kevin_ga

First time cruiser so sorry if this is a silly question. What is FTTF? Also, is the steakhouse worth going to?

FTTF is Faster to the Fun. It costs $50 per room and gets you a taste of loyalty privileges: load right after Platinum & Diamond members on boarding, room is guaranteed ready by the time you board, luggage delivered with priority (ours was in room by 2ish), special phone number & line for Guest Services (this was REALLY nice), and priority tendering if at any of your ports (also was awesome for us at Grand Cayman). And when you disembark, you are in Zone 1 so can leave just about any time after self-assist.

They only sell so many for each cruise depending on how many high level loyalty members. They sell out quick, but sometimes will list more closer to sail time. Always good to keep checking. Under your Cruise Manager page, go to the excursions for the embarkation port (i.e. Ft. Lauderdale) and it will show FTTF and whether it is sold out or available. I highly recommend it if you can get it!

Question.....did the Conquest have the new internet packages? Sorry to ask if you already mentioned this!

Post above, unfortunately, was still true for us as well. They did NOT have the new internet packages (which we did have on Freedom in Nov -- and were awesome). I bought two of the $29 / 45 mins packages -- and the connection was ridiculously slow. It timed out loading most of the pages and I had to keep logging back in and starting over. It was nearly useless for anything other than a quick email check.

Have a great cruise... I will be boarding on Saturday when sadly you'll be disembarking.

I am so jealous! I'm sure you're enjoying your nice day at sea right about now! I hope you have a much fun on Conquest as we did!

I want pics of the casino esp the video poker machines. I board on the 12th. Thanks!

 

Sue

I do have pics & video of the poker tables and casino. I'll post them later tonight. The poker tables are literally like a normal table, but with video screens at each seat. Unfortunately this was one area I never saw in action. I only spent time at the Roulette & Craps tables the short time I was in the Casino (while it was open).

Hi Kevin,

 

We will be on our first family vacation next month. Our dinner reservations are linked for early dining. Want to find out if there is a table in the Renoir Restaurant that will accommodate 14 people.(adults and children)

 

We will be travelling with vegetarians and vegans. Is almond and rice milk available on the ship.

 

Also, is your cabin ready when boarding the ship? We will have carry-on of water, almond milk and rice milk in addition to our carry on luggage.

 

Have a great vacation.

 

Thanks,

Sandy

So here is what I was told by both the Dining Room staff and Guest Services.... hopefully you are booked for reserved seating (rather than Anytime Dining). While it *can* be possible in Anytime Dining, both the combined seating and special dietary needs are MUCH easier when coordinated in advance. As you can imagine the table configurations are locked down (tables are literally bolted to the floor) so it is easier when they plan for the larger parties. Make sure to call Carnival ahead of time and let them know. They told me they do have Almond and Rice milk available, but not necessarily readily handy. If they know in advance, they can accomodate much better. We saw the same asking for Skim Milk with coffee at night. They don't have it right by the tables and usually had to send someone to the kitchen to grab it. It took a few minutes longer, but they always were glad to provide.

As for boarding, we had FTTF and our cabin was ready when we boarded shortly after noonish. They called for everyone at about 2:30 as all rooms were ready. From my experience, most stewards don't mind you dropping off a few bags in the room even if it's not ready. Just make sure to stay out of their way and don't try to unpack before they are done. (Note* I'm sure some people would adamantly disagree with my suggestion to not follow the rules -- no need to flame here... because to each his own, and I have never been one to get caught up on what someone else thinks of me or my actions! :D

The aft pool area including pizza pirate, the atrium, and your favorite piece of artwork!

I was "distracted" enough to leave my cell phone at the gym the morning of the Cozumel port. When I made it back there, it was gone. I reported it and unfortunately it was never found or turned in. It was in airplane mode so also no way to track it.

With that said... I did get photo & video of most everything on my GoPro. I'll be pulling those tonight and will share. In the meantime... we took Freedom back in Nov for the Thanksgiving cruise. I liked Conquest MUCH better because of the colors & artwork. It was less "stuffy" and more colorful & energetic. I loved both ships, but Conquest just a little more.

Pizza Pirate was a HUGE hit all week long. They do serve pizza 24 hours a day and there is almost always someone in line to get some -- not matter than time of day or night!

I have booked this ship for next February 2016. The brochure that I am looking at says that the Conguest has been newly enhanced. I am assuming this is an older ship so I would be interested if the ship is showing some age and/or the enhancements that were made were nice ones. I would also like to know if it was difficult to communicate with the ships personnel. Most of them are from other countries. I just returned from the MSC Divina and it was very difficult to communicate with the staff. I would also like to know how fast your embarkment process was (how long of a wait to get onto ship and into your cabin). thanks:)

First off, I could NOT imagine having to wait almost a year. The anticipation for just a couple of months is enough to drive me crazy. With that said, I am envious of anyone with a future cruise!

