Carnival Conquest Review-Jan15-22nd 2006

[TXSailor]

This was our third time cruising on Carnival. Our first Carnival cruise was on the Celebration(Aug.2004), then we cruised on the Ecstasy(Aug.2005) and finally the Conquest.

 

Pre-Cruise:

We decided to drive to Galveston the day before the cruise to visit with some cruise friends who live in the Houston area. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, located right next to the San Luis Resort. The hotel was ok, needs to be refurbished though. For the price paid for one night, it is not worth staying at the Holiday Inn. I'd rather pay the extra $50 and stay at the San Luis. At around 4:00pm, I was out on the balcony hoping to see the Grand Princess depart but apparently I either missed her departure or she was running late. The weather was great in Galveston....I little chilly though. I hired a stretch limo to take all of us to the Kemah Boardwalk for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to Galveston and partied at a bar called Third Coast. My sincere thanks goes to our friend Glenn and his partner for providing complimentary drinks for us....Glenn's partner works at Third Coast. We finally made it back to the hotel around midnight.

 

Embarkation: From the time we were dropped off at the terminal, until the time we boarded the ship was 20 minutes.

 

Ship Decor: Was nice to see alot of wood being used. The decor is very French with alot of Mardi Gras influence. The Promenade area is were everything is located. All of the lounges, the disco, the sushi bar, the coffeehouse, the casino, the shops, photo gallery, etc....This made it easy for us to find anything and everything.

 

The Suite: We stayed in 7306 midship. It is centrally located and close to the elevators/stairs. Mostly everything was within 2 decks from us. Great location. The suite was large with plenty of closet/storage space. The bathroom was large with a whirlpool bathtub. The only problem we had was that the balcony door would not shut tight, therefore we had a hissing wind sound throughout the entire cruise...a little annoying at first. One thing I didn't like was upon entering our cabin on the first day, I tried to put my caffeine free cokes in the fridge only to find it locked. Our stateroom attendant did not unlock it until we went to dinner at 8:00pm. Also, I didn't like the fact that only one sign and sail card could be used to unlock and lock the safe. Brian was the first to use his card on the safe, therefore when I tried to use my card, it wouldn't work. Then I'd reset the safe and use my card to lock it...then Brian couldn't use his card to unlock it....very frustrating. The balcony was large however I thought it was a little cheap for Carnival to use plastic furniture on a Cat.12 suite balcony.

 

The Staff and Crew: The ones we encountered were very friendly and always greeting us and smiling. This was totaly new for us on Carnival.

 

The Bartenders: After tipping a little extra(in the disco), I finally got my drinks the way I wanted them...strong. I was disappointed to see the bartenders at the aft pool bar cheat some passengers including myself. I ordered the drink of the day...the cost is $6.50 with the souvenir plastic Carnival glass. The cost was $5.?? in a regular glass. After my first foo foo drink in the souvenir glass, I ordered another one. The bartender took my glass and refilled it and still charged me the $6.50. I observed him doing this to other passengers as well. I had to ask him to give me another souvenir glass since I had paid for it. He sort of rolled his eyes up and gave me the glass....and this was the first day before sail away.

 

Monet Dining Room: This place looked like a strip joint, not a dining room. Our waiter was Ricardo from the Philipines and he was great, never missed anything. Our assistant waiter also never missed a beat. The food in the dining room was ok, nothing to write about except that the portions were small. We were seated at a table for 10. Our tablemates were nice people. A family of 5 from East Texas and a couple from Memphis. We skipped dinner on Tuesday and Thursday.

 

The Point Supper Club: Ok, everyone raves about this place, so we had to try it on Thursday, second formal night. The food was excellent. The service was excellent and the portions were ok. On the menu, it said large prawns with cocktail sauce. Well, the prawns were not large, half the size of my hand....about 3 inches long. I had the Veal chop and it was good but towards the bone, it wasn't cooked all the way....very little left to send it back. Brian had the Filet Mignon and it was huge. The dessert menu didn't look too good, so we paid the bill and left. Was it worth the $60 bill? You betcha....in a heartbeat. This could have easily been a $150 bill at Morton's or Ruth Chris's. The quality of the meats presented was tops. I highly recommend the Point Supper Club.

 

Cezanne Restaurant(buffet): Terrible!! Long lines and not enough beef choices. We ate there only 2 times during the entire week. I did like PC's Wok, offering oriental food everyday, as well as Paul's Deli offering made to order sandwiches.

