nine I went back to our room to get my DW for breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the Alfred’s Bar for our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet It was nice to finally meet our fellow CC roll callers. We became friends with some of our roll callers and went with them to events through out the cruise. One of the cruise director’s assistants and the comedian, Kim Harrison, was there. They answered all off our questions. After the Meet & Greet I at lunch at P.C. Wok. After lunch I went out on our balcony to read a newspaper I brought with me. I laid down on the bed to watch some TV. Due to the gentle rocking of the ship I fell asleep and missed most of it. Today was the Captain’s Reception and the first elegant night. We went to Blues Piano Bar. Paul was excellent on the piano. We then went to the r rated comedy show in the Degas Lounge. Kim Harrison was very good again.

Tuesday: Was a lazy day for us. We did not get up to early. After breakfast DW visited the gift shops while I did the beanbag toss on the Lido deck. We had a very good lunch in the Monet Dining Room. After lunch we went to see the Marriage show. It was very funny. The seas were rough today. During dinner the ship’s rocking stopped. I found out later the ship hap to stop to tender a medical emergency off the ship. We were near the Cayman Islands at the time. I pray that they were all right. After dinner we relaxed on our balcony. At 11pm I went to the Degas Lounge to watch some Karaoke. At Midnight there was a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was amazed on how many middle age people like myself were there to watch this movie. The CD entertainment staff did a good job with the interactive parts.

Wednesday-Jamaica: I got up at 7am to meet some of our roll callers for coffee. At 8am I went back to my room for our room service breakfast. This is a good option for port days if you are going ashore early. The Lido deck buffet was very crowded for breakfast at this time. At 10am went met our friends in the lobby and went ashore. We took a Juta cab to Sunset Beach. It was a short cab ride to Sunset Beach. It cost $3 dollars per person for cab fare. We arrived at Sunset Beach. It was a gated resort. The Day pass price had gone up to $60 for adults from $40. The price included all food and drinks. The resort was very nice. The drinks were plentiful and potent. We found lounge chairs by the Lazy River. The Lazy River was very relaxing. The jerk chicken was good and on the spicy side. Around 2:30 we got dressed and headed to the restaurant for lunch. I am not sure if this was the end of lunchtime. There was not a big selection for lunch. What they had there was good. At 3pm we met our cab driver and headed back to the terminal. We did some shopping before we boarded the Conquest. After dinner all of fun and activities we had done so far caught up to us. We were planning to go to the adult game show at 11pm. We never made it. I lied down in bed to watch some TV. I fell asleep and did not wake up until 8:30 the next morning.

Thursday-Grand Cayman: This was our third cruise to Grand Cayman. We did not have anything planned here. My DW stayed on the ship. She did the self service laundry and walked around the ship to take pictures. At 10am I boarded the tender to go onshore. I soon as I got onshore I bought some rum cakes at the Tortuga store. I turned right at the street and walk about 2 blocks and located a liquor store. I was able to buy a 1.75 liter bottle of Appleton rum for $16. At the store they allowed you 15 minutes of free Internet access and phone calls. I called home to let our daughter know on how we were doing. I also posted the Cruise Critic Crazies Conquest thread to let them know on how our cruise was going. On they way back to the ship I continued the Committed Crazies Conquest tradition and bought some spicy BBQ chicken wings at the local KFC for Cruise Director, Ralph. A little after 12 I rode the tender back to the Conquest. I went to the Purser’s desk to deliver to Ralph his chicken wings. Assistant CD, Kyle, came to get the wings. I headed back to my cabin. A few minutes later Ralph called to thank us for the chicken wings. He offered to get us a round of drinks at the Marriage show that night. We took it easy the rest of the afternoon. Around 9:30pm we went to the Blue’s Piano Bar for some more good entertainment by Paul. At 10:30 we went to the Degas Lounge to see the end of Karaoke and the R rated Marriage show. We met Ralph. He again thanked us for the chicken wings and made arrangements for our drinks.

