Conquest 2/14/10: A review and an attempt at pictures

About us – This was our 11th cruise, all on Carnival. Second time on Conquest – first was in 2005 out of New Orleans, two months before Katrina arrived and Conquest left for Galveston. Sailing were DH and I, both late 40’s (last time I’ll be able to say that in a review:eek:) and our two younger sons, 13 (almost 14) and 10. Our oldest son is at the US Merchant Marine Academy and no longer cruises with us, but given his chosen profession he cruises with us in spirit. This was our fourth President’s Week cruise; our kids get the entire week off from school. One year our school district tried to get rid of the President’s Week vacation and was met with unbelievable backlash from parents. In upstate New York, we need a week’s break from winter!

I'm going to try to post photos in this review, but I'm not the most tech-savvy person in the world (DH rolls his eyes and calls me a Luddite). So please have patience with me... If you'd like to see the full set of photos, they're at http://travel.webshots.com/album/576847767qrpcbe.

We booked this cruise for the cabin. That’s right – not the ship (although we love Conquest), not the ports (been to all of them already) – the cabin. Cabin 8448, to be specific. One of the two deck 8 aft wrap cabins with the largest balconies on the ship. We love balconies and had the comparable cabin on Victory on a Canada cruise in 2008, and we decided we wanted to get that balcony again. When we called our PVP to book a cruise for February 2010, DH asked which ships had that aft wrap cabin available for the week we wanted; Conquest was the only ship with an aft wrap cabin available that fit our schedule. Since we sail with two of our sons, and since 8448 takes only two pax, we also booked 8450 for the boys. The divider doesn’t open between the two cabins, but we were fine with that.

Fast forward to two days before our cruise. It was Friday, and DH and I were both working. At lunchtime, DH called me.

“Carnival just called.”

“Really? What did they want?” Somehow I already knew they wanted our cabin.

“It’s the upsell fairy. She wants to put us and the boys together in a grand suite for another $500.”

Now, we’ve been called by the upsell fairy before. Last year on Miracle, we had two connecting balcony cabins booked and she offered us two adjoining (but not connecting) suites for an additional $500. That one was easy – we got two better cabins with more balcony space and all we had to give up was that connecting door between the cabins – but we could open the balcony partition anyway, so we really had our connecting cabins. We went for it. But this was different….

“They want me to give up my aft wrap. I’m going to lose the balcony that was the whole point of this cruise as well as the extra bathroom the boys would have? And pay extra?” My assistant could overhear this whole exchange, and she told me I didn’t sound happy. “I don’t think this is a deal.”

DH sighed. “I didn’t think you’d go for it, but I told her I’d ask. I’ll tell her it’s no deal.”

By 3 in the afternoon Friday, I had called it a day at work. Went to do some last-minute shopping and then headed home to pack (no, we really hadn’t packed much before Friday, even thought we were scheduled to fly out on Saturday). At 4:30, DH called again.

“The upsell fairy called again. Actually she’s the upsell fairy several cubicles down from the prior upsell fairy. If we switch all four of us to the grand suite, they’ll give us the boys’ fares as on-board credit. We save $1350.”

This was certainly something to think about. Monetarily, it made sense. But I was still hesitant:

“Is this for real? Why are they offering us credit now when a few hours ago they offered us the same cabin for more money?” I was worried that somehow we were going to wind up with the short end of the stick. And I still was very much attached to the aft wrap.

“She told me they’re overbooked. They need the extra cabin. How about I give [our PVP] a call and check it with him?”

Our PVP has booked most of our prior cruises. He’s a great guy. “Sounds like a good idea. I just want to make sure that at the end of the day we don’t wind up with no cruise at all,” I said.

So DH called our PVP, who called the upsell fairy, and confirmed that yes, this was a real deal. DH called the upsell fairy back.

She laughed. “Didn’t trust me? “

So, I gave the go-ahead for the switch. Within no time at all, 8448 and 8450 were gone, replaced by 7315. I had to re-do the boys’ fun passes, but after dinner I was printing out new cruise documents and luggage tags to replace the old. As much as I knew the change was a good deal, though, I had to admit to a bit of “buyer’s remorse.” Here we were – we booked the cruise for the cabin, and now we didn’t have the cabin. Ah, well. No sense in dwelling on it. Besides, we’re on VACATION….

