First Time Review-Conquest June 8-15

[BoozeNCruise]

 

Hi, my name is Bruce and I feel the need to write my review of a recent Carnival Conquest Cruise.

 

This was a last minute type of cruise booking for me (50) and my wife (49), mainly due to the ports. This was our 4th Carnival sailing in 4 years with previous sailings in The Bahamas, and Western Caribbean. My wife wanted to go to St. Thomas, so we picked this cruise.

 

I am normally a planner but I booked this cruise under 4 weeks from sailing and at the lowest rate with some hopes of an upgrade. Our last cruise, our cabin was an extended aft balcony. The guaranteed booking assigned us cabin number 1298 withen 48 hours. This is an interior mid ship cabin on the Riviera (bottom) deck. It was listed as a 2 category upgrade, up from the A1 and the interior forward cabins.

 

We normally cruise out of Port Canaveral or Tampa, but this time it was Miami. We drove from Columbia SC to catch the ship. The ship sails out on Sunday, so we left leisurely on Saturday around noon and drove to Melbourne, Fl, about 6.5 hours. We stayed in Melbourne for the night and awoke around 7 am leaving at 8 o clock to drive to Miami. We arrived at our pre-arranged parking, Parking at the Port, which is at 150th 7th ave.

 

There were mixed reviews on this parking and I was a little worried but I figured for $ 42 I would check it out. It is about a mile and a half from the cruise ship, and a block or so from the arena where The Heat play. Yes, it looked a little sketchy and we saw several homeless people but we had no troubles. I made sure nothing was visible in my car and I locked it, obviously. I paid the attendant $20 for a shuttle ride for the two of us which was also good for a return shuttle back to the parking lot after the cruise. In hind sight, I would have paid just a one way ride, I had already thought I would catch a cab back to the parking lot. They give you a green sticker to wear when you return so they notice you and guide you to the correct shuttle when you arrive back at the port. More on that later.

 

I really thought leaving out of Miami would be hectic, but no, it was quite easy. I purchased, the faster to the fun (FTTF) so that did help alot. We arrived at the terminal around 11 am and with the FTTF we got in a VIP line. I had one person in front of me. The check in was fast and about 10 minutes later we were called on to board.

 

I am going to try a test pic and continue later

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[A6cruiser]

The timing of your report is great for me. We sail on Conquest July 6th. Thank you

 

I can tell it will be great reading about your trip....

[BarJen]

Great start, can't wait to see more!

 

Barry

 

 

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[heatherlway]

Great start! Can't wait to see more! I boarded the Conquest the day you got off :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cruisingbajan]

Add me to that list of those looking forward to your review.:D

[Katmarha]

Following, love the Conquest.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your report, and looking forward to you posting more of it.:)

[BoozeNCruise]

Hey, thanks for all the positive replies, I was reluctant to do this just because some internet dorks like to critique everything you write. I felt the need to do this because when I booked the Conquest I saw few, if any reviews on this ship.

 

And back to the easy boarding at Miami, I could not believe how easily my belongings got through the x ray and security. The wife and I each carried on a large suitcase, carry-on, and a cooler. I had (sorry) a litre of Crown Royal, a liter of Peach shcnapps, water, Gatorade, Cranberry Juice, Ginger ale, Coke, and Sprite. With all those liquids and various size cans, NOTHING got stopped and checked. They ran all my bags through and did not question anything. I could not believe it. The last cruise they took my water bottles and inspected them in all directions and even questioned my dark color liquids.

 

So, we board the ship and with the FTTF, we go straight to the ghetto of the ship, the Riviera Deck. It was nice to go straight to the cabin, especially since we were loaded with luggage.

 

We entered the room and it was miserably hot, the cabin AC was not working. I made a phone call to report the problem and then we headed out to explore the ship and find some lunch.

 

I will have a few pics on the review, but I did not take any interior pics of the ship nor did I take any food porn. I will say that the Conquest is in good shape, it is nicely decorated in my opinion. I don't find it to be gaudy like other fleet ships. I really enjoyed looking at the artwork throughout the ship and the many decorated ceilings. The layout is nice, decks 3,5, and 9 are going to be your most popular. Deck 3 is where the shows are, deck 5 is shopping/bars and comedy and deck 9 is food (although not the MDR).

 

We spent lunch at Guys Burger Joint. I am not a fan of Guy, but this was a good burger and some great french fries. Most reviewers say they don't give you enough fries, but I did not find that to be a problem. The Donkey Sauce is a kick as well. Still wandering around after lunch, I find the Fish and Chips. I am a fan of Fish and Chips but since I just filled up on Guys Burger, I wasn't hungry. However, I saw they had oysters, so I ordered some. They gave me a nice basket of fried oysters and some Mcdonalds like french fries. I say nice basket because it looked nice, I did not like the oysters, they were way over breaded and the fries like I said were Mcdonalds fries. This could be a great place to eat, it is kinda hidden and I never saw anyone else in there, a really hidden jewel.

