Another Thanksgiving Review- Conquest (Pt. 1)

Well, here it is. Yet another Thanksgiving cruise review. I'd debated on whether or not to even post, but figured since there wasn't one on the Conquest yet (for this most recent sailing), I might as well. I haven't gotten my pictures uploaded to the computer yet. But, as soon as I do, I'll add photos to this post. Please keep in mind, brevity is not my strong suit.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

Day 1 (11/23 Miami)- Embarkation was not the most thrilling experience of my life. Is it ever? I am so envious of those of you who look perfectly coiffed and cheerful in your Bon Voyage photos. Thinking back to my 2000 and 2003 cruises, and now this one, I just don't know how it's possible to keep a camera-ready composure throughout the boarding process. I digress.

We arrived at the lovely and suffocatingly humid port of Miami around 10:45 AM Sunday morning, the 23rd. Seeing the ship there, towering above her surroundings, our hearts were aflutter with excitement. My mother in law asked me which was our ship, Splendor or Conquest. When I clarified, she squealed, "Oooh, yeah! I wanted that one to be ours because I like it the best!" Remember the scene from Home Alone 2, where Kevin takes his first taxi ride through NYC? That was us, mouths agape and all.

We pulled up to the terminal where a baggage handler was waiting. It was then that I learned I cannot rely on everything I read when scanning through Google search results. No, you cannot, in fact, check a garment bag. No. Not even if you've got it tagged. Of course, you probably already knew that. Spare me. So, we dragged all four overloaded garment bags, along with our substantially over-stuffed carry on bags and purses (Yes, we over packed. No, we'll never make that horrible mistake ever again) over to the terminal entrance to wait for my father in law to go park the vehicle in the parking deck. At some point during the thirty minute sweat fest, the baggage handler approached us and very bluntly and directly ASKED FOR A TIP!!! This type of behavior is not customary where I'm from, so I was quite taken aback. Of course, we fully intended to tip him. However, my father in law was the only one of us carrying cash so we were awaiting his return.

Eventually, my FIL (I'm just going to abbreviate MIL and FIL from here on) came back. The baggage handler got his tip. We began our conquest of Conquest's boarding process. And it goes a little something like this:

Sit bags down, retrieve folder with boarding passes, passport and Ebola paperwork. Present to agent. Take documents back. Return to folder and return folder to bag. Pick all belongings up strategically and attempt to re-establish balance underneath such incredible weight. Walk 20 steps. Sit bags down, retrieve folder with boarding passes, passport and Ebola paperwork. Present to agent...

I totally appreciate the collaborative effort of Carnival Cruise Lines and the United States Government to keep us safe, but after about the fourth or fifth time of doing this I was ready to turn around and go home. Lol, jk! Like I said, I totally understand and respect what's necessary... and if I hadn't packed like a prepper on doomsday it wouldn't have been half as bad.

Moving on, and skipping over a lot, including the part where I flashed on-boarding passengers and crew :eek: It was time to walk onto the vessel we would call home for the next seven days.

We had FTTF, so our room was ready. We didn't really reep the benefit of getting to board before anyone else, but having our rooms ready when we did board made it worth while. We checked the rooms out (aft, L-shaped deck 6-- 6450 and 6442, to be exact), sent pictures to family and went to lido for lunch at Guy's. Guy's wasn't exactly the phenomenally mind-blowing burger experience I'd been led to believe, but it was a decent burger, nonetheless. Throughout the cruise, you could rely on Guy's for having the fastest food-in-hand service on the ship. The other food lines presented a 15 minute wait at the very least, no matter what time of day or day of week. Pizza? You'd be better off to call and order Dominos in the middle of the ocean. It'd probably arrive to the ship faster than you'd get through that line. Yowza!

So, we ate our burgers on the upper level of Cezanne, then headed back to the rooms to decorate our doors and relax before muster. Sometime in between boarding and muster, I did notice that the layout of Conquest was much more difficult to decipher than that of the Imagination, which is the only other ship I've ever cruised on. It was almost like navigating a labyrinth the first few days. Not really a big deal, I did figure it out eventually.

Muster wasn't bad because we got to do the handicapped one in the Renoir dining room. Everybody else had to line up outside on deck. We did walk past our muster station (H for aft 6) before going to Renoir just so we'd know where to go in case of a real emergency. Then, there was sail away. We went up to the front of the ship and waved goodbye, very serenely.

After we sailed away, we went to have dinner in our assigned dining room, Monet. Monet is the dining room for those who choose early or late dining. Renoir serves anytime diners. I say it so matter-of-factly, but actually didn't figure that out until the sixth night of the cruise :rolleyes:.

Dinner at table 565 was satisfying to myself, my husband and my in-laws. We met our waiter, Gembong, who was pleasant and eager to please. Service was a little slow that night, but it was the first night and even our sail away was slightly delayed. So, we just took it in stride. The creme brulee (I think it was served this night?) was worth the wait!

