ahillig1

We got an upgrade email for that same sailing and I took it. Its one deck higher than our original room. 

We were supposed to be on the June 28th sailing on the Magic which was supposed to be the first one back after the initial cancellations. That one got canceled and we just rebooked August 1st for the Magic which will be the first one after the most recent cancellations. I have confidence that these sailings will go. They were purposeful about the ships they picked as the ports they will visit have said they will be open. 

Overall it was a great vacation, Port Everglades is very organized and there were zero issues with the boarding. We did a lot of things this cruise we didn't do two years ago which made it really fun. Another thing I really like is the new Pixels gallery, it's awesome having them pop up in the hub app and you can purchase from there. One other thing that was odd to us was the ship was very rocky compared to last cruise, and it was a rhythmic rocky, almost like a propeller was off balance because you definitely noticed it more in the back of the ship. We were in a lounge in the far back (Degas for all the Conquesters) and it was rolling so much the curtains on stage were swaying heavily and the water was calm as could be. Many people felt the same way, it was just too regular to be the water.

I ... If your kids a young take them on the NCL Escape or the brand new MSC Seaside which is phenomenal for kids. I've done both of the above and they great for kids. MSC Seaside has the best waterpark and kids pool at sea in my opinion. The crowd is the complete opposite of Carnival and kids sail free under 12. Can't beat that!

This is good to know!

People not following the instructions they were clearly given? That can -- and will -- happen on any cruise line.

This cruise it just seemed like the crew didn't give a damn about enforcing the rules. Saw it last cruise just not this one.

To the OP on S&S cards in your mail box, you can buy drinks with your boarding pass. No reason for anyone to be fighting their way down the halls. We thought boarding the Conquest in April was super fast and easy.

This information was not made available. I didn't know this until just now. With the FTTF the room was ready and things were good there but we definitely did not have the FTTF experience that we did last time.

The smoke issue is just one you learn to live with on cruise ships if you're near the casino.

It was almost as if there was a leak in the filtering and ventilation system because we smelled it in areas you wouldn't expect like the forward dining room, theater, and places far from the casino. Didn't smell it like that on the last cruise which is why I commented about it, you'd just get random whiffs of casino :')

Sorry to hear your vacation was disappointing. Hopefully your next cruise experience, regardless of cruise line, will be better.

Wasn't disappointing at all! We got to see our kids enjoy their first cruise and see their faces light up when they told us about their day and what they did. Even though it was their Christmas gift we were also celebrating surviving my husbands deployment. We have some amazing memories and we were able to make the best of it, we found the best bars to patronize and did things we didn't get to do last time.

Would I sail the Conquest again? Perhaps...but would 1st check other ships unless the itinerary was the appeal. Not because the experience was so bad but more so I could experience some variety.

We won't sail on her again any time soon simply because it's been twice in two years, we want to see other ships! We were looking for a different ship for this cruise but it's what fit our schedules with school letting out, work, and amongst other things. Also, we chose a short cruise because we weren't sure our kids would like cruising as much as we now know they do so we didn't want to be stuck on a boat with them if they were miserable. Now that they're addicts too the next one will be longer!

What happened when you went to the FTTF assembly area for tendering? (FTTF passengers are told where to meet for priority tendering, on the first or second tender over.)

We asked and were told there was none of that since we were the only ship there.

For this new procedure, that's not a bug, it's a feature. People should not be crowding the hallways trying to get to their staterooms until they are ready...with Ds, Ps and FTTF folks being the only exceptions.

They failed to mention to guests that were priority or FTTF that they could use their boarding passes for purchases, I didn't even know that until a PP mentioned it here. There was a lack of communication all around this cruise which made for some chaos.

I don't understand how people can be that unhappy on a cruise? Maybe you should find another hobby and let the rest of the people enjoy their vacation!!! Sorry....lol

We weren't unhappy at all! Just some of the things we noticed that were different from our last cruise on this ship. We still had a great time and made sure to do things we didn't get to last time. We didn't get annoyed, just made some observations.

Overall, we had a great time, it was a blast seeing our kids enjoy their first cruise. We would love to do the Vista or Horizon but that's for a later date. My in-laws, me and the hubby were discussing doing a RCL on the Oasis class just because it seems to offer more variety than Carnival in several ways.

