Conquest Review May 5-12 2013

[halos]

Hey can't everyone just read it for what it was - my review of the trip.

 

HA! Good luck with that....

 

You had expectations and they were not met.

I don't understand why some people have a difficult time with that.

The truth is that your expectations were likely out of line for what CCL offers...to be honest MY expectations of CCL were not met the last couple years and I was a Carnival cruiser.

Also, having expectations for your review to be met without so much defensiveness was likely futile as well....but from your comments, it seems you kinda knew what was to come.

 

I thank you for pointing out the good things about your cruise (seems most chose to skim right over those comments :rolleyes:). For me, that made your review more plausible.

[kinggartk]

Very unfair comment and attack on someone who happened to agree with me. Have you been on Celebrity? If not, how can you know? And the fact you group everyone that cruises with Celebrity as a classless snob is quite discriminatory.

 

 

I think you grouped Carnival Cruisers just as poorly as Shultz did Celebrity Cruisers.

[Sargent_Schultz]

I think you grouped Carnival Cruisers just as poorly as Shultz did Celebrity Cruisers.

 

And not their first grouping, hence the hypocrisy.

[sail2sea]

I would like to say this was a great cruise and everything was wonderful. But alas, it was not. I expect I will get “flamed” by the Carnival Cheerleaders but I really do not care. What I have written below is factual – all this happened to us. We have been on 10+ cruises, and if you add up all the problems on those cruises, the total would not even come close to the problems we had on this cruise. I am not sure where to start so will start at the beginning (obvious huh?).

 

Embarkation: No major problems. We were in one of the Captains Suites on deck 9 and also purchased Faster to the Fun (FTTF). I renamed that later but will wait to tell it. Of course, we did have a minor problem during embarkation – could not find our room keys. If you have FTTF and are in a suite, they don’t always pick that up so your sign and sail cards are someplace else. After a short wait, we were “allowed” to move on and sit down (if we could find a chair). Now I am disabled but I am fortunate in that I can walk without a cane now even thought I have an AFO (ankle foot orthotic). Most of the chairs in the priority waiting area were full or had folks personal items on them (of course, they will not move them for you to sit down). Then I saw the handicapped chairs and nobody was sitting there. But the catch – you have to also look disabled to sit there. Even though I told the lady I was disabled, she sent me down to the end of the waiting area where we were able to find 2 chairs – but not together. So not a real good start but nothing major. We got on, got to our room, room was ready, and luggage came really quickly. We had our obligatory Guy’s burgers and they were awesome.

 

First Night: Room attendants met us and seemed very nice. We were not very hungry that first night so we ate something quickly on the buffet and then went back to the room. The attendants came by but would not come in since we were in the room. We asked them to come in (as we have done on every other cruise) but they said no, gave us 2 pieces of chocolate, and left without servicing the room. We thought that unusual but did not think any more about it. Then we had the muster. Well, I felt even less safe after that mess. We were assigned to B muster station and were all the way forward on the Port Side. It took forever before they did the briefing and then I could not understand one word. I understand they also took the opportunity to try and convince everyone to buy something but again I could not understand anything. Too loud and too garbled.

 

Second Morning: Enjoying our nice big room. By the way, the Captains Suites were added with 2.0 and are wonderful. Nice balcony, nice view forward, and 2 bathrooms. We put our order for a continental breakfast on the door the evening of the first night and asked for delivery between 8:30 and 9:00 AM. We waited and waited but no delivery. Finally at 9:00 AM I called to cancel the order and they said it was on the way but was late. I agreed and told them to cancel it. Imagine it was still sitting in the kitchen waiting for delivery. So my first Rule (Rule 1), on the first day if you really want something on time and you are not Diamond or Platinum, order it 30 minutes before you really want it. I think if you are Diamond or Platinum, you are priority for room service. So we went to Punchliner Brunch and enjoyed it very much. Then back to the room to sit on the balcony, read, and just enjoy the cruise. Room attendants came by and said to call them when we left so they could clean the room. We told them to come in but they say they could not come in while we were there (Call this Rule 2). We were asked to call them when we left. At about 2:00 PM we left to get a quick snack before our evening meal at the Pointe Steakhouse and called the attendants. It rang and rang and then went to a busy signal. I tried the other phone and got the same thing. We ate something light and came back and I realized I had not seen the life jackets where they belonged. So I started checking every nook and cranny and could not find them. So I called about 3 items – no life jackets, no service, and a mirror problem (will cover that later). The person on the phone thought I was crazy and was not nice about the life jackets. I told him to send someone up and have then show me the life jackets. They also said they would try to send someone to service the room. And there was nothing they could do about the mirror problem.