After dinner, DH and I explored the promenade deck and casino while waiting for the adult comedy show at the Punchliner comedy club in the Degas Lounge. My in-laws retired to bed directly after the meal. I just chalked that up to them being tired from traveling, but eventually realized that if they weren't eating or in port, they were sitting in their stateroom flipping through the few available television channels. Inevitably, they were dissatisfied with the trip and have sworn off cruising, entirely. FYI: to any potential first time cruisers, if you stay in your stateroom for the duration of your cruise (unless it's your honeymoon ;)) you're gonna have a bad time.

Another contributing factor to my in-laws' dissatisfaction, which was out of Carnival's control, was the fact that we endured seriously rocky waters last week. The rocking and swaying began sometime during that first evening and did not let up until we docked back in Miami on the 30th. I had never experienced sea sickness in my life until that cruise. I still had an amazing time, which I fully intend to share with you all. However, seeing that this post has reached the size of a best-selling novel (and I've only covered day 1), I am going to have to bring this part to a close. Be on the lookout for Day 2, Nassau/Balmoral Island Dolphin Swim!

Any questions you have regarding Conquest, feel free to ask while I still remember! I have all copies of Fun Times on hand, as well.

Great start.

Keep it coming. Don't get many reviews of the Conquest.

Thanks for doing a review. I'll be on the Conquest May 2nd doing the southern Caribbean.

Subscribing! We will be on Conquest next Thanksgiving!

Keep it coming. Don't get many reviews of the Conquest.

Yes, this is true. I have been looking since I will be on her in April.

Hi Beauty

We were on Conquest 2 weeks before you on Nov.9th and loved it so much we booked again for March 21 to S.Caribbean. Looking forward to you review. I just never can find the time to do one :rolleyes:

Later

Bob :)

Enjoying your review so far, can't wait for more.

Oh mah goodness! I'd spent the past two hours composing a detailed piece, chronicling our day 2 experience... and then, I hit backspace. Sad is an understatement.

Anyway, I know I promised a review of each day and fully intend to deliver. At first, I didn't think anyone was reading this. Conquest doesn't seem to be a very popular ship on CC, for whatever reason. Even our roll call was small. Then, there was the holidays. The past several weeks have been hectic. Something about cruising over Thanksgiving put a wrench in my usual holiday routine. We received so much flack from family for traveling on a holiday that we've promised never to do it again... although, my next cruise has me returning home ON Easter Sunday, which likely means no congregating... but, nevermind that ;)

I will re-type my post tomorrow and tell you guys all about Balmoral Island.

Your review got off to a good start but I am waiting for your next installment, I am looking forward to hearing about the recent changes since I sailed conquest in 2013.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Forums mobile app

I'm waiting for more please!

Okay, I'm back by popular demand ;)

When I left off, we had boarded and had our first day on-board the Carnival Conquest. DH and I went to Punchliner (Degas Lounge, aft) that first night and enjoyed the comedians there at the adult shows. I can't remember their names off the top of my head, but I'm not even sure they're the same for every sailing so don't know if it matters. The experience was a nice one for us. We made it a nightly tradition for the rest of the cruise. I am soon cruising a line that does not offer a fixed comedy club, but DH has declared he never will.

DH, a smoker, made Vincent's Cigar Lounge (aft) his home a few hours into the trip. Even though I am not a smoker and not a fan of smoking, in the least bit, we both found ourselves in Vincent's often. The air conditioning in there was the Optimus Prime of cruise line air conditioning... Assuming Optimus Prime is a good guy?! Lol! I just thought it sounded good :cool:. In the evenings, a bartender named Vice came in to service the room. Which, was largely populated by men. DH socialized with Vice nightly, as well as some of the other "regulars" that accumulated. The only complaint I had was that I felt Vincent's was a missed opportunity-- a waste of space, if you will-- for Conquest and Carnival, in general. There was a stage. I would've loved to have had a live pianist in the evenings.

Both Vincent's and Degas were directly under our stateroom. So, it was a quick trek down one flight of stairs anytime DH wanted to smoke or we had an activity in Degas. If you're a smoker and prefer an indoors arena, deck 6 aft cabins are the way to go.

By the way, Promenade noise was never an issue for us on deck 6. We are night owls, though. Like I said, our room rested above Degas/Vincent's. Vincents had no noise and the comedy shows in Degas were over by 12:30 each night. Because we always attended the comedy shows, we weren't bothered. My in-laws in 6442 did report hearing noise from the comedy shows (and afternoon karaoke), but they were never actually asleep or trying to sleep in these instances so the noise didn't bother them, either.

About thirty minutes off the coast of Miami, the ship started rocking and did not cease for the duration of the trip (except between St. Thomas and San Juan... and when parked, of course). So, that was fun. Not. I'm not totally sure what the cause of such tempestuous waters was... we never experienced a storm... but, it caused sea sickness in a previously never sea sick me. In an aft cabin, this motion was exacerbated. Not only did the ship sway side to side, but it bobbed back and forth. Basically, our room kinda did this circular motion the whooooole trip. More on that later.

I'm gonna go ahead and submit this segment so I can type out Nassau without losing it like I did last time.