Conquest Review 3-29 Bahamas Cruise

[Shorty1007]

Just a little info on our family before I get started. This was my husband and I's second cruise on the Conquest, my mother and fathers's third cruise on the Conquest and my 14 year old daughter's first cruise ever (more about that later). We left to drive to Galveston from Hot Springs, AR on 3/28 at about 7am. It was 30 something degrees in Arkansas when we left. It was a very good drive not too much traffic. We always take the ferry over to Galveston so that put us driving through the hurricane affected area. We had no idea how bad the damage was to the 40 miles from the time you get off of interstate 10 and the ferry. I don't think the media even touched on how badly affected this area was. We were speechless as we drove through this area. There is still very visable damage and it is unbelieveable. Everyone in this area will be in our prayers for some time to come.

We stayed at the Howard Johnson on Harborside drive the night before our cruise. The main reason we picked this hotel is because they allowed 5 people to stay in one room. Most hotels did not have that available. We called at the very begining of January to make our reservation and were told at that time that their bottom floor was being repaired, but that it should be done by the time we were there. It was very obvoius that they had just completed the bottom floor of this hotel. It smelled of new paint and you could tell that all of the furnature was new. There was a sign on the door when we checked in letting the FEMA voucher people know that the last day they would be able to stay there would be sometime at the beginning of March. Even though this date was well past it was obvouis that they still had FEMA victums staying there. The maid voiced their desire for them to be gone to us so I think that stress is running a little high over the subject. We stayed in a room on the first floor. It was fine for one night. I would not stay there for an extended period of time though. Just didn't seem to be a very good area.

 

Parking: We could have left our car at the hotel for free, but we choose not to because of the area of town we were in. We choose to use the Lighthouse parking. We booked over the internet and paid $50 for all week. My dad brought us all over to the terminal and dropped us all off and then drove the car to Lighthouse Parking. They brought him over right away with no wait.

 

Enbarktion: We arrived at the terminal at 11am. There seemed to be alot of people there early for this cruise. We did not get onto the boat until 1pm. The wait this time was alot longer than the last time we cruised. I know that there were alot of past cruisers on this cruise that might have had something to do with it. There was also 3 large groups onboard. So I don't know if that had anything to do with it. As soon as we were onboard we went to lido deck since our rooms would not be ready for about 30 minutes. At 1:30 we went to our room. None of our bags were there yet, but we met our room steward his name was Edwardo. He did a fine job all week. Nothing extra. We did not get a towel animal the first or last night which is a bummer when you cruising with a kid.

 

Our Room: We had an oceanview room on deck Main. Our room # was 2231. We booked this cruise a year in advance when they first announced the Bahamas itinerary. We booked at the same time as my mom and dad through a travel agent. She linked our bookings and noted that we would like ajoining cabins. Even though we were both past guest, booked a year in advance, we still did not get ajoining rooms. I do not see why since when we went the year before we booked the same way and got ajoining rooms. Our room was an ajoining room and there was nothing different because of the extra person they just used the couch to make into a bed. Not a complaint, just an observation. I think they are trying to make people pay the higher price to get a certain cabin by not giving requests.

 

Dining: We had table 128 in the Renoir dining room at the 6pm seating. Our waiter was Alexsander from Croacia (spelling). His assistant was also from Croacia, but to tell you the truth I can't remember his name. He did not speak much. He was obvoiusly just the helper. He did what Alexsander told him to. Alexsander did an excellant job for our table. He catered to my 14 year olds every request. Including her shredded cheese for her baked potato every night. He grew on you as the cruise went on. You can tell he is from Russia. He kind of was very military like (if you know what I mean). He was a great waiter and we believe he truely wanted everything to be perfect. My favorite meal was the Vegaterian Lasanga. I am not a steak eaters so my opinion of the food is a little different than most. Most of my family including my daughter had many steaks and said they were great. Filet Minon was one of their favorites. My favorite desserts were Amaretto Chocolate Cake (if you like dark chocolate you will love this), Bitter and Blonk was also good. My daughter and dad had Chocolate Melting Cake every night. They provided us with the recipe if anyone wants it. We ate in the formal dining room every morning for breakfast. The French toast was my favorite. We did not eat much on the lido so I can't help you our much in that area.

 

Weather: The weather was a big concern for me when we left. When we left Galvestion it was sunny and about 62 degrees. You needed a light jacket for sailaway. The second day (first sea day) it was cool and very, very windy. You needed a jacket while on the lido deck. We played a round of mini gold and was surpirsed it was even open it was so windy it was hard to stand up. When we awoke in Key West the next morning it was sunny and about 75 degrees. Probably a high of 85 degrees. It was wonderful. The great weather lasted all week with no rain and highs in the lower 80's. Our last sea day as we got closer to Galvestion it got very foggy and started to get a little cooler, but still no rain.

 

Key West: My husband and father took a deep sea fishing excursion, through Carnival. The price for this excursion is a little high, but we like to stick to Carnival excursions. They both got to catch some fish. Nothing really big, but they had a good time. Also, this excursion was supposed to last until 4pm they arrived back in Key West at 5pm. My mother, daughter, and I just walked area and shopped.