Friday-Cozumel: We went to the Monet Dining room for breakfast. We were able to see the Conquest dock in Cozumel. Today was a shopping day for us. Around 10:30am we went onshore. We did most of our shopping. We went across the street to an Internet café. It was $2 for 30 minutes of Internet time. We went back to the shopping plaza. We ate lunch at Poncho’s Backyard. The food was very good. The margaritas were very good and potent. We finished our shopping and went back to the ship. The Carnival Valor was docked next us. We went out on our balcony to watch the stragglers. The Valor blew its horn three different times. It was loud. The Valor left at 5:20pm. We then watched the Conquest stragglers. The Conquest left on time at 6pm. After dinner we came back to our cabin to get ready for the Halloween festivities. Our friends met up with us. We headed to the Disco for the Halloween activities. The costumes were outrages and nice.

Saturday: We took it easy. Most of other passengers did also. The Lido deck had few passengers in the morning. Most people were recovering from the Halloween activities from last night. I met some of our roll callers for morning coffee. We discussed all of the outstanding costumes we saw last night. We did most of the packing in the afternoon. After dinner we relaxed before going to the Legends Show. After the show we made our contribution at the casino.

Debarking: We woke up around 6:15am just in time to watch us dock in Bayport. Our room service breakfast arrived at 7am. While sitting out on the balcony drinking coffee for the last time, I glanced out to the Terminal parking lot. Since this was the last cruise out of Bayport, the parking lot was half empty. I was able to spot our car in the parking lot. About 8:30am we left our cabin for the last time. We headed to the Casino to wait for our Zone 14 to be called. At 9:45 our zone was called. We proceeded to the elevators. When we got to deck 3 to our amazement there was no line at all. This was the best debarking of all of our cruises. As we walked out of the lobby Assistant CD, Kyle, and a few other of the Cruise Director staff said goodbye to us. We easily located our luggage. We got a porter. He led us through the customs line. We made it to our car. We left the parking lot at 10:30am. It was sad seeing the Conquest fade away in the rear view mirror.

My DW loved our balcony. She loved sitting out there watching the waves go by. She said we can never cruise without a balcony. She noticed a lot more staff on this cruise. They were very friendly and helpful. My only complaint about this cruise is that the Lido deck no longer has the red fruit punch to drink. It limited the drinks to iced tea and lemonade. Overall we had a great time and cannot wait to sail on the Conquest again next year.

 

Here is a link to our pictures:

 

http://s454.photobucket.com/albums/qq261/Waiting4acruise/

[yearnin4cruisin]

Thanks for the review. I like the way you broke it down. Made it very easy to follow.

[*Mach*]

G, thanks so much for a most excellent review. You and NoG are now officially balcony snobs. Congratulations!!

I'm thrilled you had such a good time. You kids deserved it!

God bless, my friend. I'm looking forward to sailing with you on the Crazies...

Mach

[texgen]

Excellent review G !! Loved the pictures.....the Scots looked like they were having a good time too ! SO you reaady to go again ?? :D

Ginnie

[waiting4acruise]

Excellent review G !! Loved the pictures.....the Scots looked like they were having a good time too ! SO you reaady to go again ?? :D

Ginnie

Yes DW is trying to get me to book the Ecstacy in April for her birthday.

[billsrobb]

G and No G great review, great pictures. I always look at the pictures eventhough I have been on her twice now. Brings back great memories.

Robb

Poster-In-Chief

[dprg644]

Great review and it was nice meeting you at the M&G. Great cruise

[The Older Folks]

Loved your review and pics. Made me think that we were back onboard. We sailed on her on the 10/19/08 sailing, and were in 7330, 10 cabins from yours, I think. Halloween was already starting on our cruise. Glad you enjoyed it, and hope to sail with you sometime soon.

[waiting4acruise]

Great review and it was nice meeting you at the M&G. Great cruise

It was nice meeting you.

[melodienj]

Great review!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D

[waiting4acruise]

Great review!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D

Your welcome.

[tgray69]

thank you for the great review. we can't wait to go on conquest again.

[waiting4acruise]

thank you for the great review. we can't wait to go on conquest again.

We can not wait to go on her again also.

[WestTxCruiser]

G and NoG, glad ya'll had a great time, loved your review!! Isn't it fun travelling with the Scots?

[fllady61]

Conquest Cruise-October 26, 2008-Halloween.

 

 

I am 47 and went on this cruise with my DW 42. This was our fourth cruise and the third cruise on the Conquest. We stayed in balcony room 7344 on the Empress Deck. We drove down from Dallas to Houston the day before our cruise.