Friday night our oldest son came home for the long President’s Day weekend. It was good to see him – even though he’s only a two-hour train ride away, he doesn’t have too many chances to come home for a visit. After his spring break a few weeks from now he may not be home again until November, since his current schedule calls for him to go out to sea for four months in June. I felt badly that we were heading out on him Saturday, but he was just happy to have a chance to get away, see us briefly, and hang out with his friends that didn’t go away to school. We left him a set of car keys (shades of Harry Chapin: “What I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys….”) and enough food to get him to Monday when he returned to school. He was fine.

Saturday we headed to the airport, managed to find a parking space in the garage (which guaranteed that it wouldn’t snow much while we were gone), and headed out to Houston (via Chicago Midway). The flights worked just fine, we arrived in Houston 20 minutes early, and by 10 p.m. were at the Country Inn and Suites near Hobby. Nice, comfortable rooms, and it has a shuttle to the airport and to some local restaurants (more on that later).

Oh more please. Am enjoying it so far. Thank you.

We arranged our transportation to Galveston with Gulf Coast Limousine, and I can’t say enough about them. Our driver arrived at the hotel at 11 Sunday morning, and we were in Galveston by noon. Dropped off the luggage, went through security (youngest son: “Mom, do I have to take my shoes off?”) and were directed to the VIP room. By 12:30 we were on board. Had to stop at deck 3 first to get sons’ sail and sign cards changed (they ended up with gold cards instead of platinum) and to re-book their excursions. Plus, we signed up for the “Behind the Fun” tour at that time. More on that later, but if you want to do that tour, don’t wait. Up to Lido deck for lunch – I headed straight to Sur Mer on deck 10 for bouillabaisse and fish and chips. No crowds, no line. After lunch, it was time to see our new cabin, 7315, Empress deck starboard.

Okay, I wasn’t planning on this cabin. After months and months of talking about the aft wrap, I had had less than 48 hours to get used to the idea of having something different. At lunch, I even walked over to the deck 9 spot where I could look down on 8448 and bid it a farewell….

But 7315 was a wonderful cabin. Midships, about twice the size of a category 8 balcony. You enter a short hallway with a closet and the desk/refrigerator arrangement. The bedroom area has the twin/full beds against the far wall with an L-shaped sofa area against the near wall. The long part of the L pulls out into a full-size bed. On the other side of the hallway is the dressing room area with a vanity and closets as well as the bathroom with twin sinks, a toilet, bidet (yes, we had to explain to our sons what the bidet was used for, and no, they never used it) and a whirlpool bath/shower. The whirlpool bath was larger than the ones in the category 11 suites we had on Glory and Miracle. I’ve had hotel rooms smaller than this cabin. We had closet space we never used, even with four people. We met our cabin stewards, Tammie and Cede – they were terrific. It was clear, though, that they weren’t expecting a family of four in the suite. They also expected us to have late seating for dinner, since they did not service the cabin that evening until after we finished dinner. They learned our schedule quickly, though.

Cabin 7315 pull-out sofa

Cabin 7315 king bed

cabin 7315 entrance and dressing room

can't wait to read more.

Hope you had a great trip

After dropping off our carry-ons, we explored a bit and also looked out over where we were docked. Galveston is a “working” port, very industrial. DH and I loved it, but then we’ve always enjoyed climbing around docks, tugs and freighters (see how our oldest son ended up where he is now?) We were sorry we didn’t have more time to spend in the area pre-cruise, but since we arrived late Saturday night we figured it made more sense to get a room near the airport.

Conquest and Voyager in Galveston

Galveston cruisers: What can you tell me about the buildings in this photo?

Elyssa. She's beautiful. Wish we had time to see her.

The muster drill (sorry – I refuse to call it a “safety briefing,” just as I refuse to call the Purser’s desk the “guest services” desk) was at 3:30. No life jackets required, which made it only slightly less uncomfortable for the poor folks who showed up early for the drill and ended up in the back row, pinned against the bulkhead. Sailaway was promptly at 4, and we enjoyed it from our balcony. The Camp Carnival and Circle C registrations were at 5:00.

Tankers (oldest son would love this)

Galveston pilot

We had early dining in the Monet (aft) dining room, upper level. We had a four-top booth overlooking the lower level. It was apparent that a very large group was aboard and assigned to dinner on the lower level, judging from the number of name badges and shared bottles of wine on the table. We would learn more about the group later….