 

Freeport, Bahamas: We all went to the Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach resort. This is a all exclusive resort. It has a great beach. We had a great day. If you read about this resort on the internet you will find alot of varying reviews. If you are looking for a relaxing beach day this resort is fine. I can understand that if you were there a week you might get bored, but for one day it is great. The bar opens at 10:30am. There breakfast buffet was okay. They have omelets made to order which were good. There is a hambuger station beside the bar on the beach which we did not eat at, but it was available if you wanted it. overall we had a great day with great weather. We would suggest this to our friends that wanted to spend a day at the beach.

 

Nassau, Bahamas: We did the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter. They pick you up on a boat for about a a twenty minute ride to Blue Lagoon. We stopped at Paradise Island to pick up more people that were staying at local hotels. This made our trip last about 40 minutes. It is a very pretty ride. You will pass the Atlantis so you can take some pictures from the boat. The actual dolphin experience was great. The dolphins are very well trained. We all had a great time.

 

On Board Experience: We were a little concerned about my daughter being able to make friends. We were a little worried about there being a ton of kids. There were 20 teens on board according to the leader of the Circle C club. We had to make my daughter go to circle C the first day. She sometimes is slow to make friends because she says she doesn't like preps. She made several good friends and soon had no time for us adults. She ate supper with us and went on excursions with us other than that she was never around. She had a great time. Since there was so few kids on board they combined the Circle C and O2 clubs for some things. It was fine they were all friends by the end of the cruise. She had a great time and cryed when we had to leave. I think it was partly because she was so exhausted and partly because she had made such good friends. I know that she is already in contact with some of them via Yahoo messanger. As for the shows they have not changed in years. If we go on the Conquest again we will only go the the first and last show. We enjoyed the Karoke. I liked they guy that ran it, the rest of my family didn't. He is leaving to go to the Holiday. I hope the guy that was helping him is not his replacement, because he was very dry. I have all the Capers if anyone has any questions. I don't have a scanner so I can't scan them, but will be willing to answer any questions.

 

Debarktion: We did self assist and were outside the terminal at 7:50am. I would say we were within the first 50 off the ship. We were pulling away from the terminal at 8am that was with my dad riding to the Lighthouse parking on the shuttle and coming back and picking us up. It was great.

[SkiAz4Free]

Nice review, thank you!

 

We leave on the Conquest in 6 days for the W Caribbean!

 

Very excited!

[Cruise Cat]

Thank you for the review - especially the info on excursions in Freeport and Nassau. I think those are the biggest questions for those of us sailing out of Texas and not having been there before.

[Carguylee]

Shorty,

Which of the ports did yall like the least & why? We are going on this itinerary and are cruious. Thanks!

[NOLA_Cruiser88]

Wait.. we were on the Main Deck as well in 2256.. Chris didnt call for deck 2 self assist until close to 8:30??? Did you cheat? Or did you not reset your watch? lol Oh and they said the embarkation was delayed because they had an unusualy long debarkation on the previous cruise. Took us 3 hours to get through it.. Getting off the ship was relatively fast though.

[Shorty1007]

Shorty,

Which of the ports did yall like the least & why? We are going on this itinerary and are cruious. Thanks!

 

 

We actually had a great time on all of them. You could do it on your own in Key West, but I would suggest excursions in Freeport and Nassau. Nassau reminded me alot of Jamacia if you have ever been there. I can't say enough good about our Blue Lagoon Dolphin experience. We loved it, and our beach day in Freeport was great also. We had great weather except for a cool first day, and foggy last day so I think that is why I was so much more pleased with this cruise. These ports aren't as bad a some people say you just really need to take an excursion whether through the ship or not.

[Shorty1007]

Wait.. we were on the Main Deck as well in 2256.. Chris didnt call for deck 2 self assist until close to 8:30??? Did you cheat? Or did you not reset your watch? lol Oh and they said the embarkation was delayed because they had an unusualy long debarkation on the previous cruise. Took us 3 hours to get through it.. Getting off the ship was relatively fast though.

 

We cheated. We have learned from past cruises that nobody goes by floors and if you wait you will get stuck. The people from the cruise line don't care they just want you off so that they can get the next one's on. As soon as they called the first floor we went. We were not the only ones

[barbmac]

Thanks for the review. Nice thoughts about Galveston. It is hard to believe the how bad it was. Alot of us were without electricity for weeks and that was in Houston. The damage East of Galveston was much worse and got the least amount of press. Boliver Island was completely wiped off the map.

[Carguylee]

We actually had a great time on all of them. You could do it on your own in Key West, but I would suggest excursions in Freeport and Nassau. Nassau reminded me alot of Jamacia if you have ever been there. I can't say enough good about our Blue Lagoon Dolphin experience. We loved it, and our beach day in Freeport was great also. We had great weather except for a cool first day, and foggy last day so I think that is why I was so much more pleased with this cruise. These ports aren't as bad a some people say you just really need to take an excursion whether through the ship or not.

 

 

We were getting worried with some of the reivews of the ports. We have been to Jamacia and thought it was pretty. Thanks for the info

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Love the Conquest. Thanks for the update.