So this cruise we took the kids for their first ever, it was a Christmas present for them and they were very excited. Hubby and I were on this ship almost two years ago to the day and things have changed!

Dry dock did it some good, carpeted areas looked fresh, serenity, new look for the fun shops, new pixels gallery, and a couple new food options. One thing we noticed on this cruise was the stench of smoke wafted through the entire ship from the casino. It was really bad in some places, including the Lido on a couple of occasions. Also, people were smoking both regular smokes and e-cigs/vaping in places not allowed with crew walking right by these people and not saying a word. Also, zero enforcement of the chair savers on the Lido.

The crowd this cruise was also very rude, LOTS of blue cards, which I know this means they may new to carnival not necessarily cruising, but with some of these folks it was very evident they had zero cruise etiquette. Very few golds and I didn’t see any diamond or platinums.

Service was also pretty slow in lots of areas, especially red frog and blue iguana. Also, we had FTTF and when we tendered in HMC we were not given priority tender service as promised by the FTTF package.

And the cruise director, TJ, was terrible, last time we sailed her Big Sexy, aka Josh Waitzman, was our CD and he was fabulous but family life has him working on shore now. TJ seemed very immature at times and extremely disinterested in his job, only doing the bare minimum and not interactive at all.

The new scanning of the sail and sign cards vs the ding was different but overall seemed quicker. Also, sail and sign cards were left in our stateroom mailbox to be picked up instead of given at the terminal seems like a terrible idea especially when you can’t get to your rooms until later if you’re not FTTF, diamond, or platinum. Lots of non-priority people were on the ship fairly early and unable to get to their sail and sign cards or were fighting their way through the halls to get to them.

Hubby and I may try Royal Caribbean for our next cruise. While we had fun the crowd and lack of interest from the staff on board has us wanting to try elsewhere.

That Barclay's bank is very difficult to get approved.

I had heard the same thing and my credit from 2010 and prior was a hot mess because my ex husband was a such a peach in so many ways :rolleyes: but I applied and was shocked when I was approved, it was instant too with a decent limit. My score then was in the low to mid 600s. I also have the Barclay Apple card that was approved earlier this year instantly as well.

You can redeem for OBC. That's what we did with our points when we sailed in June. Just make sure you do it at least 2 weeks before you sail so you might want to act quickly if that's your plan.

Hello all!

We're back from our 4 day cruise to the Bahamas aboard the Conquest. We had an absolute blast! This was our honeymoon cruise, albeit 2 years late, and I couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Travel Day

We left for Ft. Lauderdale the day before because all the flights the day of that fit our budget were cutting it way to close. Being in the far northern suburbs of Chicago we have the glorious option of flying out of 3 airport and this time Milwaukee fit the bill. Security was a breeze, done in under 5 mins, being TSA pre-checked didn't matter because security lines were nonexistent when we arrived.

We got to see the Milwaukee Brewers Sausages boarding a plane and what a riot that was to watch!

Our flight into Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful, it started getting cloudy the closer we got. Our pilot said we flew over Freeport on our approach but we couldn't see it. I also spotted a couple cruise ships between the clouds and one was a Carnival ship. I couldn't get a pic of it quickly enough before we passed it.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and it wasn't awful but it was great either, we took the free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and the driver Margaret was friendly and not a crazy driver like a lot of shuttle drivers can be which was a nice change. We had a king size room and we were on the 5th floor. Our view was spectacular. I hope y'all can handle that view.

We faced a stunning concrete wall, gotta tell you one of the best I've ever seen. :p

Anyways, our room was your standard hotel room, there was a small fridge, a desk that rolled out from under the entertainment center/dresser/fridge/tv stand.

After getting settled we went for dinner. We didn't want a national chain and preferred something local or a regional chain. I wanted burgers so we ended up at Shula Burger which was right across the street. I had the French Onion burger and it was very delicious. The Ace Pineapple Cider on the other hand was WAY too sweet to drink alone, thankfully the burger cut down down on the sweetness of it but I don't think I'll get another one of those. For the 2 of us we spent just over $30, which was ridiculous for essentially fast food. We each got a burger, he got fries and I got onion rings, we each also got a beer so that upped the total.

