Conquest review 9/23 - 9/30

[nchikk]

I wrote some thoughts right after we returned and posted them here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1716981. I will offer more details here.

 

At some point, once I go thru my pics, I'll post them or at least a link to them...but that may be a few days. If you have any questions along the way, just ask and I'll try to answer. The opinions herein are mine and mine only. Yours may be different, and that is ok. Along the way I may offer some ratings, using my own demented scale...1-5, with 5 being best.

 

We flew down and back on Southwest because we got a great deal on the flight...less than $100 round trip. 5 dings.

 

We were there only one day, but I rented a car from Enterprise...$18.99 for a full-size. the car was nice, the service was friendly. I like Enterprise. 4.5 honks.

 

We flew to New Orleans the day before and spent the night at the Sleep Inn in Metairie. The motel was fine...it was clean and the people were nice enough. The elevator was sooooo sloooooow. The room rated 3.5 snores. We liked the complimentary breakfast they offered, consisting of scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, sausage patties, waffles, fruit, yogurt, cold cereals, maybe oatmeal, breakfast pastries, apple & orange juices and coffee. Breakfast, especially considering it was free, rated 4 burps.

 

We rested a bit when we flew in and headed out for the Garden District. We are Florida State Seminole fans and found out the Greater New Orleans Seminole Club has game watching parties at a place called Down the Hatch. We went and watched the FSU-Clemson game and had some dinner. I had my first ever po-boy, shrimp, and Hunny had a spinach salad. The food was excellent. They were very busy so it took a long time to be served once we ordered. They should have been better staffed. Because of this, I had to dock them a little...3.5 burps.

 

If you're reading this, thanks for reading this. Next installment will be embarkation.

[smplyblessed619]

Yay! I love reviews...thanks for taking the time to post. I keep laughing at your ratings....4burps.

[nchikk]

9/23, Embark day.

 

Forgot one thing about yesterday...

Before hearing to the Garden District, we drove a few minutes to the Treasure Chest casino and spent about an hour or so there. I came out about $20 ahead, Hunny wame out about $20 behind. The place is about average size for a riverboat casino.

 

Sunday morning, we took the rental car back and headed to the terminal to catch the bus for the port. Since we flew down the day before, we went ahead and purchased the round trip transfers thru Carnival...$46 per person. We got there fairly early, I guess, and ended up on the first bus to the port. There were two other couples on the bus. We were checked in by 9:30. We had nowhere else to go so why not?

 

The terminal was fairly comfortable and they announced we'd start boarding about 11:00 and we'd be able to get to our cabins at 12:30. At 11:30, we were on board...we had zone-2 boarding cards. The embark staff were friendly and competent and the experience was painless...5 zones.

 

Once onboard, we went to Guest Services and Hunny put cash toward her S&S card. We then went across the lobby and booked the Behind the Fun tour. We also went ahead and booked Dunn's River Falls for Jamaica and Salsa y Salsa for Cozumel. We had booked independently a Hell & Turtle Farm excursion with Captain Marvin's in Grand Cayman.

 

We hit Lido for some lunch. Hunny hit the buffet inside and I got Mongolian stir-fry. Before I continue, against my own better judgement, I will admit to being a Carnival cheerleader but I will call a spade a spade. Neither of us remember what Hunny got at the buffet...she said it was pretty good, nothing spectacular. The Mongolian stir-fry was pretty good too. I got the Szechuwan sauce...it was very hot. I am Indian, so I know and enjoy hot food. And this was hot. But it was one note. Overall, our lunches rated 3 burps.

 

Thanks for reading...there'll be more later at some point.

[mandakate42]

Like Like!!! Will be leaving on the Conquest in 29 days, post dry dock!! Thanks for your review!!

[vivavegas]

loving your review! Thanks for posting!

[WiCruiseDreamer]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. We leave in 22 days so I am reading all I can get.

 

Sent from my Samsung using Tapatalk 2

[chipq]

I can relate to your demented rating scale. Enjoy you review so far, keep it coming. Thanks.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[nchikk]

Thank you all for reading, and the nice words.

 

9/23, Embark day continued...

 

With sail-away at 4:00, muster drill was scheduled for 3:30, and it was held on time. I was quite disappointed with muster. Not disappointed with Carnival as much, though I was a little, but with a few people near us at the drill.

