8 Day Conquest Southern Cruise begins after 21 days on the Glory

We arrive at Port Everglades on our shuttle from Park n Go, the driver hands our luggage to a waiting Porter, we tip them both, and head into the port.

The priority line is very short, 1 person in front of us, (it's 10:45am) they scan our passports, our boarding passes, then we head up the escalator to the priority waiting area for Diamonds/Platinums/and those getting married!

After about 15 minutes, they call the people getting married, then the diamonds, then the platinum. The room of about 200 is empty in less then 10 minutes!

We head directly to our cabin, which is ready, my wife quickly unpacks our carry on, and we head off to the buffet.

Just like the Glory, the buffet is very good, I eat too much, but most was salad!-))

We go back to our cabin, a 6th deck forward balcony, make a few phone calls, set up the internet, which so far, is surprising quick for a cruise ship. Let's see for how long!

The muster comes and goes quickly, we go to the front of deck 6, watch as we leave port on the front walk way!

We head back to our cabin, and start deciding what we'll do tonight!

Likely we'll decide on the 9:45 pm 'welcome aboard show', and dinner!

We have our favorites in the MDR Renoir, head waiter Orlin, and his assistants, hopefully they are still there! They made our January Conquest B2B dining very enjoyable!

We're also hoping the same singers and dancers are here from January as we really enjoyed them also!

We're run down a little, but our itinerary was changed to,,,

Ft Lauderdale.

Sea day

Sea day

Aruba

Curacao

Sea day

Grand turk

Half moon cay

Ft Lauderdale

So we got 2 sea days to rest up, and want to get out a little tonight!

Right now our plans in Aruba are a taxi to Reflections Beach Bar, and in Curacao a taxi to Mambo Beach, and Madero Ocean Beach Club!

At half moon cay, and Grand Turk, we'll just stay at the port!

Dine in movies tonight are

Daddy's Home 2 at 7:30 pm

Pitch Perfect 3 10:00 pm

Shows this week,

Tonight Saturday Welcome Aboard Show 9:45pm

Sunday Epic Rock 8:15pm 10:15pm

Monday Heart of Soul 8:15pm 10:15pm

Tuesday Hasbro game show 8pm Marriage Show 10:00pm

Wednesday Viva Variety: Dan Shoener

Thursday Flick 8:15pm 10:15 pm

Friday 80's pop to the max 8:15pm 10:15 pm

Saturday lip sync battle 7:30 pm

Mega deck party Tuesday 11:00pm

80's rock n glow party Friday 11:00pm

Happy cruising. :D

We just got off the Conquest this morning. Had a GREAT cruise! Enjoy your cruise! :cool:

We did the same trip 4/6-4/14. We loved the itinerary. Curacao and Aruba are so different than the Eastern Caribbean lush islands. Curacao is very Dutch with beautiful pastel buildings and very nice people. We also enjoyed the 2 sea days in a row, very relaxing.

Cruisers Heaven. Off one ship and on to another!

We just got off the Conquest this morning. Had a GREAT cruise! Enjoy your cruise! :cool:

thank you:D

We did the same trip 4/6-4/14. We loved the itinerary. Curacao and Aruba are so different than the Eastern Caribbean lush islands. Curacao is very Dutch with beautiful pastel buildings and very nice people. We also enjoyed the 2 sea days in a row, very relaxing.

Any suggestions for Aruba, or Curacao, I listed 2 ideas, but as this will be our first visit to Aruba or Curacao, we would listen to suggestions.

We go to dinner around 8:15, our server from January, Orlin is home on vacation, so we get a new server Alex, and he along with his assistants do a very good job.

My wife has salmon, and I have vegetable lasagna.

After dinner we head off to watch the Welcome Aboard show that starts at 9:45.

Again we're a little disappointed, seems most of the singers, and dancers from January are gone, but the new cast is good!

We see Chloe, the cruise director has also left.

So there are a lot of changes for us on the Conquest from our January b2b.

We notice our balcony cabin on the Conquest is much cooler then our balcony on the Glory, no fan needed here.

Our balcony is on the 6th deck as was our balcony on the Glory, here we are just forward of the front elevators, and we noticed yesterday around 5:30 there was loud noise, and vibrating walls,,,, seems the 'way too amped up low end/base' of the singers practicing in the showroom was making it's way up to us!

Hoping this is a one time thing!

We also noticed during the show, the base/low end was way to high, almost drowning out the singers voices.

The plus side, I will say the showroom volume was much lower on the Conquest then on the Glory, so far.