 

Room Service: Choices were plentiful and the delivery time was incredible. Never had to wait more than 15 minutes for our food. The chicken fajita roll up was very tasting.

 

The Shows/Entertainment: We didn't see any of the shows but the adult comedy of Phat Cat was hilarious...and that is an understatement. He had everyone rolling on the floor, laughing.

 

The Casino: This is the largest I have seen on any ship. I won a total of $3,500 on the quarter and dollar slots....woohoo!!!

 

Henri's Disco: The decor is incredible, tv screens everywhere and a large dance floor. However, the club itself is not very large...the Viking Crown Lounge on the Rhapsody is much larger. It was usually midnight before the place started to get packed. Met some new friends on Monday night. Ironically, his name is Henry and her name is Kim.

 

Port of Calls:

 

Jamaica-We stayed at the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay. This is an all inclusive resort offering cruise ship passengers a $40 per person day pass with all inclusive rights. There was a restaurant, a grill, several bars...one being a swim up bar, several swimming pools, water sports, a nice beach and a beautiful open air lobby. We beached all day there and truly enjoyed our stay. Might consider flying to Mo'Bay and staying at the Sunset Beach Resort. One of the guards at the resort told me that the property in Ocho Rios is already open but they are still trying to finish some last minute projects. Sunset Beach Resort is located less than a 3 minute cab ride from the pier...you can see the ship from the resort.

 

Grand Cayman: Missed due to rough seas...the port turned all cruise ships away that day.

 

Cozumel: Tendering was not that bad...took about 10 minutes. We met up on Deck 9 with our new friends Henry and Kim and decided to go shopping with them. After shopping for about an hour, we decided to head over to Carlos and Charlies for some lunch. I drank more than I ate...it was a blast. The congo line with the 5 tequila shots did it for our friend Kim...none of us were feeling any pain after lunch. We made it back to the ship safely and continued the party in our suite.

 

The pool area was always crowded, so show up early if you want a lounger. I don't like the way the pool areas on Carnival ships are layed out.....gives you a crowded feeling, whether tons of people are there or not.

 

Overall, this was a pleasant cruise. Will we cruise on the Conquest again? If the price is right.

 

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. I have all of the capers from the cruise. I will be uploading my cruise pics to webshots this weekend, so stay on the look out.

 

Fausto

[cruisinbuddy]

Nice review, man it would be great to that kind of cash. Not to put a downer on your winnings, I was watching a show on cruise ships and the record for the highest jackpot on a cruise is, are you sitting down, 1.2 million$$$$$$$$$. could you imagine?

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

Holy Smokes!! Glad ya didn't break the bank..hehehe...j/k. I'm so glad ya had a wonderful cruise. I can't wait til April. I hadn't planned on playing much in the casino since I lost everything I played on the Elation BUT...well, now you've convinced me that maybe I shouldn't give up..LOL!

I guess we will just have to try that Sunset Beach Resort as i have heard nothing but good reviews on it. I will have 3 teenage girls with me...ya think they will have lots of fun...& not get bored?

My husband & I have discussed The Point. I would like to try it. We are not by any means a classy couple (get my drift?) & the thought is scary to say the least...HA! BUT, ya only live once,right? Is the atmosphere any different from any other formal night? We survived one of those on the Elation...it wa great!

Is there any way you would email me a copy of the capers? My email address is jwwaldrops@yahoo.com.I love reading those & my husband works in Iraq(KBR/HALLIBURTON) & I would like to mail them to him. Thanks again for the review,

Janis

[TXSailor]

Holy Smokes!! Glad ya didn't break the bank..hehehe...j/k. I'm so glad ya had a wonderful cruise. I can't wait til April. I hadn't planned on playing much in the casino since I lost everything I played on the Elation BUT...well, now you've convinced me that maybe I shouldn't give up..LOL!

I guess we will just have to try that Sunset Beach Resort as i have heard nothing but good reviews on it. I will have 3 teenage girls with me...ya think they will have lots of fun...& not get bored?

My husband & I have discussed The Point. I would like to try it. We are not by any means a classy couple (get my drift?) & the thought is scary to say the least...HA! BUT, ya only live once,right? Is the atmosphere any different from any other formal night? We survived one of those on the Elation...it wa great!