 

Attention those people near me at muster drill... It was hot for us too. We didn't need you to keep reminding us. And another thing, this drill is meant to save your life (and mine). Especially after Concordia, you'd think people would pay more attention and allow a few minutes of inconvenience. All these people did was bitch the whole time. They've done this too many times to not know what to do, blah blah blah. Oh, sorry, they are the only ones at muster so it can be called off since they know what to do. F***ing morons! I fault Carnival some for allowing this to continue and not telling them to shut the hell up. The crew present should have put a stop to it. Sorry, rant over.

 

I had suggested to our roll call, an informal little meet 30 minutes after muster ended on Sports Deck at the base of the whale tail. We went and didn't see anyone there for the meet. But it was my fault...we were on the wrong deck! My dumbass moment. Oh well. Once we set sail down the river, we headed down and began getting ready for dinner.

 

We had early seating...it's about the time we eat dinner at home. We were assigned a table for two in the upper level of the Renoir dining room. I know tables for two are sought after and revered, but we were kinda hoping for a larger table. On our last cruise, 2 1/2 years ago, we were assigned a 10-top and made some good friends, friends we stay in touch with today. So we were kinda hoping for a larger table to make some new friends. We thought of asking to be moved but didn't. "Be careful what you ask for...you may get it." We figured we get stuck with people we didn't like or didn't mesh with, like the morons from muster drill. But we stayed at out table for two and enjoyed it. And we liked that with only the two of us, dinner didn't take at least an hour and a half. Most nights we were out in just over an hour. Our waiter was Roberto. His assistants were Rasmudi and Ketut. As I read John's blog regularly, I was kinda excited about having my own Ketut for a week. Service by our team was very good. The maitre'd of the upper Renoir was Enrico, and he made a point of stopping by our table every night.

 

Need breakfast...more later.

[nchikk]

9/23, still more embark day...

 

About our cabin...

We were booked into 6268, Main deck forward, just off the forward elevator lobby. In fact, coming out of the elevator lobby and into the hallway, you did not even need to turn...our cabin was right there. I had hand-picked this cabin. We booked cat 8A and had no desire to upgrade to another deck or even mid-ship. We would be in the room mainly to sleep, shower and dress, so I saw no need to upgrade. The reason I picked this room was simple...above us was another cabin and below us on deck 5 was the gift shop, which is closed early morning and late at night. No worries about noise from a bar or club.

 

The cabin was just right for us...we had plenty of space. Our cabin steward was Dave and he kept it completely ship-shape. Dave was also available whenever we needed anything and made sure we never waited long for it.

 

Ok, so dinner on embark day was good. It wasn't the best food we've ever had, but it was good. Sorry, I don't remember what we had, but it rated a solid 3.5 burps. Most meals we had in the MDR rated at least that.

 

The Welcome Aboard show wasn't until 10:30, so we played in the casino for a while and roamed around the ship. We decided to go chill in the cabin before showtime...mistake. Hunny was on the balcony and I was chilling on the bed watching the Sunday Night Football game. The next thing I know, it's 11:30 and Hunny is in bed asleep. I changed in the dark to something I could sleep in and went back to sleep. So much for the Welcome Aboard show. The bed and covers were most comfortable. We both slept better than we do at home...a full 5 snores.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for posting a review!

[nchikk]

9/24, first sea day...

 

Getting up early (4: something) just like I do at home, I decided to walk around the ship a bit. I found myself in the internet cafe. On this ship, it's through Alfred's Bar. Not wanting to pay for internet service, I knew going in there were just a few sites you could access for free. One of these is carnival.com, and mainly their Funville section, where their message boards are. I wasn't going to pay outrageous prices to my mobile carrier either, so one way to keep in touch with family and friends was to use the message boards there.

 

There is a section there called "currently on board". I created a thread before we left home and was able to post on the thread whenever I wanted. I had emailed the link to our friends and family so they could not only read what we posted, but could communicate with us. All that is required to post on their boards was to simply register.

 

On the way back to the cabin, I stopped at the Lido buffet area and picked up some coffee. Much has been made of the Lido coffee. It is worthy of 1 burp. It's really not good.

 

Hunny was up so I ordered room service (coffee, juice, fruit and danishes). Delivery was within about 20 minutes and this was much better...4 burps.