Back in the 70's I did a lot of work with entertainment, and many were rock groups, so I can be judgemental about entertainment, sound quality, etc..

We decide to end our night after watching some singing in the atrium after the show, it's been a long day.

Tomorrow is sea day 1, and sea day brunch.

Cruisers Heaven. Off one ship and on to another!

We were B2B same ship, same cabin

I'm loving you well written and detailed review. I loved Chloe! I sailed with her when she was aboard the Splendor 2 years ago.

We awaken to a beautiful sunny day, our first of 2 sea days starting this cruise, so I ordered our usual room service, some assorted muffins, coffee for 2, some cereal for my wife, and some juice.

After room service, we just relax in bed, I watch some TV, my wife is on the computer playing her internet game until 11:30, and we decide to go to the rear dining room for sea day brunch.

At the brunch, I order my usual, 2 pieces of rye toast, a side of mayo, 2 orders of chicken sausage, and turkey bacon, and make my own sandwich! I usually add an order of pasta with this, it's a lot, but it is sea day brunch! -))

My wife will usually order the salmon bagel without the bagel, and either poached eggs, or salmon again, she loves salmon! -))

After our brunch, my wife wants to go back to the cabin, and take a nap, so I offer to go to the casino so her nap can be undisturbed!

Surprisingly she thinks this is a good idea!!!

I spend about 2 1/2 hours in the casino, and I am ahead over $200., so I call my wife, she had just gotten up, and tell her I'm headed back to the room.

Tonight is elegant/lobster night in the MDR, so we plan out our night.

Because we ate a very healthy brunch, we decide to do the rock show in the theater tonight first, then go to a late dinner.

At around 4:30 the walls of our cabin begin to vibrate again, the theater below us is practicing! So be warned, cabins in front of the front elevators on deck 6 will hear, and your walls will vibrate from approximately 4:30-5:15 while they practice, and during the shows at 8:15-9:00, and 10:15-11:00!!!

After dinner, it was about 10:00, and we decided to go back to our cabin, and you could hear, and feel the show in our deck 6 balcony from 10:15-11:00!

I noticed the speakers in the theater are above the stage on the ceiling, which would be the floor of deck 6 forward of the front elevators , so that my be the reason of the sound/vibration coming through!

The show sounded better tonight, could be I liked most of the rock songs, and dinner was good, but extremely busy at 9:00pm which surprised us. We saw people entering the restaurant right up to 9:30pm! To those who may not know, we always do 'any time dining'!

Dine in movies tonight were,,

Murder on the Orient Express 7:30pm

The Greatest Showman 10:00pm

Our second sea day begins like the first one, I order our normal room service, assorted muffins, a pot of coffee, some juice, a croissant and cream cheese for my wife.

We spend the morning relaxing in our cabin, I run down to the excursion desk, and it's packed, likely do to the changed itinerary, so I just pick up some paperwork, and head back to the cabin to review.

I decide we'll stay with our plans in Aruba, we'll take a taxi to Reflections Rest/Bar on Surfside beach. It's about a mile south of the port, and they have a pool if we tire of the salt water!

Today we decide to have the BBQ instead of sea day brunch, and it turns out really, really good. We both get pork, beef, some mac and cheese, and cole slaw, then I go back to try the chicken which is also really good.

I notice a guy sitting across from me having some ziti, so instead of some desert, I venture off to find it. It turns out to be baked ziti with vegtables, and I enjoy a bowl, but now I'm really full, so off to the cabin we go to rest a bit, I grab a couple apples and a pear for the cabin on the way.

About an hour later I decide to run down to the casino, try my luck, my wife says she'll come get me in a while, she wants to do some emails to family and friends first.

A few hours go by and I'm a loser today, so we decide we'll try the early buffet and early show tonight.

At the buffet, they have spaghetti, yes I love pasta, and my wife has a mixture of salad, and a few other items that I don't recognise!-))

Going back a minute, this afternoon a maintenance tech came in to adjust our TV's color, it was to dark, and we got into a conversation about my opinion that the sound in the showroom was off, too much bass, and the singers voices couldn't be heard. He said he would pass along what I said, but I figured he was just being nice, but honestly, tonight's sound was much better, it might have been my suggestion, or just different music, tonight's show was Heart of Soul, whatever the reason, the sound tonight was much, much better.

After the show we head back to our cabin, tomorrow is Aruba, our first time, and we want to be rested, and ready! -))

Tonight's dinner in movies are,,,

Justice League 7:30pm

Thor:Ragnarok 10:00 pm

A very good crowd outside watching, we stopped for a minute, and the picture and sound were surprisingly good to us!