 

We attended the Welcome Aboard Show Sunday night. I must say, I thought it was really lame. It lasted about 30 minutes and Cruise Director Gary was the emcee. I really did not like Gary, I found him boring and all his jokes/skits I have seen on my other Carnival Cruises. I wish it was new/better material.

 

We had ATD and ate around 7 pm. The MDR food was good, I think better than the other Carnival ships. The service was outstanding, not just in the MDR but I think all over the ship, excluding gary.I did find myself each night in the MDR ordering 2 appetizers and 2 entrees. Not that I am gluttonous, but I like a garden salad with my meal, then a small appetizer as well. Most nights I ordered the broiled fish and my other entree would be the fried shrimp that would consist of 5 straight fried shrimp and some fries which I never ate. I still can't figure out how they get those shrimp so straight. The only steak I ordered was one night they had the Prime Rib. Wow, I could read the newspaper through this Prime Rib it was so thin.

 

So after dinner we are still excited and I'm slightly intoxicated with Royal Flush we spend most of the time on deck 5. We go through the shops and the casino waiting for the highlight of my cruising, The Comedy Club. Carnival has done a very good job on this. Our first comedien was Chris Wiles. Chris was very funny with most his jokes being about sex and pot. I only go to the adult shows.

 

Day one over and looking forward to seeing Half Moon Cay, Never been there but read the reviews on how beautiful it is.

 

[A6cruiser]

It is good to hear the ship is in good shape. I too find very little written reviewed about conquest. I was getting worried that it was an older run down ship. Thanks for the details.

 

 

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Edited June 27, 2014 by A6cruiser

[Keith1010]

Thanks for the report and look forward to its continuation.

 

Keith

[bjd2]

Loving your report too! Not much recently written about the Conquest.

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review, I am enjoying it.

 

I am considering the Conquest for a 5 day cruise in late 2015.

[BoozeNCruise]

 

On Monday we arrive at Half Moon Cay. Our plan for the day is just a chillaxin day at the beach. After a quick bite of breakfast we leave the cabin to catch the tender for HMC. There is a looooong line of people all having a ticket number. I ask one of the staff where I need to go to catch the tender if I had the FTTF pass. She said, right here, and let me cut in line of all the people. Just like that we were on the tender headed to HMC.

 

I am really impressed with the beach and the water at HMC. The sand is silky smooth on your feet and has a reddish glow if you pick some of it up and spread it over your hand. The water is beautiful, various shades of blue.

 

[BoozeNCruise]

When we arrived at HMC, we went straight to the beach to claim our "spot". I wanted to be somewhere where the masses would not be. To my wifes demise, we walked way down the beach, to me it wasn't so far. My skin doesn't do well in the baking sun, so I prefer the shade. There are some very nice cabanas for rent and also some nice clamshell type lounging available for just $20. When I booked this cruise, the clamshells were not available, so I bought and carried on a beach tent. I paid $25 for this tent, I figured I would use is for both HMC and in Grand Turk. Let me tell you, I loved this little tent and had a blast sun bathing in the shade. My wife kept to the lounge chair beside me. Here is my set up tent at HMC.

 

 

I had shade, my cooler, my sunshades and beautiful scenery all around me for the beach trip. Heres a photo just a little further down the beach to where we were.

 

 

The water was nice and cool and a very sandy bottom. There are few, if any, sea shells on this beach. I am a beachcomber but there isn't anything to be found on this beach.

 

We lounge out here for awhile then we pack up to grab some lunch...more on that later

[wendynat]

I'm enjoying your review! We're planning to take the Conquest next year, and am excited to see a review of her. Keep on writing :)

[sportzmom]

We will be on the Conquest the end of August so it is nice to read a review. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[nunuc2000]

Thanks for writing a review - we're on the Conquest in October and appreciate any reviews we can read. :)

 

Celine

[BoozeNCruise]

Like I said before I am mainly writing this review because there were so few written about the Conquest, now I see there is a similiar review being posted from someone that was on the same cruise. So, you future Conquestitors, you now have more reviews.

 

After sunning, or shading for me, we packed things up and went to find the

Bar B que. Thats what they called it, but I didn't find any bar b que at all. I did find some good food, lots of fruits, salad, salad dishes, hot dogs, and some jerk chicken. They may have had some hamburgers too, I just didn't have one. The chicken was good I thought, my wife thought otherwise. We couldn't find the free drink stations, like the water, tea, and lemonade. They did have the soft drinks and beer conveniently located near the food bars, you know, the ones you pay for. Fortunately for me i had my Gatorades packed and iced plus my bottle water.