 

Ok, the mirror problem. In the Captains Suite, they have a nice makeup table area in the bedroom with a nice window above it. There is a mirror but it is one of those lighted magnifying mirrors that is great for up close but well not good for drying your hair. So of course, where was the hair dryer? It was permanently mounted in the drawer at the makeup table. So according to my wife, you need a regular mirror to use your hair dryer to dry and style your hair. I guess this is a problem just in those 2 rooms but Carnival should correct that problem.

 

Back to the life jackets. Someone did show up and guess what – he could not find them either. He looked everywhere and then decided maybe under the bed. If course, just where I would look for them if we had an emergency (tongue in cheek). Well guess what – 4 life jackets. He folded them properly and put them where they belonged and left. Did get someone to service room because our attendant was on rest during the afternoon. But surely things will get better – right? WRONG! We went to the Pointe Steakhouse and it was a bitter disappointment. The steaks were not as good as you can get at most mid-level restaurants like Outback, etc. I got the recommended spiced steak and it was good but very tough even though it was supposed to be done medium rare. So ended the first day and thought the next day had to be better.

 

Third Day: This was Key West day and only one minor problem. We went to Renoir for breakfast and my wife asked for some strawberries as a fruit. She was informed that you had to request fresh strawberries 24 hours in advance but they were able to find some. So Rule 3 – order fresh strawberries 24 hours in advance. Later on this day, we got a call that they had to do maintenance on our room and we had to be gone between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM. They told us we could not be in the room during that time. We did not understand but figured we had to do it.

 

Fourth Day: Arrive at Freeport. Left room before 9:00 and reported that fact to Guest Relations. They again confirmed it would be done by 1:00 PM. Went ashore, walked around, and the back to the ship for lunch and reading. A few minutes before 1:00 PM, we were back at Guest Relations to verify we could go back to our room. After a few moments and a couple of calls, we were told that we had to stay out until 5:00 PM. Ok, now I have had it. I am working my vacation around what Carnival wants to do and there are only so many places you can go. Plus we had Chefs Table that night at 6:15 PM and really wanted to clean up before we went. After some discussion the Guest Relations Manager came down and we went to her office. She is a very nice person and a true professional and she listened to our list of problems and was somewhat concerned. She did check and she was able to take us back to our room even while they were working on the front door. Seems these rooms that were added in 2.0 have problems and they have to work the schedule to get warranty work done. So back to our room and glad to be there.

 

Went to Chefs Table and it was magnificent. Our cruise sort of started turning around (for the good) at this moment. A great event, great dinner, and a super Chef de Cuisine. Very personable, very open, and really talented.

 

Fifth Day: Nassau. Stayed on the ship, relaxed, room attendants serviced the room while we sat on the deck. Evidently, they got the word. It seems they put us on some priority list with dining and room service so things were done well with no delay. I guess that is normally reserved for Diamond and Platinum member. However, some of these services should be done for everyone – like room service on time. But it was clear to me that Carnival caters to the Diamond and Platinum members. And based on this cruise, you really have to be dedicated and a “hardy” person so survive that many days traveling on Carnival.

 

Sixth Day: At sea and no problems. Again room attendants serviced room while we were there on the balcony.