We bought FTTF and so far it's been awesome! We were checked in, through security, and seated in waiting in under 15 mins from arrival to the port. We didn't realize there was a special place for FTTF luggage but the guy who took our bags said it wouldn't be a problem so we will see if it's there when we board. We're in terminal 4 at port Everglades and it's pretty roomy with ample seating. I'll be sure to do a review when we get back!

Thanks for posting this. We sail June 9 and Freeport is our second stop, hopefully they'll offer something like this on our trip, we're the only ship in port that day and I'm not thrilled with the prices of their offered excursions, nor can I find one that seems interesting.

Must be a new thing. I printed new luggage tags when I purchased FTTF and they don't have the barcode, I just checked my documents and they have bar codes.

BTW, the Conquest did not have the smoke eaters in its casino like the Glory did in Jan and Feb. My throat is still a bit raspy from the smoke.

We will be on the Conquest June 9 and this is good to know! I'm particularly sensitive to smoke so I'll just have to pick some off times to donate money at the casino.

We will be celebrating our honeymoon on the Conquest in June. I don't expect anything but when we booked the rep did ask us if we were celebrating anything and it does show on our booking. I'll definitely be sure to update with anything.

I purchased mine last week for my June 9 sailing on Conquest. It wasn't available when we booked but I jumped on it when I found it, our assigned boarding time was initially 130pm, we're now in the 11am group.

I didn't see the earlier thread either. :o

And it is now expired, I'll update the title.

Found a code for $15 off $75 to use on eBay with the code C15LIMITEDTIME. You can get a $100 gift card for $85. If you use eBay bucks you'll also get 2% cash back as well.

I've only been on one cruise and that was about 20 years ago on the Sensation and I've been dying to take another! My DH and I are going on the Conquest in June and I booked a cruise for me and the kids on the Liberty next March! Also trying to plan a Disney cruise as well.

I'm a paramedic and I work for a large amusement park chain as a medic and when I go into the park as a guest it's hard not to notice all the little "behind the scenes" things going on. You know what all radio code is and even though you can only hear one side you know exactly what's going down and where. You also spot the trouble from the top of every ride too. It definitely colors your vision being on the working side of things. I know it's not nursing and not a cruise ship but it's my experience mixing work with pleasure. I still love the park as an employee and a guest but things are definitely different now.

My plans are to relax and not be mom as they know me. This means pop and ice cream whenever they want, moms wallet being a little looser, and free roam of the ship at their leisure. They will probably each get a couple cruise related gifts at Christmas and maybe a gift card each for their own on board credits.

They are going to get stuck doing the formal night dinner, they don't know that yet but that's my one non-negotiable food related thing.

I just called because only 1 of my cruises was showing up. The rep talked to their web support and she said they're aware of it and trying to fix it. Both of my cruises are still accessible on Carnival's side of things and that's really what I was worried about!

I'm using Safari and it won't even let me add the second cruise to my cruise manager. I had to use Chrome to even access that booking. I can still see and enter all of the booking info for my first cruise in Safari but can't save or add any of them in Chrome, only able to access them.

I love Tervis cups! We have them available from the direct sales company I'm part of and I get one every catalog change, actually bringing one with me. I'll have to get the Red Frog and Blue Iguana cups to add to my collection!

Don't be snarky. That is obviously not what the op wants to hear.

 

She wants to know what she can BUY them to make it a better experience.

 

Yeah, I don't get it either.

Nothing in my OP mentioned that everything had to be bought. If I want to spend $20 to have a room treat delivered knowing my kids will love it then it's well worth it to see their eyes light up at that surprise. I'm not one to give into my kids every last waking desire and I know that's something they'll remember for a while.

Last time I cruised was about 20 years ago so a lot has changed since then. My mom gave me and my sister each a roll of quarters and said "don't spend it all on the first day" then basically left us to our devices and only included us on port days. I loved the cruise but we did everything based on what my parents wanted. I don't want my kids to have that experience which is why I was asking what I could do to make it memorable. Memorable doesn't always equal spending tons of money. I've gotten lots of great ideas, none of which were contributed to by you.