Our wait staff was Edwin and Karama, both of whom were great, and our bar server was Beata. DH describes her as a beautiful blonde with legs that had no end. He was enchanted (probably what kept him ordering 2 Manhattans each evening). And she was great with our youngest son, who had a penchant for Shirley Temples each evening. One she learned how much he liked maraschino cherries, she made sure his drinks had an ample supply! We also opted for the “Tour of the Vineyards” package at $110 for 5 bottles of wine. We ended up the week with 2 bottles of white and 3 bottles of red and all of them were very good selections. Not as good as the wine we had in the supper club, but that’s for another day…

Edwin and Karama with the boys

Dinner for me was Chicken a la Greque, while DH and youngest son opted for tilapia. As for the teenager – he ordered from the kids’ menu the entire voyage. He’s always been our fussiest, right from the time he started on solid food in 1996. Someday he’ll figure out that different types of food are really good. Everyone else in the family already figured it out – youngest son didn’t order from the kids’ menu all week. For dessert, they had a special Valentine’s chocolate dessert that was to die for (as well as a red carnation for me – it lasted all week). Kids opted for warm chocolate melting cake.

After dinner we wandered about, then DH went back to the cabin to unpack and relax. Youngest son and I decided to take in the “Welcome Aboard Show,” where we were introduced to some of the characters that would make this sailing unique. As is usual for a welcome aboard show, Chris, the CD, brought up on stage several passengers to participate in a game. Among them was a woman from the group we saw earlier in the dining room – seems it’s a polka dancing group. And then we met Catfish – Catfish Jack, to be specific. A catfish wrestler from Louisiana (“Who Dat!”) He was larger than life, and seemed to be everywhere on the ship – welcome aboard show, trivia, marriage show, you name it. He was two tables over from us in the dining room. He also has a heart of gold – aside from the outside bravado, he truly is a nice person. But definitely one of those characters you’ll never forget. The comedian was Tony Esposito. Lots of fat jokes, but he was funny. After that, it was off to bed – it had been a long day.

Great review so far.

I'll post more tonight. Have to go to work to earn money for the next cruise!

Hi Kathy!

You're doing great so far...I was thinking of posting a review too, especially since it was the BEST cruise so far for us.....but, I'll tag along with yours for now:)

Donna in OKC

Enjoying the review and the pictures! I am taking a cruise from my desk by looking at your pictures!!

DH and I have our own sea day rhythm: Breakfast on the Lido deck, followed by trivia, coffee and gin rummy on the Promenade deck, lunch on Lido, afternoon lounging, and dinner. In this case, our routine was altered somewhat by (a) the polka group who took over the disco for the morning (there’s only so much accordion music you can listen to when you’re sitting on the Promenade deck near the disco) and (b) Super Trivia at 12 noon. Now, we’ve done Super Trivia twice before, on Valor and Glory. The rules vary according to the ship. Winning depends only partially on knowledge – mostly it depends on luck. There were about 30 people the first day, and we divided into three teams to play. By the end of the first round (second and third rounds are held on the other sea days), we had answered lots of questions correctly but our rolls of the die weren’t that successful. But it’s lots of fun.

Our 13 YO son spent a lot of time on the sports deck with guys from Circle C and Club O2. Today he came away with a medal for the basketball free-throw. He also met up with Patrick Ewing, Jr., who was on board and critiquing the basketball playing. Son was in seventh heaven. (Made me feel old – after all, I’m older than Patrick Ewing Sr.)

We also like to go to tea. On this cruise, however, Monday was the only day we went. It was held in the Monet dining room, lower level, open seating. We met some nice folks from Manitoba and England. As usual, I loved the scones. The English folks felt that this was nowhere close to English tea, although they enjoyed it.

The first sea day is a formal (sorry – again, I won’t say “elegant”) night for dinner. We dress for dinner, and I don’t really care what anyone else wears. DH wore a dinner jacket, sons wore tuxes, and I wore a cocktail dress. We skipped the “Captain’s Celebration” and simply opted to get photos before dinner (before dinner was important since we knew we wouldn’t be able to keep our sons in their tuxes after dinner). Dinner for 3 of the 4 of us was the lobster/shrimp combo. I wasn’t crazy about the lobster this time – it was too mealy for me. Youngest son and DH had a good dinner, though. (Older son had pizza.)

Steve and friend

Doug - Boat deck

Kathy - Boat deck

After dinner, we skipped the show – it was “Point and Click,” which we saw the first time on Conquest and I wasn’t fond of it. It reminded me of all the reasons I went on vacation! Instead, sons went off with the kids’ clubs (youngest son stayed late) and DH and I enjoyed some drinks in the lobby bar. There, we met a server who had been our assistant waiter on Glory last year – it’s either a small world, or we’ve been on enough Carnival cruises that the crew is starting to recognize us!

Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and there were certainly lots of folks who were celebrating! Lots of purple and gold going around. Again, we had breakfast on Lido deck followed by coffee and gin rummy on Promenade deck. 12:00 was the second round of Super Trivia – this time, we had a lounge full of people with over 20 people on the team (which, to my mind, started getting unmanageable – the lounge was too crowded.) Again, we had little luck with the roll of the die. After lunch DH and I tried to play a round of mini golf with youngest son, but the wind made for some interesting golf.

We went to the Supper Club (excuse me – “Steakhouse”) this evening. As on past cruises, we had a wonderful, relaxing experience. I had tuna tartare (somehow I suspect our friend Catfish would have called it “bait”), beefsteak tomato, and filet mignon, while DH had onion soup, Caesar salad, and filet mignon. Wine was a Wolf Blass President’s Selection Shiraz – wow, was that good. Dessert was mango sorbet for me and the chocolate sampler for DH. There was a good crowd in the supper club, but there were plenty of tables available. I heard that they had heavier bookings toward the end of the cruise.

We skipped the show again this evening, as well as the deck party. Just too tired.

Enjoying your review, we will be on the Conquest 3-7. Great pictures.

Doug

Loving your review and your son is ADORABLE in his Tuxedo!

Up to now, the weather hadn’t been great. Our sea days had been cloudy, although it really didn’t rain much. It certainly cut down on the chair hogs – I never saw a lack of available chairs, even near the pool. Today, we woke to more cloudy skies and a definite threat of rain.

We visited Montego Bay when we sailed on Conquest five years ago. We went on a excursion to Black River to see the American crocodiles (this is where they filmed those James Bond crocodile scenes). The only problem with this excursion is that it required 1 ½ hours driving each way over the absolute worst roads I have ever traveled with a maniacal driver. The two younger sons (the ones with us on the present cruise) turned green and became carsick. It’s the only time they’ve ever been carsick, and they’ve traveled pretty extensively for their young years. DH wasn’t feeling much better. Therefore, this time one of our Jamaica excursion requirements was that it not require more than a 15-20 minute drive. No Negril, no Dunn’s River Falls. We finally settled on the “Dreamers Catamaran Sail and Snorkel” excursion. The whole excursion was only a short distance from the pier. No winding roads, less risk from crazy drivers. I booked it online before we sailed. But it was not to be.

We arrived in Montego Bay a little after 8 a.m. Another ship was already in port – MSC Poesia (she sails from Fort Lauderdale). Nice looking ship.

MSC Poesia

As we approached the dock I saw the three Dreamers catamarans moored nearby – without anyone aboard or nearby, getting them ready to sail within the hour. This didn’t look good.

Sure enough, a paper was soon slipped beneath the door to advise that due to the weather, the tour was being canceled and our payments would be credited to our Sail and Sign account. (Incidentally, at this stage of the cruise we still had a negative balance on our Sail and Sign cards, thanks to our sons’ fare credit. Cancelling the excursion just added to the negative balance.) I didn’t care for the alternate tours that were still available, and I know better than to try to do anything “on the fly” in MoBay – in fact, before we sailed, DH offered that he would be just as happy to get off the ship long enough to buy some Blue Mountain coffee, then get back aboard. And that’s just what we did. We disembarked, got our photos taken, went to the shops inside the terminal, bought 2 pounds of Blue Mountain coffee as well as tee shirts, some jerk seasoning for me, and a Rasta hat for youngest son, and promptly went back aboard Conquest. It was all of about 11 a.m.

Welcome to Jamaica!

Port area and market

We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon aboard Conquest. The boys had the pool and the waterslide to themselves and played a little chess with DH, I enjoyed the Caribbean “taste of nations” theme at the buffet, and we enjoyed sitting out on deck. I think I like made-up “sea days.”

Youngest son on slide

Game of chess

Later, we watched the local marching band perform as folks came back aboard. Since our oldest son is in the Merchant Marine Academy’s Regimental Band, and since DH and I did marching band many years ago, we had a particular attachment to these folks. There were no more than 25 of them and they performed their hearts out. They are looking for tips (who isn’t in Jamaica?) and we wadded up a $5 bill to toss down to the teenager who was collecting. (You have to make sure it has some weight, or it will never make it down to the dock.) I did see one Conquest passenger who practically grabbed a band member out of the rank to pose for a photo – and then never bothered to give a tip. Where I come from, you’re never obligated to tip street musicians, but if you stop to listen and enjoy their music, a tip is earned. Seems to me that if you go as far as to require someone to pose for a photo, a tip is definitely in order. (Okay, off my soapbox….)

