beamqueen

I enjoyed going to the Taste Bar on Conquest....I think it was open 4 nights on our 7 night cruise...of that I enjoyed the food 2 days and didn't enjoy it the other 2. But it was fun to go see what they were serving and get a little snack before dinner!

I have only done traditional so I can't comment on anytime....BUT we loved sitting with our table each evening and having the same waitstaff. They knew exactly where we would sit and it was cool to sit with the same people each night and see what they did throughout the week! We did late dining and I will definitely sign up for the same next cruise!

I also wanted to add....we did also go to the Adult comedy shows. They were okay. It seemed like they had some funny jokes but overall a bit lackluster. I did not go to the family friendly comedy so not sure if that was better or not!!

Honestly...I am not 100% sure. However the lady at the front desk told us there was a liquor store about 10 minutes walk away. It is not a nice neighborhood though! When we walked outside I saw a gas station and a subway. A lot of the shops I noticed seemed closed! We did not venture out far though so it's possible there may have been more within a 10 minute walk.

It holds quite a few...it is like a bus. It is first come first serve to sign up for the early times...I thought it was only once an hour though. 9:45 and 10:45 was what she offered to us!

Maryhou- we booked all of our excursions through Carnival. Due to our itinerary change we didn't have time to research any other excursions. I had originally planned some outside excursions but no time to research for these so we stuck with carnival!

The ship was nice we thought :) It was a great vacation...you won't be disappointed.

So...back in Ohio again! Brr. But I am taking it easy today so I thought I would do a review of our sailing! Before I start....we had a GREAT time! Can't wait to book another cruise :)

Pre Cruise-

We stayed at the Comfort Suites Miami Airport North. I had some mixed feelings about this hotel. The shuttle service was nice as it picked us up from the airport and brought us to the hotel. The next day the shuttle also brought us to port for no additional cost! The hotel itself is not in the nicest location, but we didn't feel unsafe. We bought a drink from the bar in the lobby....extremely expensive and not made well. We didn't think much of the complimentary breakfast either. For dinner the previous night we ordered take out and it may have been the worst meal we have ever had! Although...that cannot be the fault of the hotel. Overall...I might stay here again due to cost and shuttle service.

Embarkation

We got to port around 10:30. Check in was very quick and easy! I think we were on the lido deck by like 12:15 (We did not have FTTF). Overall not too bad of a wait and it was extremely painless ;)

Now onto the cruise itself!

The ship

The only other ship I have ever been on was the Fascination so the Conquest was a little bit bigger than my other experiences. We thought she was very nice! I had seen a lot of reviews prior about her being old and worn out. That was not our experience at all. I don't have much to say here...I will get into our stateroom and other venues we saw a bit later.

Stateroom/Room Steward

We were in room 7385. We thought it was a nice room/location. Our room steward was Joseph and he did a great job taking care of us and keeping the ice bucket full for our wine :) He was so friendly and we have absolutely no complaints about him. The room was very quiet.

Food/Dining Experiences

Alright...the Food!! I had some hits and some misses on this cruise. One miss for me was the buffet. I did not enjoy most of the things I ate from the buffet and we avoided eating there except the first day for lunch and the final day for breakfast. I did find one or two things I enjoyed but the buffet is not for me!

Guys Burgers- Alright. I will put a disclaimer first saying I am NOT a burger fan. But I did try one on this cruise. It was okay for me, I have never had a burger that I loved so this was not a highlight for me but the flavor was good and I liked being able to put all the toppings on.

Blue Iguana- I liked this place! Burritos/Tacos were delicious and the salsa bar was a nice addition to them! I had heard from others to try the breakfast burritos but we never got a chance to do so!

Taste Bar- This was hit/miss for me too. I liked it 2 nights and disliked it the other 2 nights! However the guys working it were FABULOUS so it made it all okay. We loved going to the taste bar each night.

Room Service- Yes we ordered room service once! It was quick and yummy. My husband got a grilled reuben and I got a salad.

Main Dining Room-

I loved eating dinner each night here. We also frequented brunch on sea days and breakfast at port. We had the fabulous staff of I Made, Learoy and Alexandra. They took great care of us. Some favorites of mine were the Chateaubriand, Prime Rib and Lobster. I had a couple sides that came with my meals that I wasn't a fan of but it was not a big deal. I got the Shrimp Cocktail almost every night along with trying a new app as well. Overall a few misses but for the most part a good experience...service took maybe 1.5 hours but about 2 on elegant night. We had some great tablemates so it seemed to go quick!

We enjoyed the staff dancing as well....how fun!