 

Seventh Day: Same as the sixth day.

 

Debarkation Day: Well no debarkation is fun but Carnival really exceeds in working to make it really bad. Suffice to say, what a mess with no “adult leadership” around to tell folks not to block elevator exits, halls, pathways, etc. It seems like everyone wants to do self assist and those folks block every pathway, elevator exit, stairway, etc. If we had an emergency during debarkation, I really believe a lot of folks would have been hurt.

 

So to sum it up:

Good (my opinion): Punchliner Brunch, Guys Burgers, Renoir Dining Room (breakfast and Dinner), and Fans (nice coffee).

 

Not so good (my opinion): Pointe Steakhouse, breakfast buffet, lack of quiet spots (we had trouble finding any that did not smell of smoke), preference provided to Diamond and Platinum members and everyone else is second or third class (sort of like the old class system on ships).

 

Oh and FTTF is really, in my opinion, Faster to the Farce. But then only my opinion.

 

In conclusion, yes, this was our first and last Carnival Cruise. There were many other things that were minor nits as well as some other positive items so those sort of cancelled out in my mind. You can call me a hater (which I am not), you can call me an elitist (sorry you are wrong there too), or you can say I am totally unfair in reviewing Carnival because after all it is a low budget cruise line (yep you are right – it is low budget, very low budget). So, yes, I will go back to Celebrity, Holland America, Princess (maybe), and perhaps Royal Caribbean or Norwegian. So far none of these have treated us as badly as Carnival.

 

Blast away!!!

 

That was a pretty typical average Carnival cruise. You didn't have it bad ... as far as Carnival cruises go. If it bothers you very much Carnival is not for you. ;)

[TruckerDave]

Start out expecting to get flamed then end by saying "blast away"........then get defensive when you are blasted and flamed. Me thinks you just wanted a fight. But that is just me, I don't go into a bar saying nobody has the stones to punch me in the face and then telling anybody to punch me in the face when i get ready to leave.:rolleyes:

[JP4GA]

I felt that your review was fair and balanced. Some things bothered you that would not have bothered me. The non-access to your room for almost an entire day is UNACCEPTABLE and I would be livid with that situation.

 

I don't understand expecting the room stewart to service the room while you are in the room. I and my husband travel a lot and it is standard operating procedure for rooms on land and at sea to be serviced while vacant. I know that some employees will service a room while you are in it, but it generally makes the person doing the service uncomfortable. I personally would never expect my room to be serviced while I was in it or on the balcony. --This is not a flame, sometimes tone is lost in writing.:o

[Seago2]

I always shove the life jackets under the bed. Sounds like your cabin crew didn't want to do the work. That would explain why they didn't replace the life jackets where they belonged (last passenger probably shoved them under the bed) and gave you every excuse not to clean. I hang out in my cabin a lot, too, so that would have bothered me. A long wait time to board is definitely a bummer. The mirror thing- what can anyone do about that? Nothing.

 

Everything else seems like a legitimate thing to put in a review. Sometimes cruises just start out not so great. Glad it got better.

[halos]

Start out expecting to get flamed then end by saying "blast away"........then get defensive when you are blasted and flamed. Me thinks you just wanted a fight. But that is just me, I don't go into a bar saying nobody has the stones to punch me in the face and then telling anybody to punch me in the face when i get ready to leave.:rolleyes:

 

The nature of these boards creates posters who have any negative comments, to be mentally prepared for an onslaught. I believe this poster was just preparing himself for the inevitable.

[Cruise To Relax]

I always shove the life jackets under the bed. Sounds like your cabin crew didn't want to do the work. That would explain why they didn't replace the life jackets where they belonged (last passenger probably shoved them under the bed) and gave you every excuse not to clean. I hang out in my cabin a lot, too, so that would have bothered me. A long wait time to board is definitely a bummer. The mirror thing- what can anyone do about that? Nothing.

 

Everything else seems like a legitimate thing to put in a review. Sometimes cruises just start out not so great. Glad it got better.