The ship does have the 2.0 upgrade (Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers, etc.) The only thing that people seem to complain about is the missing Serenity deck. We didn't really miss it. There is still an Adults Only pool & hot tubs in the aft of the ship -- this seems to be a relatively kid-free zone except the occasional passers-by.

As for people complaining about the ship showing it's age -- I don't get it. It is a ship, so it shows normal wear & tear of a salt-water vessel. Otherwise, I think it is in pretty good shape. I didn't feel envious of too many ships when we pulled into port (Conquest was one of the better looking from a distance). And I certainly did not have any complaints walking around on board.

With that said, we did have one MINOR issue with the AC in the room. It started getting a little warmer than I like (not hot, but I like to sleep with covers in a cold room) . We called Guest Services... they had someone there to test temp in less than 15 minutes and someone there to fix it less than 30 minutes later. Afterwards, no issues.

Communication with the staff is definitely not a problem. They are from all parts of the world, but overall they speak VERY good English. There are some that struggle more than others, but they are in positions where they don't have to interface with the guests directly (i.e. cooks, cleaning, etc.) Everyone is friendly and speaks MUCH better English than I do Italian, Portuguese, etc. :)

Getting onboard was not bad at all. We had FTTF so we got there early with hopes to spend all day on board. Port Everglades was easy to get into, park, and clear security. We waited in the Terminal for about an hour until they were cleared to start loading. But they had a nice older lady walking around with a microphone getting people to sing and have fun. It wasn't a bad wait at all.

They were not as good getting people off the boat (at the Ports or final Disembarkation back in FLL). I'll put the details in my review the next day or two. Let me know if you have any other questions....

I still have to pool all of the pictures & videos later tonight, but for now... I will try to answer all of the questions. Short review -- we all had a BLAST on Conquest. I would sail her or Carnival again RIGHT NOW if I could. The Western itinerary, passengers, and staff were all a LOT of fun!

I have everyone's request and will do my best to answer questions & post pics & videos that meet your needs. More to come later...

We boarded today and so far everything looks great. Staff are very friendly. Ship seems to be in relatively good shape (I think better than our Freedom experience last Nov, but even then I had ZERO complaints).

We had FTTF so our room was ready when we boarded. At port around 10:45, unloaded luggage with porters by 11:15ish. Parking in the garage took a few minutes (lots of traffic coming in). We got inside around 11:30 and we cleared through check-in & security by noon. It was really fast thanks to FTTF, but even the normal lines weren't that bad at this time. Longest wait was the ~45 mins to an hour between getting to the terminal and loading the boat.

Quick lunch, meet & greet with some of our fellow CC passengers, and getting ready for Muster drill shortly.

Our rooms were ready when we boarded thanks to FTTF. But all of the rooms were announced as being ready around 2:30ish.

Off to a great start! Will check in as internet permits... Review to follow shortly after the week.

Thanks!

We leave for a 6-day Western Caribbean on Conquest this Sunday. As much as I enjoy reading other's reviews before cruising... I never got around to it on our last trip. So I put this out there... if I were to write one after this trip, what specifically do you guys want to know about and/or see (pics or video)?

Our ports are Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

Or I saw on one of the boards iPhone or iPad iMessage? That would be great deal $25 and you can keep in touch

Yes, the social plan gives you access to Facebook (including messenger), instagram, and a few other "social" apps. It also allows iMessage for texting between iOS devices (regular text will not work). It's great for keeping in touch while at sea. Performance was great back in November. And priced just right, even if you need multiple accounts.

It's for people who need more than 1 account. You can only connect one device at a time on each account -- multiple devices are ok, but the first has to log off before the 2nd can login, etc. In my case, each of my kids needed their own social account so they could be connected all the time.

Hope this helps...

When we were on Freedom last month, the $99 plan was the Premium option. It provided access to all Internet, including streaming media and Skype. That was the major difference between the Basic ($60) and Premium ($99) -- streaming video and audio. They didn't offer the 50% off to us, but that would be nice. You can use as many devices as you want, but only 1 can connect at a time. So device 1 has to log off before device 2 can logon. Your user credentials were your portfolio number and birthdate. We did the social plans to keep the kids happy and it worked great. But since we had 4 teens that ALL had to be connected at the same time, we had to purchase it 4 times. Still $100 well spent to keep them happy (and quiet)!