The showroom had,

Heart of Soul 8:15, 10:15 pm

Happy cruising.

Thank you for taking the time to do your review. We are on the Conquest for a family cruise in June but on the 5 day. Its nice to have some idea what to expect. I hope you have a fantastic time.

Thank you for taking the time to do your review. We are on the Conquest for a family cruise in June but on the 5 day. Its nice to have some idea what to expect. I hope you have a fantastic time.

Thanks for your kind words, enjoy your cruise. :D

We awaken to our usual room service order of coffee, muffins, and juice.

Room service is much faster on the Conquest then on the Glory.

The ship arrives at 10:15am, we are packed, ready to leave the ship at 10:45am.

The taxi stand is just to the left as you exit the port building.

A taxi to Reflection's costs $13. for 2, one way.

The trip takes only about 5 minutes, as it is only a mile or two south of the port.

Our bill at Reflections totaled $60. for the following,

2 loungers and an umbrella, a lunch we ordered which consisted of a beef quesadilla for my wife, a giant hamburger and fries with 2 beers for me.

The beef in the hamburger and in the quesadilla was outstanding. My wife said it was the best she ever had!

I spent about 3 hours in the water, then came out for lunch.

I want to state something here I rarely read, there is a shower to wash off the salt water just as you walk off the sand onto the cement towards the swim up bar.

Yes there is a pool with a swim up bar, but I didn't make it there today, maybe next time.

After lunch, we sat around for about an hour, enjoying the breeze, then had our server Jenny call us a taxi, which she gladly did.

The taxi arrived in less then 10 minutes, and we were headed back to the port to do some shopping before going back on the ship.

I want to thank the following people at Reflections for a great beach day, ,,

Jorge who answered all my emails, Brian who set us up on the beach, and took care of us there, and Jenny, who was our server in the restaurant/bar area!

They were very attentive, very good workers, and very nice.

There is no show tonight, they will have the love and marriage show at 10:15pm

The dine in movies tonight is The Commuter at 7:00pm, followed by the mega deck party at 11:00 pm.

We'll go quiet tonight, maybe room service, or the buffet, then early to bed, tomorrow is a early port day in Curacao.

Happy cruising.

My wife is still thinking about how good her beef quesadilla was at Reflections, so remembering tonight is casual steakhouse night, I call, and get us a reservation at 7pm.

The steakhouse selection in the MDR on the Glory (NY Sirloins for both of us) we're great, I actually ate the fat it was so good.

That is not true on the Conquest, both our steaks were regular grocery store quality, not the restaurant high quality we had on the Glory!

I cannot explain why, but there was a big difference.

The onion soup had almost no cheese on top of it, that's my favorite part!!

Unless we are comped a free steakhouse from the casino, we will not be going back, the buffet steak on the Glory was better!

Also, we were in the elevator with 6 other people leaving the steakhouse, and all were complaining!

I will say our servers were very attentive, but kinda shocked/surprised when I told them honestly I didn't enjoy the meal.

We ordered our cheese cake to go, which they gladly plated for us to go.

So overall, service was good, quality of the food we had, not so good!

We return to our cabin at around 9pm, I'm pretty sore from a day exercising in the Aruba water, so we stay in for the night.

Tomorrow is an early port call in Curacao, also our first time there.

We awaken this morning at 6:30, and we are closing in on Curacao.

Our actual porting is around 7:30 am, although the message you can leave hasn't been announced.

For those interested, the ship today once again docks with the port side towards the island, and we port at the outer mega port dock.

Breakfast is some leftovers from previous room service call, along with '2' carafes of coffee, we need it to wake up!-)

Today we'll head for Mambo Beach, about 4-5 miles south of the port.

My plans have us headed for Madero's Ocean Beach Club in the center of Mambo beach. They have a pool with their beach, I'm drawn to places offering both.

But who knows, I have a Carnival excursion purchased in May on the Vista at the Cabana beach location, which is also in Mambo beach, next to Madero's. If I like Madero's today, we might cancel it.

Passengers are leaving already, it's 8:00 am, so we're gonna get ready to go.

Happy cruising.

We share a taxi ride out to Mambo Beach with about 8 others, cost $7.per person, would cost $25. total if you go just as a couple, so there is a savings of $11. if you want to group up with others.