Chef's Table-

We decided to do the Chef's Table for my husbands birthday! It was PHENOMENAL! I can't say enough great things about this dinner. It was a 7 course meal with a tour of the galley prior + unlimited wine! Everything we ate was fantastic....I do have the menu so if anyone wants to know I can post that too. It was cool to hear the chef talk about what each dish was and the flavor combinations. This may have been my favorite event on the cruise!

Ports of Call

Due to the hurricane our ship did a Western Caribbean instead of the Eastern Route. This did not really bother us and we just went with it!!

Cozumel- In Cozumel we did a Dolphin Encounter. It was fun, but the part we liked most was being able to use the paddleboards at the resort. We spent a lot of time out in the water (and at the complimentary open bar!) After the excursion we just shopped around until we got hit with a massive rainstorm!!

Belize- We loved Belize!! We did a kayaking excursion at the eco park. It was about an hour kayak through the jungle and then you can swim at the pool and they had a buffet for us. It was about a 40 minute drive to the park so our guide gave us a city tour of Belize too and it was so interesting to see the culture. Overall we thought this was our favorite experience of the week. The kayaking was very leisurely and we only had one other couple on the trip so it was almost a private tour!

Mahogany Bay-

We enjoyed this port too. We went on a snorkeling trip with Jolly Rogers. I had never been snorkeling so this was fun! We saw lots of sea creatures (including a barracuda!) and they did a great job of keeping us entertained! We spent some time back at port as well- this was our favorite port with the beach and nature trail. It was fun to see some wild life out and about on the trail!

Costa Maya-

Not our favorite port. However...we did not book anything here and didn't really venture out. The vendors were very pushy here. We didn't spent much time out...we went back to the ship and took advantage of no lines at the water slide.

Miami- We took the everglades excursion when we got back! It was okay....we were so tired we just wanted to be home! If you have any questions about it I would be happy to answer.

Other notable things

Our cruise director was Mike with assistant Roly. We enjoyed them both and went up the the musical trivia at the casino often! That was a lot of fun!!

We watched one movie on the lido deck and I really enjoyed being outside with the movie!!

We also gambled...lost $80 but won a free t-shirt.

Shows- We went to 1 show (Divas) and I disliked it.My husband thought it was entertaining. We also went to the Love Game which was funny and Hasboro game show which was cute but I was surprised that was not during the day!

Overall...we had a fun cruise and met some fun new people. I tried to condense everything down so if you have any questions I would be happy to answer!!! Thanks for reading!!

They were fantastic!! We would sail with either again for sure!

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We just got off with Mike and Roly as assistant CD.

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Since it is a holiday weekend- I would book early. However...most of the time I try to book around 6-9 weeks out for best prices! We scored on some great tickets to Miami and had we bought right when we could we would have been paying over $200 more PP. For holiday weekends typically earlier is best though!

We are in an 8C on Conquest next week for under $500 PP

Nice thanks!! We get on in just a little over 2 weeks!

This is my first time booking a cruise and we did early saver...ended up with about $380 in OBC so I say it was worth it!

Very entertaining! Can't wait to read more!

Nice! I got mine extremely fast too...I think it ended up being like 19 days!

We are sailing soon on the conquest...hopefully it will go well! It is only my 2nd cruise and the first I was a teenager so not completely even sure what to expect!

I'm wondering if maybe we should take our cheap luggage if so many people have had issues. My DH is an airline pilot so he has very expensive/nice luggage and I definitely do not want to have to purchase that again!!

Following! We are doing this same itinerary on Conquest next month :)

We are booked for Chef's Table for October cruise...I haven't tried either menu so am excited either way!

I wish it would work for me. I've tried all different browsers, computers, cleared everything and even tried to troubleshoot with carnival. I still am

Not able to book am excursion or save my booking to my profile. I have tried on 5 different computers and our TA couldn't book am excursion on her end for us either. I've given up with the website at this point!

Sorry for any typos! Using my iphone to post which I rarely do!

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I wish I could help... I have more issues with Carnivals website than any website I have ever encountered! Might be easier to call!

I've only been on Fascination and we loved it! Are you looking at any specific itineraries?

I am going on the same itinerary on the Conquest in October and I'm sure it will be awesome...that being said I would choose FOS for this one. One more port and it sounds like some new ports for you! For only a $15 difference I would definitely go on FOS!

Do you know where your seats are on the plane? Often if you let the flight attendants know your situation they will try to get you off the plane as quick as possible! My DH is an airline pilot and I know when flying into some cruise ports before the flight attendants have gotten off passengers first if they knew the situation.

I've also been flying with a very tight connection and gotten let off the plane first. It obviously depends on the flight attendants but most are more than willing to help if you are kind/courteous!

Can't wait to read the rest! So very sorry for your loss..I bet your son was so happy that you guys still got to experience a wonderful vacation and I am sure he was with you in spirit :)