MoBay Band

MoBay Sunset

That evening, we finally made it (together) to a show. This was Lady Hellevi, the “Enchantress of the Elements.” It was a very good show.

Loving the review & pictures. We will be on the Conquest for the 3rd time in October.

Thank you for sharing!

Great review! Enjoying the pictures too.

Loving the review and pictures!

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for the review and pictures. It's bringing back memories and you're having me re-live this Cruise. As Donna stated, it was the best ever. Oh, and the Mardi-Gras deck party that you missed, IT WAS A TON OF FUN!

The first time I ever even heard of the Cayman Islands was in reading John Grisham’s “The Firm.” It has the happiest ending I’ve ever read in a lawyer novel: the young associate steals the corrupt partners’ money, assembles the evidence to convict them, and then moves to the Caymans to live happily ever after. Unfortunately, this lawyer is limited to occasional shore excursions from cruise ships, unless she opts for a land vacation someday.

The first time we sailed Conquest, we missed the Caymans thanks to Hurricane Dennis. We finally made it two years ago aboard Valor, and we booked a tour through Island Marketing with Captain John Michael to see the stingrays, do some snorkeling, and go to Starfish Beach. It was a great tour – but this time we wanted something different. So we opted for Boatswain’s Beach and the Cayman Turtle Farm. We signed up for the ship’s tour; you can go to Boatswain’s Beach independently, but you’ll need to arrange your own transportation. It looked like the cost would end up being similar, either way. And with a ship’s tour, we didn’t need to get tender tickets – just go down and get a tender.

Well, at least we thought that’s how it would work. When we were on Valor two years ago, without a ship’s tour, we just walked down and boarded a tender. This time, though, we made it to deck 1 and found a line stretching down the hall. All people with ship tours.

Now, we’re Platinum cruisers. That means we’re supposed to have priority on the tenders. However, we never received any kind of explanation of how this worked – do we just flash our Platinum cards? Looking at the line of very antsy people waiting for the tenders, we figured we’d be risking life and limb if we tried to go to the front of the line. So we stayed and waited with everyone else. In the end, it really wasn’t that bad a wait – once the tender started boarding, the line moved quickly. We were ashore 10 minutes before our scheduled excursion time. (Too close for comfort for me, but I have this Type A personality that drives DH crazy – I used to get to the airport two hours early before the airlines told everyone they had to get there two hours early.)

Grand Cayman Tender

We took a bus for the 20-minute ride out to the Turtle Farm, passing by Seven Mile Beach. What a beautiful area. Once at the Turtle Farm, we were given wristbands to allow us access to the entire park (if you’re there for just the turtles, you get a different wristband that limits your access.) First, a guide takes you around to the various exhibits and shows you which turtles can be picked up, then you go on your own to do whatever you’d like – swim in the lagoon or pool, visit the turtle exhibits, a shark exhibit, or the aviary. (Note: The turtles that are in the public exhibits are for breeding or release in the wild. While the farm does raise turtles for their meat, those turtles are not in public areas.)

One of the turtle exhibits

Youngest son with a yearling

When we finished with the guide, a shark lecture was just beginning, followed by a feeding. “Predator’s Reef” has a window viewing area where the lecture took place, and a lagoon where the feedings take place. The lecture was very good, and youngest son showed off his shark knowledge by answering the lecturer’s questions. (Afterward I asked him whether he learned that in school – he said no, it came from watching “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel.)

Predator's Reef

After watching the sharks, DH and the boys decided to go get changed to swim in the pool, while I decided to visit the aviary. The aviary has a number of tropical birds – finches, ibis, parakeets, tanagers. You can purchase seed at certain times during the day to feed the birds.

Monk Parakeet

DH and the boys really enjoyed the pool. There’s a shallow end for the little kids and a deeper section with a waterfall at the other end. There are nice seating areas around the pool, shaded with canopies.

Pool area

Waterfall

After swimming a while, the boys got changed and we went over to the restaurant/bar to get something to drink. Now, when we’re in another country, we always try to sample the local brew – in this case, Caybrew.

The boys decided they wanted to see the aviary, so we walked back to it. DH made a friend – a ground dove that decided DH’s shoulder was a great place to perch.

On the way back to the turtles, I found this guy sitting by the beach where the turtles lay their eggs:

Thanks for the review. The Turtle farm looks like fun for your boys. I will definitely look into that for next year. We have missed Grand Cayment twice now due to weather..so I am determined to get there :)

I love all the pictures...looks like your kids had a great time :)