 

As we were sailing aprox. SSE toward Jamaica, we had a nice view of the sunrise from our port-side balcony.

 

After we had our coffee and got dressed, we went up for breakfast at the buffet. This is where I first saw the infamous "bacon police". I understand the reason for the bacon police...I really do. People pile on so much that a lot is wasted. So I really can't blame Carnival for taking measures to combat waste. But I'm wondering if it's really working. Each morning I would say "1 or 2 pieces please" and would be given a pile of about 6, 7, 8 or more pieces of bacon. This happened every day. Seems their plan to not waste just didn't work.

 

Tonight is the Captain's celebration. I'll be back later and tell you all about that.

[nchikk]

9/24, first sea day continued...

 

We had a non-descript lunch at the buffet and went to the casino for the slot tournament. Entry was $20 and you can enter as often as you like. The prize for winning was $500. We didn't win, though my score survived until the 3rd round.

 

They had karaoke by the casino bar so we went there and I sang one song. I liked the song selection on Fascination better. I think I thought the songs would be the same but they seemed different.

 

We went on back to the cabin so Hunny could get ready for elegant night. I may have napped, I don't know. We saw Dave as we left for the celebration and mentioned that Diefenbaker was missing. We like to keep out towel animals and Diefenbaker was the name I gave the dog Dave made us the first night. Dave immediately got this look upon his face that said "ooh, I screwed up". But he didn't know. He suggested we put up missing signs and he'd look for Diefenbaker. Of course when we returned from the night's entertainment, Diefenbaker was back...and he brought a friend, which Hunny named Señor Frog.

 

The Captain's celebration began on deck 5 about 5:00 so we were up there about that time. We did indeed see and have our picture taken with the ship's Master, with my camera, not the ship's photographer's camera. More on this later...there is a story here. We kinda noticed the Master seemed a ladies' man as he seemed to be noticing the women in the vicinity. I can't blame him.

 

We played in the casino for a while and headed to dinner. Hunny had the surf, I got turf. She had lobster tail and shrimp, and I, the prime rib. I had requested the meat be medium rare, and it was. I would have liked some shrimp and Hunny would have liked some prime rib, so we traded...she gave mer the shrimp and I gave her about half the prime rib, so we both had surf and turf. I don't remember what we had for dessert, though I tended to go with the sugar-free options most of the time. Tonight's meal rated a solid 4 burps.

 

The main show tonight was called "Voila Paris". To say we did not like it would be an understatement. Maybe it just wasn't our cup of tea. We wanted to leave. We really wanted to leave. We didn't out of respect to the people we'd have to step over and around to leave...and we hoped it may improve. It didn't. We ran into an older couple the next morning who overheard us talking about it, and they agreed the show basically sucked. I'd give this show a rating of 1 clap, and that is being overly generous. The good news for all humanity is that the show will be gone at dry dock, I believe.

 

Next installment will be the second sea day.

[wendyandcliff]

OH I really hope the shows do change after drydock. I will be doing my forth and fifth cruise on the Conquest and the show has been the same since my first...

[nchikk]

9/25, second sea day...

 

Up early again, and way before Hunny, I headed to the internet room to post some stuff for our family and friends and read what they had to say to us. On the way back, more bad coffee form the Lido area (only to hold me over until room service comes) and back to the room. Room Service on this ship was quite efficient. We ordered something from them each morning, and they were there in a timely manner each time. In fact, we had the same girl deliver our stuff every morning but one. After waking up and enjoying our balcony with coffee and a very light breakfast, we headed for breakfast at the Lido buffet.

 

I made a point to hit the trivia each morning Cafe Fans (deck 5, near the casino) to try to win a coveted 24 karat solid gold painted piece of ship on a stick. Alas, it did not happen on this day.

 

We pretty much were just lazy this day and really didn't do much at all. After the morning trivia session, I went back to the cabin and napped. Hunny didn't get much sun in these two sea days...it was overcast on Monday and cloudy with periods of light rain on Tuesday.