Also, value was $60 and premium was $99 for the length of your cruise.

The new plan has 3 options: social, value, and premium. They were priced both each day or the entire cruise. For our 6 day on Freedom, my kids did the social for $25 (entire cruise). This enables Facebook, Instagram, snapchat, iMessage, and a few of other social sites. You can use any kind of device that has the appropriate apps (like a Mac, iPad, iPhone, for iMessage) or web browser. The value adds access to email sites and everything else except streaming music, video, and chat (I.e. Skype). You can use as many devices as you want but only 1 can be connected at a time. You have to log off #1 before #2 can login, etc. With the low prices, it wasn't bad even giving all the kids their own account. You login id will be you portfolio id and birthdate.

Nada. It was empty for us last week on Freedom.

I am on the Freedom now and we got the plan. There are three plans. Social that let's you go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and some other sites for $5 a day or $25 a cruise. Value lets you get email surf the web but won't let you go on streaming music sites and netflix or Skype that's $16 a day or $60 a cruise. Premium has the fastest connection and let's you use skype that's $25 a day or $99 a cruise.

 

So far we are loving it. We got the value plan and can surf the internet whenever we want without having to worry about how many minutes we have left.

Thanks for the update! We're on there next week so looking forward to trying it out as well. I'm considering the Premium plan so we can Skype and make the rest of the family jealous. :D

How many devices are you able to connect to your account? For example, will my DW, DD, and I all be able to share a single account? Is there a point where one will have to logoff before another can logon?

Thanks!

This is the magnet (silver thingy) attached to a timing panner. The aux battery is hanging from a camera c-clamp in the green bag...

Ok, call me stupid but it just dawned on me that there is no USB access while the camera is in the case. I noticed in your picture that you are running it through the case -- assumption is that you cut a hole in a spare case? Is that correct? I'm curious if that's a DIY modification...

Thanks!

I had to search a bit to find one that can actually be switched to "always on" from "auto off" mode.

 

My magnet is just a 3" round flat magnet with a 1/4-20 screw in the middle. Then I use a micro tripod head and/or the GoPro tripod adapter. I find that the more/longer arms, extensions, etc. just add flex and "jiggling" to the shot - so the shorter, more compact, and stiffer - the better.[/img]

Now that you mention it, that is also how my battery pack runs... it will shut itself off after the device stops puling from it. Would you mind sharing details of the pack that you found?

Very cool setup btw... is that the DIY timer from the Instructables site built from the water sprinkler timer? Yours looks very well made and not much of a "hack." I'd also be interested in any tips/detials on how you made that... I may have to add that to this week's to-do list in preparation.

Thanks for sharing & the input!!!

Np. I can't remember if it was this thread or not, but he also had pics of his cameras mounted. The GoPro worked well and it was even strong enough to hold a dSLR.

what I want to know though is where do I find this magnet mount?

Here's the link I was referring to here. Post #14 has the link to the parts on Amazon and it looks relatively straight forward.

Thanks for the input! I have 2 extra batteries but didn't think about needing in-line charging for these long shots. I also have an Anker Astro Pro battery pack that I'll test to make sure it can power the camera during operation.

I ordered a 24 inch safety tether to make sure I was covered in case it broke loose while mounted. I saw the DIY design for one of the magnet mounts on an earlier post -- but I didn't know how hard it would be to find something to mount the magnet on. I take it you didn't have a problem? Maybe I'll give one of those a try... if nothing else, it looks like something fun to build!

Thanks again!

I am relatively new to my GoPro camera and still learning. I see a ton of the sail-away videos and am hoping to get one for our cruise in a week. My question (to the GoPro experts)...

What are the ideal settings to use on the camera for sail-away? I was assuming Photo Every X Seconds, but don't know how many seconds to use (2, 5, 10, 30?). I have two 32GB Extreme flash cards and will have my laptop on-board to pull off as needed... so space shouldn't be a major issue.

How high should I keep my resolution to get the best results but manageable on space (fit on a single card)?

I'm still looking for the best mounting options as well. Not planning to bring a regular tripod, so considering between the Gorillapod, Clamp, and others for mounting on the balcony as needed.

TIA!

We will be on Freedom for Thanksgiving as well. I'm debating trying the $99 plan just to have full access for the week. I'm honestly kind of anxious to test Skype and some of the other streaming services at sea. May be a good way to get some family members hooked on the idea of cruising.

I've read in other posts where people have called Carnival to have them added to the account over the phone. I setup a credit card account but was planning to call them this week to add my eCards for our Thanksgiving cruise.