 

Thanks. You are correct because it really got much better.

[Cruise To Relax]

The nature of these boards creates posters who have any negative comments, to be mentally prepared for an onslaught. I believe this poster was just preparing himself for the inevitable.

 

Thanks. Well written.

[GreyingJay]

Well, it is kind of logically expected. People who spend most of their time reading the Carnival boards are going to be, no surprise, people who enjoy Carnival cruises. People tend to associate with the things they like, and form an identity around them. So for someone to suddenly come in and say bad things about the thing they like, it can be seen as a personal attack, and personal attacks need to be defended!

 

Case in point: Apple forums. Don't you dare try to tell an Apple fan board how much you like your spiffy new Android phone... you'll be eaten alive!

 

But it goes both ways. By and large the experiences are good (they would not be in business otherwise!) But bad experiences DO happen. It's bound to. There are thousands of employees on any given ship, some of them are worse at customer service than others. Even the good ones can have bad days. The weather changes, pure and simple bad luck... Even if 99% of people had a fantastic time, with 3000 people on a ship, that still means 30 people didn't.

 

And people have different expectations. What totally PO's someone might be "meh, no big deal" to someone else.

 

I would, however, encourage Cruise To Relax to not give up on Carnival so quickly based on one bad experience. Try another ship or another itinerary, maybe you'll find it much better. However, with so many good cruise lines to choose from, there's also no real reason not to try another one. That's what the competitive market is all about.

 

As for life jackets, I feel they should be placed in a consistent spot, and/or that spot should be clearly labelled. On my cruise on Carnival Glory, the lifejackets were in the top shelf of one of the closets, both in my room and my parents' room. Therefore, if I was in a random cabin and suddenly expected to don a lifejacket, the first place I would look is in the closet. I wouldn't think to look under the bed.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Sorry the cruise didn't live up to your expectations. You may get flamed, but when you come in and say things like

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

It sounds like you are looking for a fight and trying to bait people into arguing with you.

 

I think they just know how crazy and rabidly dedicated some members here actually are in their brand dedication.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

The nature of these boards creates posters who have any negative comments, to be mentally prepared for an onslaught. I believe this poster was just preparing himself for the inevitable.

 

I agree.

[TruckerDave]

The nature of these boards creates posters who have any negative comments, to be mentally prepared for an onslaught. I believe this poster was just preparing himself for the inevitable.

 

The OP's actual review was fine. It is their view of what happened, you/I/we can debate all day long if the issues the OP had were really that bad or not. What turned me (and I'm guessing some others) off was the first and last paragraphs of the review. To me they were just looking for a fight by adding those paragraphs. Had they written them in a less confrontational tone, they probably would have gotten a better response.

[DebJ14]

As for your being upset that the room stewards would not service the room with you in it - that is the policy and has been the policy for years. A few years ago on the Conquest I hurt my back and could not get out of bed. The steward came every day to check on me and DH gave him the dirty towels, and the ice bucket to fill every morning. In the evening the steward would come before DH went to dinner and swap out the towels, give us fresh ice, and hand DH the chocolates, a towel animal and the Fun Times. The days the linens were to be changed we stripped the bed and the steward gave us the clean sheets to put on the bed. When I was able to move and get out of the cabin we made sure the steward knew we were leaving for breakfast so he could clean the room before we got back. Hanging in the room until 2pm is unfair to the stewards as they go off duty and are entitled to their few hours off.

Knowing what the policy is, on the Glory when traveling with my disabled Mother,I worked with Guest Services and the Head of House Keeping to get permission for the steward to service the cabin as long as Mom and I stayed out on the balcony. It worked well for us every day. She always had to have a nap after breakfast due to her CHF and she could sleep in the chair on the balcony as well as in the bed.

I have been on 30 Carnival cruises and have never had an issue with the steward not making up the room or at least making a valiant attempt.