 

Hunny had never eaten lunch in the MDR, so we headed at lunch time to the Monet dining room where something happened. We were led to a table at the rear of the dining room and were seated with several other couples. The husband in one of the couples was Indian, like me (the curry variety). He ordered the veggie burger. I ordered a pasta of some form...but that is irrelevant. When they brought Ashok's veggie burger, they also brought him, stating it was a standing order for him, an Indian vegetarian lunch...like the dinner on the MDR dinner menu, but two dishes instead of three. He really did not want it, he wanted the veggie burger...so he asked if I wanted to eat it. I had my pasta, but I had been wanting to try the Indian veg meal on Carnival for a long time, so I graciously accepted one of the dishes they brought him. I would have taken the other, but it was okra...I don't like okra.

 

Before I continue, I must say I am Indian. Oh, I said that already. Ok, I'll say I have been known to eat a lot...that is a nice way of saying I'm fat. I'm 48, so I've been eating Indian food for a long time. Alright, now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, I can say what I feel about the Indian food I had on this ship. I had the Indian vegetarian dinner in the MDR on three occasions after this (out of the remaining 5 nights). The Indian food I had on this ship was the best Indian food I have ever had that was not made (1) in India or (2) by my mother. Seriously, it was THAT good. Only because I cannot rate it higher on the scale of 1-5, it gets a solid 5 burps.

 

2nd sea day to be continued...

[curlytoo62]

Thanks for taking the time to post! We sail on the Conquest 12/2 so I am enjoying every word oh and...love the rating scales. If you have time, please include the must see must do's from this ship and I cant wait to try the Indian food!

[nchikk]

Thanks for taking the time to post! We sail on the Conquest 12/2 so I am enjoying every word oh and...love the rating scales. If you have time, please include the must see must do's from this ship and I cant wait to try the Indian food!

 

Thanks for reading. When you say 'must see must do's', do you mean what they listed on the Carnival Capers (I still call it that), which include useless things like shoping talks and sales on acupuncture or what we think are the things you should not miss?

[nchikk]

9/25, second sea day continued...

 

Tonight’s show was “The Love and Marriage Show”, aka the “Newlywed & Not-So Newlywed Game”. In past cruises this has been held in the main showroom, but in the afternoon. On this ship, it seems it was the evening’s show. Frankly, I think this was a cop-out, and I have to call out the CD for this.

 

The CD was Gary Brierly. I’d not heard of him before. The CD on our last cruise was Trevor Block, who’s no longer with Carnival. He was very friendly, outgoing and approachable. We’d see him out and about on the ship and we’d be able, and felt like we were invited to go chat him up. Gary was different. We saw him only at the big shows in the evening. We’d hear his announcements occasionally. Other than that, he may have just not been there. And he’d use “Ladies and Gentlemen (or Gents)” so often, anything he said seemed VERY insincere and VERY scripted. That being said, we just didn’t care for him.

 

But to have this game taking up time when there could have been a bigger show seemed cheap to us. I won’t use the “cutback” word, but it seemed cheap. Another thing I noticed was there were fewer activitied during the course of the day than there were on our last cruise. Still, I won’t use the “cutback” word...I’m wondering instead if it’s the CD.

 

To be continued...

[dave_k63]

9/25, second sea day...

 

Up early again, and way before Hunny, I headed to the internet room to post some stuff for our family and friends and read what they had to say to us. On the way back, more bad coffee form the Lido area (only to hold me over until room service comes) and back to the room. Room Service on this ship was quite efficient. We ordered something from them each morning, and they were there in a timely manner each time. In fact, we had the same girl deliver our stuff every morning but one. After waking up and enjoying our balcony with coffee and a very light breakfast, we headed for breakfast at the Lido buffet.

 

I made a point to hit the trivia each morning Cafe Fans (deck 5, near the casino) to try to win a coveted 24 karat solid gold painted piece of ship on a stick. Alas, it did not happen on this day.

 

We pretty much were just lazy this day and really didn't do much at all. After the morning trivia session, I went back to the cabin and napped. Hunny didn't get much sun in these two sea days...it was overcast on Monday and cloudy with periods of light rain on Tuesday.