 

Hotel: We stayed at the Hampton Inn Houston NASA- Johnson Space Center. It was located on NASA Road One about 6 miles from the Bayport Cruise Terminal. The hotel had suffered some damage from Hurricane Ike the month before. As a result the hotel was doing repairs and renovations. The issue was the hotel did not have any carpet in the rooms or any in any of the common areas. The manager at the front desk said the renovations should be complete by the end of the year. Other than that the hotel was good. It had a nice breakfast in the morning. We drove to a strip mall that had a grocery store and Mexican restaurant. The food was very good. This area on NASA Road One has recovered from Hurricane Ike.

Embarking: We were anxious to get to the Conquest and headed out to the terminal at 10:15am. We arrived at the terminal around 10:25am. We headed to the luggage drop off point. A porter took our luggage immediately. My DW stayed while I went to park the car. I paid the $70 parking fee and was directed to a parking spot up front. It was a very short walk to the terminal. We immediately checked in. We had a short wait before we boarded. We were in zone 4 for boarding. There were plenty of chairs to sit in. We boarded the ship at 11:45am. Since our room was not ready yet we headed to the Lido deck for lunch. I wanted to go to Sur Mer, but I did not want to carry all of our carry on luggage up the stairs to get to it. A Lido staff waiter overheard our predicament and went to the Sur Mer to get us some fish & chips and gumbo. After lunch we headed to the Sports bar to watch football until our room was ready at 1:30pm.

Room Steward: Our room steward was excellent in cleaning our room. I am sorry I did not get his name. He was magic. The room was cleaned by the time we got back from breakfast and the turn down service was complete by the time we got back from dinner every day. He kept our ice bucket full. We had an issue with the water temperature in the shower the first night. We could not figure it out. We left him a note Monday morning. He fixed it for us and the shower water was perfect the rest of the cruise.

Dining Room Staff: We had a table for two #426 in the upper Renoir Dining Room. Our dining room waiter, Sandro, and assistant waiter, Saurdika, were excellent. After the first night when we ordered iced tea, they had the sweeteners and lemon already on our table when we arrived. They were very helpful in explaining some of the items on the menu, asking on how our day went, and memorizing our names. What is amazing about this after dinner the first night I was passing through Alfred’s Bar during Tea time the next day and Sandro saw me. He called me by my name and asked how my day was. The next day I was eating lunch in the Lido buffet. He saw me and called me out by my name and asked how I was doing.

The Assistant Maitre D, Slavica Dimitrieva, was wonderful. She passed our table and other tables at least twice every night. She remembered our names. She asked how our day was. She asked how our dinner was. Thursday we were eating lunch in the Lido deck. She stopped by to ask how our day went. She will be an excellent Maitre D.

Cruise Director Staff:Cruise Director, Ralph Valente, was excellent. He was very funny in the events he hosted. He had our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet posted in the Monday Capers. He also mentioned our Meet & Greet in his Monday morning announcement. When I met him at the events he was very nice in person. The only drawback about Ralph, if you can call it that, is that we did not see him out on deck when he was not hosting events like our past cruise directors. Now it is possible he could have been busy or at other places on the ship.

Ralph’s assistants were wonderful. I went to many events and trivia contests. (I won five Ship on a Stick playing trivia) All of them were very nice.

Sunday: The Muster Drill was at 3:45pm. We headed down to deck 4. As soon as the drill was over we went back to our room for sail away. Our dining time was 6:00pm in the Renoir Dining Room. The food was very good. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The comic, Kim Harrison was excellent.

Monday: I got up at 7am to meet some of our Cruise Critic Roll Callers for morning coffee. About nine I went back to our room to get my DW for breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the Alfred’s Bar for our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet It was nice to finally meet our fellow CC roll callers. We became friends with some of our roll callers and went with them to events through out the cruise. One of the cruise director’s assistants and the comedian, Kim Harrison, was there. They answered all off our questions. After the Meet & Greet I at lunch at P.C. Wok. After lunch I went out on our balcony to read a newspaper I brought with me. I laid down on the bed to watch some TV. Due to the gentle rocking of the ship I fell asleep and missed most of it. Today was the Captain’s Reception and the first elegant night. We went to Blues Piano Bar. Paul was excellent on the piano. We then went to the r rated comedy show in the Degas Lounge. Kim Harrison was very good again.