Enjoy the other cruise lines - we're past passengers on HAL, Celebrity, RCCL and NCL and the service on Carnival is no better or worse than what we experienced on those lines. We sail in suites on all the lines and understand that on Carnival all of our perks come from being Platinum, not from being in a suite. But, we enjoy the extra room and if I throw my back out I would rather spend the week in a suite than in a closet.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise on the Conquest. We had 4 great cruises on her and prefer that Class of ships to the Dream Class. That is why we chose the Freedom for our cruise this Saturday.

[Sargent_Schultz]

The nature of these boards creates posters who have any negative comments, to be mentally prepared for an onslaught. I believe this poster was just preparing himself for the inevitable.

 

It's not the negative comments, it is the cheap shots that accompany the opinion.

[DirtyDawg]

It's not the negative comments, it is the cheap shots that accompany the opinion.

 

LOL :D:D:D

 

Pot

 

Kettle

 

Black

 

:rolleyes:

[Yvonne]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your Carnival cruise, Carnival is not a cruise line for everyone. We have always enjoyed Carnival for their low fares, and while not all of the amenities are as nice as some other lines we still had the same sun during the day, the same stars at night, and the same beautiful Caribbean islands so we have cruised a few times with them.

 

We were on the Conquest in January, and while we did enjoy our cruise for the most part we will not be sailing with them the next time (in a couple of years) we choose to cruise. We are going to "spread our wings" a little and maybe try Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity, etc. We thought the food on the cruise was not up to par, and we weren't happy with the new shows and lack of good entertainment in the lounges.

 

But to address your problems, you said you couldn't sit down while waiting to embark because people had their belongings in chairs. If it were me, I would have politely asked someone to put their things under their chair so I could sit down. Did you ask anyone to move their belongings? As far as not being able to sit in the handicap area, did you explain to the woman why you wanted to sit down, because of your ankle? Again, if it were me, I would have explained my situation and if she still said I couldn't sit there then I would have asked to speak with a supervisor. With your ankle problem you should have been able to sit down while you waited.

 

As far as the room steward not servicing the room while you were in it, I can understand them not wanting to service your room if you were there at the time. I have occasionally come back to our room while the steward was in the process of servicing our room, and I would leave again to give them more time to finish. I wouldn't expect them to clean around me. And I would feel "in the way" if they did clean around me. On our cruise sometimes we were out on our balcony (we had our first aft balcony, loved it!) and they would service the room then. Or, if we knew we didn't want to leave the room all morning I would just put a note outside on the door letting them know that their services were not needed that morning. They always gave us fresh towels, and we didn't mind making up the beds ourselves. But that's just us. Also, they have a lot of rooms to take care of, and it takes a lot of time to get to them all so I would not "expect" them to get to mine when I was ready for them. My room isn't the only one they have to take care of.

 

You said you ordered room service breakfast to be delivered between 8:30 and 9:00, I would think that is a "prime time" for that. You said at 9:00 you called to cancel, you couldn't give them a few extra minutes before you did that? I'm sure they have a lot of room service breakfasts to deliver and they may be late with a few of them. I would have waited until 9:30 to call. I had room service breakfast delivered every morning of our cruise, as one of my favorite things to do on a cruise is have breakfast on the balcony. I sometimes had it delivered between 7:00-7:30, or 7:30-8:00, sometimes later. It was almost always delivered within that time, maybe once or twice it was a few minutes late but I cut them some slack since I'm not the only person ordering room service breakfast.

 

The life jackets, if they weren't in the closet when I looked I would definitely look under the bed for them. The rooms are small, there aren't very many places they can hide. :)

 

Not being able to find a quiet place on the ship that wasn't smoky? I'm sorry, but I do find that one hard to believe, and I'm not a smoker and I don't like smelling smoke. But, really, there are very few areas on the ship where people are even allowed to smoke. There are way more places for non-smokers to be, so I'm not sure where you wanted to sit but there are so many places to sit on the ship where smoking is not allowed so I really can't understand that one.