The shopping area at Mambo Beach Blvd. is 2 floors, the top floor is road level, then you walk down a flight of stairs to a lower level which also has access to all the different beach venues.

Madera Beach Club is located right in the middle of Mambo Beach. They have a restaurant, a pool, waiters to serve you on the beach, and the cost is a little higher then the others. It also seems the cleanest, best looking compared to the other beach locations on Mambo, but the shower is a coin operated thing, that only runs about 20 seconds. The coins are free at the bars so ask for several if you want more then a 20 second rinse.

After swimming awhile, we walk to the neighboring clubs, wet n wild, and Mood Beach on the end, both of these venues offer loungers for less money, around $3. a lounger, Madera charged $9. a lounger, but their facilities weren't as nice looking as Madera's.

We decide to sit at wet n wild for awhile, they are in the middle between Madera and Mood Beach, which both had Carnival excursions this day, and were more crowded then wet n wild. Wet n wild's shower was behind the building, and no coins were needed, a plus in my mind.

We swam a little here also, then went up to the bar, they only have snacks here, (Madera's and Mood Beach have restaurants with a lot more options) so we order a couple beers, and a couple snacks.

My wife orders a sausage platter which turns out to be a cut up hot dog, but it was good. I ordered the basic nacho chips with that canned cheese mix you see in a lot of bars, tasted OK. The beer was cold, so all was good. The price for the snacks and 2 beers was $22..

My wife wanted to do a little shopping so we decided to change, but these places only have bathrooms to change, and Madera's is the far cleaner choice there. So if you want to change, Madera's might be your choice.

After my wife picks up a few small souvenirs for her mom, and girlfriend, we walk out to the taxi stand area, decide we don't want to wait for others to show up, and we pay the $25. to go alone back to the port, which turned out better as the taxi driver shared some details about his island to us.

We arrive back at the ship, surprised to find the line to board is very short.

We drop off our things at our cabin, then go up to get a couple Guy's burgers, before returning to our cabin to shower, and rest. I also have my first ice cream come in the 4 weeks! -))

After these 2 beach days in a row, I've done a lot of swimming, and I'm pretty sore, so tonight we'll just do dinner, and the relax in our cabin.

We go to dinner around 8:15, with 'any time dining', and are surprised to find the MDR half empty.

My wife had the salmon cakes, she enjoys them, I ordered the pork ribs, which were good, but not as good as the ones I had on the Glory.

Another time that the food on the Conquest is good, but Glory's was better.

We return to our cabin for the night, seems the deck party runs late tonight, we can hear the music until around 12:30 am.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so we don't mind the late partying by others.

Tomorrow will be a sea day brunch day most likely after some room service coffee.

We came away with the impression of Mambo Beach,,, was OK, but we might want to look for something different in 3 weeks when we return on the Vista. Time will tell.

Happy cruising

Today's seaday will be a day of relaxation, our 29 day journey on the Glory/Conquest is nearing it's end, and honestly we're tired, I'm older, so me more then my wife! -)

We order just coffee from room service, I will eat a piece of left over Chinese cake from the steak house we took to go, and my wife will have some bread she took from the steak house that she liked.

We stay in our cabin, relaxing, watching some news on TV, using the internet package we bought to do some emailing until it's lunch time.

Instead of sea day brunch, we go to the buffet for lunch around 1:00 pm, seems everyone else was thinking the same, the buffet was very busy.

I found some pasta at the buffet station nearer the pool, while my wife ventured to the rear stations to sample their offerings, we meet in the middle near a window to watch the Sea go by as we eat.

Since the time we sailed south of the Dominican Republic a few days ago towards Aruba and Curacao, and now sailing back north, we notice the seas here are rougher then north of the Dominican Republic. The seas north are like glass, as were the seas going accross the gulf west towards Cozumel, Mahogany Bay, etc..

We spend the afternoon in our cabin relaxing, more TV, napping, using the internet, and decide we'll eat tonight at the buffet instead of getting dressed up for elegant night #2. I will say that by Carnival standards, the cruisers on this sailing enjoy dressing up for the elegant nights, the buffet later is almost empty!

We decide to see the early show, which is Flick, then go to the buffet afterwards.

We really enjoyed Flick, we've seen it only on this ship, and on the Magic so far, and we think it's Carnival's best production by far.

Some of the songs this time are changed from when we saw Flick on the Conquest during our January b2b, which is a nice surprise.

We keep it simple at the buffet, I think we're beginning to tire of cruise ship food. Over all the food has been good, but it is repetitive for this amount of time.

