Conquest Review 3/27-4/3 Part 3

Second Sea Day:

The waves were much calmer. The weather was great and we spent most of the day laying out as official “stern cruisers”. We decided not to get t-shirts made up with our “stern cruisers” motto because obviously, in certain situations especially after a few drinks, these words can take on other meanings!

We had breakfast buffet, again, the lines were very manageable considering a full ship. Within our group we had yummy burgers and deli sandwiches for lunch. The water was a beautiful “Caribbean blue”. It is hard to describe in words the color. My son and his friends played on the water slide a lot. They had a great time. We didn’t sign up my son age 11 for camp carnival because he had a lot of friends in his group. They made up games the whole trip. From what I observed, camp carnival seemed very organized and had many activities for kids of all ages. They even had a party on one of the last nights that didn’t end until 3am!

Formal dinner tonight. Most men were wearing suits and ties. Although some still had on polo shirts and dockers. My son had a shirt and tie but no jacket. I think pretty much anything is ok with Carnival. Again the food was great.

That evening we saw a show and walked around the ship. There is so much to see and do.

Wednesday: Jamaica man!

I woke up early. My window was on the port side and I new Jamaica would be appearing on the starboard side. My son and I walked up on deck to see if we could see land yet. It was only 7am and we weren’t scheduled to arrive until 8. You should have seen our faces when towering over the starboard decks were some beautiful looking Jamaican mountains shrouded in fog. Land ho! We quickly ate a buffet breakfast and watched the ship literally “nose” in to port. At the last minute the ship turned to port and the starboard side aligned with the dock. Very cool. We were soon joined by several other ships including Holland American and Princess which would follow us to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Princess must not have paid as much in port fees cause they were the odd man out and had to tender, yuck!

Our group of 20 decided to go to Sunset Beach Resort. What a bargain and a must do for anyone who wants to relax and have an awesome time on the beach in the sun. We hopped in a JUTA van and for $2 per person took the 5 minute drive to sunset beach. We were escorted to the front desk which is outdoors and all we had to do was give them our sail and sign cards and $20 for each adult and only $10 for each child! If you want a beach towel ask them at the front desk and they will give you a card to take to the towel hut to get one. You don’t have to bring your large Carnival towels if you don’t want to. The beach was absolutely beautiful. We were able to acquire enough beach chairs for all of us. Then some played in the water, some went to the pools there are 3 and others just relaxed. All food and drinks are included in your entrance fee! We all agreed that they could easily charge twice as much and still be worth every penny. You could take out kayaks and beach floats if you wanted to. Two of the pools were connected to a swim up bar. The food was very good. Burgers, fries and jerked chicken. Did I mention the drinks were included? I had several Red Stripes and my friend had some blue drinks and some yellow drinks. I can’t remember the names of the drinks, but does it really matter? We stayed and played until 3 and then hopped in another JUTA cab and $2 bucks more per person were dropped off back at the terminal. There are some safe shops at the terminal and we did some shopping there. All the people were very friendly and nice here. There was a little line to get through Jamaican “customs” and then another line to get on the ship. The ship had great security the entire cruise. BTW when we left New Orleans we were escorted by several coast guard gunboats for quite a ways.

A quick shower and another great dinner. The wait staff always put on fun shows after dinner. They work so hard and still have time to practice their dance moves!

That nite we were 90min. late leaving for some reason. They never told us, but we actually got to Grand Cayman on time.

We strolled the decks and had some drinks. Some of us won in the casino and others like me, were not as lucky.

I’ll continue with Grand Cayman and Cozumel soon.

Thanx for posting! Looking forward to my Conquest cruise. Did you notice if the word is getting out on Sunset Beach, that is, did you notice a lot of cruise passengers or is it still a "secret"?

Good review but now i have a question--Always thought the first formal night on Conquest was Monday--from your review it sounds as if it's now on Tuesday-Have they changed it?? We're planning on Aug 7th Cruise on Conquest and were planning on eating at the Point on Tuesday for our anniversary but i don't want to miss formal night.

Great reviews, Thank-You!!!

Could you tell me what the temps. were in New Orleans, & was it warm the first two days at sea?