 

Not being allowed in your room because of a maintenance issue the day you were in Freeport, that one was truly a major problem so I can understand that one. At first being told 9 - 1, not so bad and it is understandable they do have to do maintenance sometimes that can't be done during the ship passenger turnaround. But extending it to 5:00, I would have definitely wanted to be compensated somehow for that. On board credit would have been good, or even a tray of chocolate covered strawberries and bottle of wine, something. They should have done something for you to make up for that.

 

Disembarking and having people blocking elevators, etc. On our cruise they made announcements every few minutes on where people could go and not go, and I did see a crew member make people move. Also, we did self-assist (we love that, it's so much nicer than having to sit and wait and wait and wait for your number to be called, then go find your luggage) and there were crew members everywhere telling us where to go, and keeping it orderly.

 

Again, I'm sorry you seemed to have so many problems with your cruise but it seems to me most of them were minor. I hope your next cruise, on a different line, is better.

[Sargent_Schultz]

LOL :D:D:D

 

Pot

 

Kettle

 

Black

 

:rolleyes:

 

Self-portrait? :p

[DirtyDawg]

Self-portrait? :p

 

:D:D:D

 

BTW Have a great cruise. But something tells me that you just don't know how to have a bad one!;)

[cruizinisthebest]

Did read through the whole OP. Not all the comments. But I will say the only issue I see as a major inconvenience and something that would have totally pissed me off was the third day with Carnival expecting you to stay out of your room for the entire day. That right there was ridiculous.

 

The rest, meh. I realize you had a captain's suite but it looked to me like you guys wanted to spend most of your time in your room instead of out and about. That's not my idea of a vacation - even in the finest digs. The steakhouse is purely a matter of opinion as well as the other meals, some of which OP enjoyed.

 

Don't see why you needed FTTF if you were booked in a suite but I'm looking forward to using mine in August.:p

 

I'm quite sure if you asked someone to move their things in the port so you could sit, they would have. I've run into this in crowded places and people are usually decent about it. I bet they weren't paying you attention as you looked for a place to sit. Can't see why folks in vacation mode would be inconsiderate like that.

 

A tad petty on the breakfast. You said between 8:30 and 9:00, it was on its way @ 9. I wouldn't slam room service because they weren't pin point spot on. There's thousands of fellow cruisers on the ship. But hey that's just me.

 

Overall, not the worst review I've read. Hopefully your next cruise will be better.

[halos]

What turned me (and I'm guessing some others) off was the first and last paragraphs of the review. To me they were just looking for a fight by adding those paragraphs. Had they written them in a less confrontational tone, they probably would have gotten a better response.

 

And what exactly in those paragraphs offended you? :confused:

[GreyingJay]

And what exactly in those paragraphs offended you? :confused:

 

I can understand why someone would take offense to the comments. I interpreted it as simple cynicism, but it could be also be seen as a veiled insult ("you people are too sheep-like to tolerate a dissenting opinion, but here goes") or even as a troll attempt ("give it your best shot!")

 

That's the trouble with message forums, it is too easy to misinterpret tone and infer meaning where there is none (or vice versa).

[DirtyDawg]

I can understand why someone would take offense to the comments. I interpreted it as simple cynicism, but it could be also be seen as a veiled insult ("you people are too sheep-like to tolerate a dissenting opinion, but here goes") or even as a troll attempt ("give it your best shot!")

 

That's the trouble with message forums, it is too easy to misinterpret tone and infer meaning where there is none (or vice versa).

 

I think you should change your user name to "WISEGreyingJay"

 

Well said!

 

I would have said; "Chill people!"

 

I wonder though, whose words will be more effective here on CC - your Abe Lincoln or my Joey Tribbiani?:p

[jimbo5544]

LOL :D:D:D

 

Pot

 

Kettle

 

Black

 

:rolleyes:

I hate anagrams....so

 

hard

 

to

 

figure

 

out