We did this many days sailing simply because the deals we received were exceptionally good, but honestly I don't see us ever sailing again for more then 14 days, it does wear on you after a while! -))

Like anything I guess, too much of a good thing!

After the buffet, we head towards our cabin, stopping for a few minutes to watch the new Star Wars movie playing on the pool screen, eat a little popcorn. The sound and picture are really good!

Then it's back to the cabin, Grand Turk is a very early arrival time tomorrow.

We awaken this morning around 6:30am as we are docking in Grand Turk.

It's a windy, cloudy day, but around middle 70's so it doesn't feel cold.

We have our usual room service, coffee, muffins, croissant with cream cheese.

By 8:00 we are packed, dressed, ready to leave.

There are still loungers available at the pool, it's still cloudy, so we find a couple loungers near a stair case into the pool, and make ourselves comfortable, which means, I go in the pool, and my wife lays down on the lounger.

2 1/2 hours go by and I'm still in the pool and my wife is still laying on her lounger, and it's still windy and cloudy.

Seems Carnival has taken about 1/3 of the loungers around the pool, added an umbrella and a little plastic cooler for each 2 loungers, then 'rents' them for $25. a pair!

We decide to grab a pair of the free ones!

About 11:00 am, there's a little rain shower, and we decide the weather isn't going to change, so we headed back to the ship, but first my wife stops for a few minutes of shopping, but everything is double the price you'd pay on the ship!

In our cabin we change, and will head off to the buffet for lunch, then rest this afternoon, for a casual dinner in the MDR followed by a show, tonight it's '80's pop to the max'!

Tonight's one 'dine in movie' is at 7pm, 'Maze Runner: The Death Cure'

Afterwards on the pool deck, there will be a '80's Rock N Glow Party from 10:30-12+!

Tomorrow we will be at Half Moon Cay.

We are going on The Glory on the 12th. Can you tell me if they have the new menus for MDR Breakfast and The Steakhouse? Thanks in advance.

We are going on The Glory on the 12th. Can you tell me if they have the new menus for MDR Breakfast and The Steakhouse? Thanks in advance.

I had the NY sirloin on the Glory in the mdr., we never got to the steakhouse, but it was great.

We did go to the steak house on the Conquest this week, and the same NY sirloin wasn't so good, the flat iron steak on the Glory's buffet tasted better.

Our opinion, the cooks on the Glory, cook a better steak! You should get a good steak wherever you get it on the Glory with the current cooks. Enjoy, we did!

BTWThe Conquest doesn't have the new menu.

I believe we tried the new menu on the Magic in Dec., my wife had the A5 wagu, and I had the NY sirloin, and we both agreed mine was much better. It was another one of those occasions where my NY sirloin was so good, I ate the fat! -)

Thanks for the report.

We awaken this morning around 6:30 am, we are only about 20 miles away from Half Moon Cay, so we order our 2 pots of coffee, we'll eat some left over cheese cake, muffins, etc. we still have.

The show last night, '80's Pop to the Max', along with Flick the night before were very good shows, much better then the first 2 shows we saw earlier in the week. We like the shows have changed some since we saw them in January on our Conquest b2b!

The singer Stephanie, I believe her name was, is exceptional, her voice is really pure, very enjoyable to listen to. This is not to say the other singers aren't good, they are, but Stephanie is exceptional.

This show group on the Conquest is also one of the more 'attractive' show groups overall to watch!-))

The big 'debate' I'm having with myself this morning is,,,do I go ashore for a quick swim at Half Moon Cay, go through the tendering, etc. for a short day? Our back on board time is 1:30, and I am sore, with a 5 hour drive home tomorrow after we go through dis-embarkation,,,,my wife is easy going, and will go along with what's best for my health. And we are going on another b2b on the Vista in 2 weeks, south, and west carribean cruises with plenty of beaches, so,,,,? Maybe a decision after coffee!-))

To those interested, at Grand Turk, we docked with the port side towards the island.

Some additional info for platinum members, the platinum-diamond party was what seems is the typical Friday afternoon at around 5:15 pm for 45 minutes, we've missed all of them!

The platinum gift this week on the Conquest is a Trevis plastic hot/cold cup.

Internet speed was very good the first few days of this cruise for a Carnival Ship, but since it has been very, very slow.

It takes me 10 minutes to log into cruise critic each morning, and in the afternoon or evening its more like 15 minutes plus.

I will say the Carnival Hub is pretty good, gives you a lot of details each day on what's going on, including the MDR menu that night, excursions you can purchase, etc..