Tuesday: Was a lazy day for us. We did not get up to early. After breakfast DW visited the gift shops while I did the beanbag toss on the Lido deck. We had a very good lunch in the Monet Dining Room. After lunch we went to see the Marriage show. It was very funny. The seas were rough today. During dinner the ship’s rocking stopped. I found out later the ship hap to stop to tender a medical emergency off the ship. We were near the Cayman Islands at the time. I pray that they were all right. After dinner we relaxed on our balcony. At 11pm I went to the Degas Lounge to watch some Karaoke. At Midnight there was a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was amazed on how many middle age people like myself were there to watch this movie. The CD entertainment staff did a good job with the interactive parts.

Wednesday-Jamaica: I got up at 7am to meet some of our roll callers for coffee. At 8am I went back to my room for our room service breakfast. This is a good option for port days if you are going ashore early. The Lido deck buffet was very crowded for breakfast at this time. At 10am went met our friends in the lobby and went ashore. We took a Juta cab to Sunset Beach. It was a short cab ride to Sunset Beach. It cost $3 dollars per person for cab fare. We arrived at Sunset Beach. It was a gated resort. The Day pass price had gone up to $60 for adults from $40. The price included all food and drinks. The resort was very nice. The drinks were plentiful and potent. We found lounge chairs by the Lazy River. The Lazy River was very relaxing. The jerk chicken was good and on the spicy side. Around 2:30 we got dressed and headed to the restaurant for lunch. I am not sure if this was the end of lunchtime. There was not a big selection for lunch. What they had there was good. At 3pm we met our cab driver and headed back to the terminal. We did some shopping before we boarded the Conquest. After dinner all of fun and activities we had done so far caught up to us. We were planning to go to the adult game show at 11pm. We never made it. I lied down in bed to watch some TV. I fell asleep and did not wake up until 8:30 the next morning.

Thursday-Grand Cayman: This was our third cruise to Grand Cayman. We did not have anything planned here. My DW stayed on the ship. She did the self service laundry and walked around the ship to take pictures. At 10am I boarded the tender to go onshore. I soon as I got onshore I bought some rum cakes at the Tortuga store. I turned right at the street and walk about 2 blocks and located a liquor store. I was able to buy a 1.75 liter bottle of Appleton rum for $16. At the store they allowed you 15 minutes of free Internet access and phone calls. I called home to let our daughter know on how we were doing. I also posted the Cruise Critic Crazies Conquest thread to let them know on how our cruise was going. On they way back to the ship I continued the Committed Crazies Conquest tradition and bought some spicy BBQ chicken wings at the local KFC for Cruise Director, Ralph. A little after 12 I rode the tender back to the Conquest. I went to the Purser’s desk to deliver to Ralph his chicken wings. Assistant CD, Kyle, came to get the wings. I headed back to my cabin. A few minutes later Ralph called to thank us for the chicken wings. He offered to get us a round of drinks at the Marriage show that night. We took it easy the rest of the afternoon. Around 9:30pm we went to the Blue’s Piano Bar for some more good entertainment by Paul. At 10:30 we went to the Degas Lounge to see the end of Karaoke and the R rated Marriage show. We met Ralph. He again thanked us for the chicken wings and made arrangements for our drinks.

Friday-Cozumel: We went to the Monet Dining room for breakfast. We were able to see the Conquest dock in Cozumel. Today was a shopping day for us. Around 10:30am we went onshore. We did most of our shopping. We went across the street to an Internet café. It was $2 for 30 minutes of Internet time. We went back to the shopping plaza. We ate lunch at Poncho’s Backyard. The food was very good. The margaritas were very good and potent. We finished our shopping and went back to the ship. The Carnival Valor was docked next us. We went out on our balcony to watch the stragglers. The Valor blew its horn three different times. It was loud. The Valor left at 5:20pm. We then watched the Conquest stragglers. The Conquest left on time at 6pm. After dinner we came back to our cabin to get ready for the Halloween festivities. Our friends met up with us. We headed to the Disco for the Halloween activities. The costumes were outrages and nice.