Sunset beach was crowded, but not too bad. It is still awesome and I highly recommend it. I was mistaken, the first formal night was monday. Sorry, we had so much fun all the days seem to have blended together.

I was mistaken, the first formal night was monday. Sorry, we had so much fun all the days seem to have blended together.

that's ok, thank you for the correction tho and i'm sure that that will be the case with us--days will blend. sounds like you had a fantastic time--I sure can't wait and am driving everyone CRAZY around me :D :)

Micktooth........a couple of questions, if you don't mind. I know you went to the breakfast buffet, but did you happen to notice (or do you still have your capers) if breakfast in the dining room was open seating, meaning go anytime between 8a-10a, for example. On our last 2 cruises, breakfast and lunch were open seating as far as tables, but not time; we had to go either early or late.

Also, how was the towel situation at the pool? Could you check towels out at the pool or did you need to bring them from your room?

Thanx for taking the time to give us all this great info!:)

Thanks Mictooth for the great reviews!! How is your toe?

We were on this Conquest cruise, and Mictooth is accurate with all he has written. In fact we were in the cabin right next to Mictooth and his family on deck 2. Great to have a nice quiet family for your neighbors, especially during spring break.

I would like to make a few comments. First I'm not knocking Carnival, but my Sister-in-law got the flu while cruising, and my brother-in-law started getting sick a couple of days later. Maybe she had the virus before boarding (started showing symptoms about Tuesday) but the people in the infirmary said a flu-like virus has been on the ship for the past three weeks. My wife broke her toe Friday at Paradise Beach. We visited the infirmary around 6:40pm. The infirmary hours are 8:00am to 11:00 am, and from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. At percisely 7:00pm the nurse locked the door. People were knocking and pulling on the door and the phone was ringing and no one moved. If one has an emergency he has to dial 911 or he is out of luck. I'm sure other cruise lines are this way also, I just beleive there should be a doctor avialable 24/7. If you get sick when the infirmary is not open you are out of luck. Also save those insurance cards, they will charge your sail & sign card only, you are responsible for getting your insurance to pay you back. Dr. visit and x-rays for a broken toe $140...not too bad for todays medical cost.

Cali, breakfast and lunch were both open seating in the Monet dining room. Our friends went to both quite often and said they were both very good.The times were in the Capers of course I left mine on the ship. There was a time range such as 8-10am and 11-1pm. You were free to go at any time when the dining room was open. As for the towels, we just brought ours from our room. We never had a problem with any towels being stolen or saving chairs. Again, we were not out at the main pool with most of the younger crowd. At the rear of the ship everyone was very courteous.

Lovemic, my toe is getting better, I hope yours is too. Sorry to hear about all of the illness. We had a party of 20 nobody seemed to be sick except for the large waves on the first and last sea day.

Thanx for the info! Again!:D

Great review!

I hope y'all have read all 4 parts of my review. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll answer them asap. Happy Sailing!

Micktooth,

Did you say you could get red stripe at sunset beach and it is included in your $20 price? We have been trying to decide what to do in MoBay, Sunset Beach was on our list. I was thinking the drinks would just be watered down rum punch dirnk, not bottled beer as well. What other types of drinks and food are available? Thnaks for all your help.

Yes, that is correct, they do have Red Stripe. I cannot emphasize enough about the fun our entire group of 20 had at Sunset Beach. It's a must do. The Red Stripe was on tap and they had Red Stripe Lite as well. They have several colored concoctions of beach drinks that were not watered down. Anyway, it's all you can eat and drink so keep drinking as much as you like! The cups they serve the drinks in are small, probably about 10oz. You can bring your own travel mug or buy one there and they will continue to fill it. Again, who cares if the cups are small when there is an endless supply! They had a beach grill where you can get burgers,fries,and jerked chicken(spicy). They also had a restaurant you can go in as long as you didn't have on a wet suit. So bring a change of clothes if you want to go in. Some of my friends did and said the food was good, but I don't know what they ordered. And yes, you get 3 pools, a couple of beaches, beach chairs, water toys, all you can eat AND drink for only $20 an adult and $10 per child! You cannot go wrong here. I know others on my cruise who went to other places and were charged for the beach chairs and $8 per drink! You should have seen their faces when we told them about Sunset Beach! You must go and do have fun!!!