 

Hunny had never eaten lunch in the MDR, so we headed at lunch time to the Monet dining room where something happened. We were led to a table at the rear of the dining room and were seated with several other couples. The husband in one of the couples was Indian, like me (the curry variety). He ordered the veggie burger. I ordered a pasta of some form...but that is irrelevant. When they brought Ashok's veggie burger, they also brought him, stating it was a standing order for him, an Indian vegetarian lunch...like the dinner on the MDR dinner menu, but two dishes instead of three. He really did not want it, he wanted the veggie burger...so he asked if I wanted to eat it. I had my pasta, but I had been wanting to try the Indian veg meal on Carnival for a long time, so I graciously accepted one of the dishes they brought him. I would have taken the other, but it was okra...I don't like okra.

 

Before I continue, I must say I am Indian. Oh, I said that already. Ok, I'll say I have been known to eat a lot...that is a nice way of saying I'm fat. I'm 48, so I've been eating Indian food for a long time. Alright, now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, I can say what I feel about the Indian food I had on this ship. I had the Indian vegetarian dinner in the MDR on three occasions after this (out of the remaining 5 nights). The Indian food I had on this ship was the best Indian food I have ever had that was not made (1) in India or (2) by my mother. Seriously, it was THAT good. Only because I cannot rate it higher on the scale of 1-5, it gets a solid 5 burps.

 

2nd sea day to be continued...

I was stationed at the embassy in New Delhi for several months and learned to love Indian food. Did you by any chance meet Sundeep on the Conquest? He is the Food and Beverage Manager and is a terrific person. We talked a lot and he sent me a complete Indian meal one night. It was fantastic! Keep the review coming.

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I was contemplating a cruise on this ship, but was a little leary because I've read mixed reviews.

 

That is so great that you had the "famous" Ketut for a server!! I hope that you did get a pic of him..and an autograph, lol.

 

I also love Mongolian, and get the hot..the hotter, the better, for me!

In the MDR on every cruise I get the Indian dish - love it!! (I like okra :) ) Nice and spicy. I also like the vegetarian pot pie.

 

Like you, on our last cruise we were at a 2-top and were disappointed. We like to meet others!! We only went to MDR two nights on that last cruise, service was slow - so we just ate at the buffet the other three nights.

 

I will be reading the rest of your review - and will be looking for those photos! :D

[firefly333]

I was on this same cruise and our only big complaint was cold dinners every night. I was with Lord Richard's group of 180, so maybe that was the problem? too big of a group, but our dinner was stone cold every night. My lobster tasted like it had been frozen and not fully cooked.

 

He took us to the steak house one night and up there my lobster again was not edible.

 

(in contrast I was on Magic last week and the lobster was cooked perfect, and dinners were warm all week)...

 

so I dont know what to think about stone cold soups that should not be served cold. My TA finally talked to someone and the last night, we got hot dinners and hot soup.

 

I had read about this on CC but never experienced it myself.

 

I was in the theater for the muster drill, so did not have a hot wait like the OP.

 

We had a balcony cabin on deck 10.. trouble locking the safe, but the cabin was fine otherwise.

 

No complaints about the cruise .. saw one guy that has been on the conquest the last 4 times I cruised on conquest.. he said it was his 11th time on the ship, he loves conquest. Got to meet my TA from the UK face to face and many other people from our forum which was a lot of fun.

 

We were the group who dressed up like Halloween mardi gras night and paraded around like a bunch of fools!! lmao.. we had a great cruise overall.

 

OP sorry I didnt get to meet you too.

[firefly333]

One night my cabin roomie had gone back to her cabin to get her wine vouchers for the wine package, but gave her order to the girl next to her .. and another girl wasnt sitting in her seat.

 

Finally at 9:10, I got irritated with our waiter and went and said, when are you going to take our order already. (we had late dinner) and he said well people were not sitting in their seats... so ask??!!! maybe they were not eating or whatever.. dont ignore us for an hour and never come by.

 

I was not impressed this cruise with service in the MDR. (Like I said last week I did a B2B on Magic and it was great).

 

Never had such bad service. One guy in my group was heard to say it was his 30th cruise with Carnival and worst ever service this cruise.

[nchikk]

I was stationed at the embassy in New Delhi for several months and learned to love Indian food. Did you by any chance meet Sundeep on the Conquest? He is the Food and Beverage Manager and is a terrific person. We talked a lot and he sent me a complete Indian meal one night. It was fantastic! Keep the review coming.