I think some sail away decorations would be fun as well as some new clothes for your teenage daughter. I would also see what they want to do for excursions to get them involved in the process. I would definitely make sure you get family portraits done as they are a wonderful momento. Maybe bring a flat Stanley so step dad could be in attendance in some of the pictures.?

 

I am another, however, who thinks the ship, the ports and the overall experience will contribute enough of a wow factor that not much else needs to occur.

 

I would suggest that you treat yourself to an amazing spa event, as you are the one keeping things together at home. I have seen how hard my niece works when her husband is on deployment. Military wives are amazing.

LOVE the flat stanley idea! My husband is so bummed he won't be here for it, but he would love getting pictures like that in his care packages! I love Project Life and have a small 4x4 album I'm going to send right after he leaves and I'll send him pictures he can put in the album throughout the time he's gone so this way he can feel like part of the action, his biggest fear is being forgotten while he's gone.

The clothes are a must! They'll each get a new swimsuit too as I'm sure they'll grow a lot between now and then.

I took my grandkids on Disney for their 1st cruise and l heard lots of questions like "Where's the Mickey soap" and "When are the fireworks tonight" from them on their 2nd cruise (Carnival).

I was initially going to do Disney but a) I would want my husband with us and b) it's crazy expensive! I know mine are going to be really excited about the towel animals so hopefully that'll keep them excited during the trip.

My son collects the ship models. He has his sign & sail card displayed next to each ship model he sailed on shelves in his room. Freedom has 2 sign & sail cards since we sailed her 2x.

Good suggestion! My son would be all over this!

My first thought re: the Cherry on Top goodies is that they won't really appreciate it. If it's there when they first walk into the cabin, they'll just think it's part of the standard setup. Maybe have it delivered mid-week?

 

Can the 13-year-old be bribed into doing your excursion and/or port research? What is there to do? What sounds like fun? What's the weather like? What's the best beach? Maybe that would make her feel some ownership of your activities.

 

Make them go to the first night Camp get-together. Not negotiable. Then they'll make a new friend. The camp counselors do a pretty good job of breaking the ice & introducing the kids on that first night.

 

One other silly thought: have a "Secret Sign" for when you see them on-board, hanging out with their new friends. Like running your hand through your hair, that means "I see you! I love you! I am Cruise Mom of the Year for not embarrassing you in front of your new friends!" Touching your nose might mean something else. And then there's walking on tiptoes. Have fun with it!

I'm trying to get the oldest to plan with me! I want them to share as much of the planning as possible with me so they don't feel like I'm pushing stuff on them. We will definitely research the ports and what there is to offer food, beach, shopping, and exploring wise.

I like the idea of the secret sign! We'll have to come up with something, my oldest claims she's embarrassed by me around her peers but secretly she also enjoys it. Thanks for the tip about the first camp night! My oldest rolled her eyes at me when I told her about the club for kids her age. My youngest was all over it and cannot wait to go the minute we board.

They also offer Bon Voyage room decorations that should be in the room when you board. We have never ordered any from Carnival but did it for my sons birthday on another line and he loved it. I have never ordered from the Fun Shops but when my DD6 tried Chocolate covered strawberries for the first time on Valentines day and LOVED them, I couldn't resist.

 

I am not sure if you celebrate Christmas but I buy at least one Christmas ornament on every cruise. Either from a port or from the gift shop. We always reminisce about our travels when we decorate the tree every year.

 

I always let them pick out a souvenir.

 

If it isn't out of your budget, do a "once in a lifetime" type of excursion. We did a dolphin swim with our kids and it was so cool. Bought the video, etc. They can be pricey though.

 

Enjoy. I hope they love it as much as my kids do.

Oh Christmas ornaments are a must! They get one every year from me that they can take onto their own home when it's time for them to fly the coop. And I'll get the ships ornament as well.

I'll definitely check out the excursions when we get a little closer to sailing. They love being beach bums and playing in the sand but maybe they'll change their minds closer to the trip.

My hope is to eventually take one cruise with the hubby and one with the kids each year.

I took them in this great big ship to tropical locations where we went snorkeling.

Thanks for that! I can provide enough snark for my kids on their vacation.