 

After we ate, we decided to just head back, shower, and rest a bit. On the walk to the tender, guess what we found? Yes, the free drink station. It is a maze of shelters and pic nic tables getting out of there. Finally, we came to the entrance of HMC and the tender. There are a few small shops with nic nacs, nothing really worth shopping for there. here is one pic:

 

 

We got on the tender and headed back to the ship. here is one last pic of HMC just before we boarded the tender. I bet this was a beautiful island before Carnival did anything to it.

 

 

My last thoughts on HMC:

beautiful, nice beach, great sand

I wish they had more watercraft to rent, like a jet ski or a small motorboat

[BoozeNCruise]

After a nap in our cabin, which carnival fixed the AC problem, we dined and explored the ship some more. I spent some time in the EA Sports club as I really enjoyed that. There is a HUGE wall screen to watch sports. I was watching mostly the mens NCAA Baseball games, pulling for Vanderbilt mostly. Monday night I finally got into the PokerPro table. There are actually two tables, one is smiking and one is non-smoking, not that it really matters, they are side by side and in the smoking Casino. There were some crazy playing high raising players this night. I just sat back and waiting my turn to pounce on them when I had a good hand. I finished the short night of playing up about $60.

 

Monday night, there were 2 adult only comedy acts. Dan Chopin was first. I really liked Dan, but he reminded me of a middle school Principal. He was funny and not so dirty, plus he had a guitar with some original music. One of the funniest/stupidest things he did was ask the audience if they like Country music. Of course the audience responded with an applause, then he says, OK, this song is from the Country of japan. He then sings and makes faces like he was Japanese. The second act was Chris Wiles again for the second time but some newer material.

[BoozeNCruise]

Tuesday was a sea day and we slept in a bit. I had been leaving $2-3 dollars on my cooler to tip Bennie, our cabin steward, for filled my cooler with ice. Bennie had been filling the cooler but the money was still there. So when I saw Bennie, I asked him why he didn't take his tip for getting me ice. He said, he wasn't sure it was his to take, so he didn't take it. I just liked Bennie that much more, maybe he played his cards right, I don't know.

 

Not a whole lot to do on this ship at sea. Although, that may not be a fair statement to make, maybe we didn't do things that were there or offered. I don't play the bingo, can't sing a lick, so karaoke is out and trivia is kinda boring to me as well. I think there is a mini golf on the Conquest, but I never saw it. There is ping pong and a nice basketball court, which was seemed to be popular. I had told my wife that I had never gone down any of the water slides on Carnival but I would this cruise. Well, I didn't. I've never been in a Carnival pool or jacuzzi, either. All these things are there, I just did not partake. We did go to the hairy chest contest, mens version. I don't know why, but I do enjoy that, go figure.

 

We did have a show tonight, Divas, featuring pop songs from popular Divas like Madonna, Beyonce, and Prince. The singing/dancing cast consist of about 5 guys and just 3 ladies. I don't want to sound too harsh, but they are not the best of singers. The show was just ok for me.

 

Before we headed to the Comedy Club, we stopped in the Piano Bar and met Gustavo. Wow, this was nice! Gustavo is such a cut up, he entertains with his musical talent and his personality. I really enjoyed the time in this bar and it never got crowded.

 

Again, we, actually me, ended the night in the Comedy Club. It seems like you see the same people in the CC. I actually met, although I don't think we ever exchanged names, another nice couple from the Gainsville, Fl area that I ended up sitting with at most of the comedy shows. Three adult shows tonight with Chris doing his nastiest act, which he warned everyone about. He was very fun and Dan did another great job.

 

I think I stumbled into my cabin around 2 am, next stop is St. Thomas.

[Terre]

After sunning, or shading for me, we packed things up and went to find the Bar B que. Thats what they called it, but I didn't find any bar b que at all.

 

Barbeque has an entirely meaning to us Southerners than it does to everyone outside the South!:D

 

Am enjoying your review.

[NurseW2Kiddies]

GREAT!! Enjoying your review. Thinking about the Conquest for our next cruise. Thanks for writing.

[A6cruiser]

BoozeNcruise

How many formal nights did this itinerary have?

 

Would you mind scanning and posting the Fun Times here? If it is too much troubles no worries just figured I'd ask.

 

We will board in 8 days for the same itinerary and would love to read the fun times.

 

 

 

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Edited June 28, 2014 by A6cruiser

[BoozeNCruise]

There were two Elegant nights. Tuesday night and thursday night, Puerto Rico day. I don't have a way of scanning, but I think I can dig up the saved Fun Times I have and take a pic. I will check into it.