 

Roberto, our head waiter, had a list of what was offered on the IVD each night. So if I didn't like something offered that night, I could order something else. Of course, the offerings were in Hindi so it helps that I speak food-Hindi. We met a few chefs during the Behind the Fun tour (more on that later) but sorry, I don't recall if Sundeep was among those we met.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I was contemplating a cruise on this ship, but was a little leary because I've read mixed reviews.

 

That is so great that you had the "famous" Ketut for a server!! I hope that you did get a pic of him..and an autograph, lol.

 

I also love Mongolian, and get the hot..the hotter, the better, for me!

In the MDR on every cruise I get the Indian dish - love it!! (I like okra :) ) Nice and spicy. I also like the vegetarian pot pie.

 

Like you, on our last cruise we were at a 2-top and were disappointed. We like to meet others!! We only went to MDR two nights on that last cruise, service was slow - so we just ate at the buffet the other three nights.

 

I will be reading the rest of your review - and will be looking for those photos! :D

 

As it turns out, Ketut is a fairly common name...who knew? Anyway, I wouldn't worry about reviews too much. It is what you make of it. Often times I wonder if those who complain and post bad reviews are just lokoing for something to complain about or have some other agenda. We had a good time and would sail this ship again.

[nchikk]

One night my cabin roomie had gone back to her cabin to get her wine vouchers for the wine package, but gave her order to the girl next to her .. and another girl wasnt sitting in her seat.

 

Finally at 9:10, I got irritated with our waiter and went and said, when are you going to take our order already. (we had late dinner) and he said well people were not sitting in their seats... so ask??!!! maybe they were not eating or whatever.. dont ignore us for an hour and never come by.

 

I was not impressed this cruise with service in the MDR. (Like I said last week I did a B2B on Magic and it was great).

 

Never had such bad service. One guy in my group was heard to say it was his 30th cruise with Carnival and worst ever service this cruise.

 

I was on this same cruise and our only big complaint was cold dinners every night. I was with Lord Richard's group of 180, so maybe that was the problem? too big of a group, but our dinner was stone cold every night. My lobster tasted like it had been frozen and not fully cooked.

 

He took us to the steak house one night and up there my lobster again was not edible.

 

(in contrast I was on Magic last week and the lobster was cooked perfect, and dinners were warm all week)...

 

so I dont know what to think about stone cold soups that should not be served cold. My TA finally talked to someone and the last night, we got hot dinners and hot soup.

 

I had read about this on CC but never experienced it myself.

 

I was in the theater for the muster drill, so did not have a hot wait like the OP.

 

We had a balcony cabin on deck 10.. trouble locking the safe, but the cabin was fine otherwise.

 

No complaints about the cruise .. saw one guy that has been on the conquest the last 4 times I cruised on conquest.. he said it was his 11th time on the ship, he loves conquest. Got to meet my TA from the UK face to face and many other people from our forum which was a lot of fun.

 

We were the group who dressed up like Halloween mardi gras night and paraded around like a bunch of fools!! lmao.. we had a great cruise overall.

 

OP sorry I didnt get to meet you too.

 

Hey firefly...

Sorry to hear about the poor service and cold meals in the MDR. We did not have this problem...no complaints about the temperature of our meals at all. The service we got in the MDR was good.

[nchikk]

On the subject of service, I want to go ahead and say now that we had good service throughout the cruise. In fact, there are only two instances that may not have qualified as such.

 

One was a bartender at the casino bar who I'm sure some would feel just didn't seem overly friendly. She wasn't as outgoing and bubbly as others perhaps...I'm not a bubbly personality and sometimes people think I'm either mean or being unfriendly.

 

The other involved drink servers in the showroom...they kept getting lost...what I mean is they'd have our drinks on their tray and would have a hard time finding us until we waved them down.

[nchikk]

I wanted to touch on the event formerly known as the Past Guest Party. I don't blame them for changing this to Gold and above, once they added the Red level. Otherwise it would seem like the whole ship is there.

 

Anyway, when we booked this cruise, it was still under the old system (from Blue straight to Gold). Hunny was looking forward to her first time being invited to the past Guest Party. In the interim, they changed it to the 5 levels there are now and made it Gold and above for the party. I went to the Purser's desk (I still call it that) and explained that when we booked, she would have been eligible to be invited to it. They said it would be no problem if she went with me.

 

Actually, I was kinda ready to fight (NOT physically) over this, but it was not necessary.