Saturday: We took it easy. Most of other passengers did also. The Lido deck had few passengers in the morning. Most people were recovering from the Halloween activities from last night. I met some of our roll callers for morning coffee. We discussed all of the outstanding costumes we saw last night. We did most of the packing in the afternoon. After dinner we relaxed before going to the Legends Show. After the show we made our contribution at the casino.

Debarking: We woke up around 6:15am just in time to watch us dock in Bayport. Our room service breakfast arrived at 7am. While sitting out on the balcony drinking coffee for the last time, I glanced out to the Terminal parking lot. Since this was the last cruise out of Bayport, the parking lot was half empty. I was able to spot our car in the parking lot. About 8:30am we left our cabin for the last time. We headed to the Casino to wait for our Zone 14 to be called. At 9:45 our zone was called. We proceeded to the elevators. When we got to deck 3 to our amazement there was no line at all. This was the best debarking of all of our cruises. As we walked out of the lobby Assistant CD, Kyle, and a few other of the Cruise Director staff said goodbye to us. We easily located our luggage. We got a porter. He led us through the customs line. We made it to our car. We left the parking lot at 10:30am. It was sad seeing the Conquest fade away in the rear view mirror.

 

My DW loved our balcony. She loved sitting out there watching the waves go by. She said we can never cruise without a balcony. She noticed a lot more staff on this cruise. They were very friendly and helpful. My only complaint about this cruise is that the Lido deck no longer has the red fruit punch to drink. It limited the drinks to iced tea and lemonade. Overall we had a great time and cannot wait to sail on the Conquest again next year.

 

Here is a link to our pictures:

 

http://s454.photobucket.com/albums/qq261/Waiting4acruise/

 

glad you had a good time, and that you had a good time, but personally, I will not sail on a ship where Wee Jimmy (Ralph) is going to be. He was the worlds worst cruise director in my opinion. I like to see my CD, not have to hunt him down. We were constantly running into Butch our CD on our halloween cruise.

[waiting4acruise]

G and NoG, glad ya'll had a great time, loved your review!! Isn't it fun travelling with the Scots?

The crew knew the Scots when they saw them.

[dprg644]

glad you had a good time, and that you had a good time, but personally, I will not sail on a ship where Wee Jimmy (Ralph) is going to be. He was the worlds worst cruise director in my opinion. I like to see my CD, not have to hunt him down. We were constantly running into Butch our CD on our halloween cruise.

 

This is MHO but I have sailed with both Butch and Ralph and was way more impressed with Ralph. I thought that Ralph was way more personable and approchable and was more entertaining. I did have several conversations during the cruise with Ralph as I bumped into him at some of the ships activities and did not have to look for him. Don't get me wrong it is not that I disliked Butch but IMHO we liked Ralph much better. I might add also that I do not sail a perticular ship only becasue of the CD as they don't make or break my crusie and if I enjoy it or not.

[fllady61]

This is MHO but I have sailed with both Butch and Ralph and was way more impressed with Ralph. I thought that Ralph was way more personable and approchable and was more entertaining. I did have several conversations during the cruise with Ralph as I bumped into him at some of the ships activities and did not have to look for him. Don't get me wrong it is not that I disliked Butch but IMHO we liked Ralph much better. I might add also that I do not sail a perticular ship only becasue of the CD as they don't make or break my crusie and if I enjoy it or not.

 

 

i enjoyed my cruise when with Ralph, but never saw him unless it was on tv. he just did not impress me much. Had to force a photo with him last year. I had to hunt for Ralph, and never saw him. Butch was running into us everytime we turned around.

 

I guess each person is different.

[waiting4acruise]

i enjoyed my cruise when with Ralph, but never saw him unless it was on tv. he just did not impress me much. Had to force a photo with him last year. I had to hunt for Ralph, and never saw him. Butch was running into us everytime we turned around.

 

I guess each person is different.

I understand on what you are saying. The most accessable and visible cruise director I had was Todd Whittimer (sp) on the Conquest in July 2006.

[waiting4acruise]

Loved your review and pics. Made me think that we were back onboard. We sailed on her on the 10/19/08 sailing, and were in 7330, 10 cabins from yours, I think. Halloween was already starting on our cruise. Glad you enjoyed it, and hope to sail with you sometime soon.

We look forward to seeing you on the Crazies cruise if not sooner.