Is there any way you would email me a copy of the capers? My email address is jwwaldrops@yahoo.com.I love reading those & my husband works in Iraq(KBR/HALLIBURTON) & I would like to mail them to him. Thanks again for the review,

Janis

 

Janis: Here's to rubbing some luck on you for the casino... :)

 

Your girls should be fine at Sunset Beach Resort....there is a water park on the property and plenty to do. Don't worry about the Point, it is open every evening. Dress code is casual(slacks and buttoned shirt for the man, cocktail dress for the lady). We chose formal night because it was convenient for us. As for the Capers, I will be uploading them to webshots and will post the link this weekend. You may download them from that website.

 

Fausto

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

Thank you very much!!:)

[donanddede]

what time did you get to the cruise terminal to get on the ship so quickly?? I hate waiting in lines and would like to avoid them if possible.

We cruise in 15 days:D

[joepeka]

what time did you get to the cruise terminal to get on the ship so quickly?? I hate waiting in lines and would like to avoid them if possible.

We cruise in 15 days:D

Excellent question - the 20 minutes from drop off to on-board is incredible.

[TXSailor]

We arrived at the ship terminal between 12:30pm and 1:00pm. When we arrived, there was a very long line of people entering the terminal. It looked really bad but after about 10 minutes, we began to move in and we went through the security line in about 5 minutes....the line was constantly moving. We headed straight for the Skippers Club office to check in and that process took about 10 minutes. Once we were done with that, we went straight to the ship. So, let me retrack my statement to 25 minutes instead of the 20 minutes mentioned in my original post. When we boarded the ship, there were already many people on board.

 

Our disembarkation went just as smoothly. We went and had breakfast on Deck 9 and waited there for our color to be announced. Once our color was announced, we proceeded to the gangway on Deck 4 and waited in line for about 10 minutes until we stepped off the ship. Finding our luggage was a breeze and we stood in line less than 3 minutes to clear through US Customs....we were in the passport only line, maybe that had something to do with it. So, 15 minutes from the time we got in line until the time we were outside the terminal. Pretty good considering the size of the ship.

 

Fausto

[Bill2121]

Thanks for the review. My friend and I will be on board in a few weeks.

 

Please let us know when you post your pics and capers on line. Love to take a look.

 

Also, what did you mean by the dinning room was like a strip club? Peoples atire or decor?

[MrsAndreaDawn]

oops

[TXSailor]

Thanks for the review. My friend and I will be on board in a few weeks.

 

Please let us know when you post your pics and capers on line. Love to take a look.

 

Also, what did you mean by the dinning room was like a strip club? Peoples atire or decor?

 

 

Bill: The setting/decor made it feel as if I were in a strip club....definitely not an elegant dining room on a cruise ship...but that is just MHO.

 

Fausto

[Snoozeman]

Great review Fausto, looking forward to the photos. Glad the upgrade worked out. Did you buy a drink from Boris?

[dljones]

Which slot machines did you win on??

[Mom and girls]

Hi Fausto,

Teressa and I met you guys (and Kim & Jen from Austin) last September on Rhapsody. Glad to see you're still cruising! We're booked on Conquest for October 8. (27 days and counting!)

 

I haven't been on Carnival since 2001 (Celebration), but I know that Conquest will be, by far, much better than Celebration. And seeing that you are a repeat cruiser on Conquest, I'm assuming that you feel that Carnival has stepped up to the challenge of providing a better cruising experience.

 

Let me know if there is anything else we need to keep in mind ...

 

Happy Cruising!

Kris & Teressa (the girls from Fort Worth)

[DJ LAROSE]

This was our third time cruising on Carnival. Our first Carnival cruise was on the Celebration(Aug.2004), then we cruised on the Ecstasy(Aug.2005) and finally the Conquest.

 

Pre-Cruise:

We decided to drive to Galveston the day before the cruise to visit with some cruise friends who live in the Houston area. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, located right next to the San Luis Resort. The hotel was ok, needs to be refurbished though. For the price paid for one night, it is not worth staying at the Holiday Inn. I'd rather pay the extra $50 and stay at the San Luis. At around 4:00pm, I was out on the balcony hoping to see the Grand Princess depart but apparently I either missed her departure or she was running late. The weather was great in Galveston....I little chilly though. I hired a stretch limo to take all of us to the Kemah Boardwalk for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to Galveston and partied at a bar called Third Coast. My sincere thanks goes to our friend Glenn and his partner for providing complimentary drinks for us....Glenn's partner works at Third Coast. We finally made it back to the hotel around midnight.

 

Embarkation: From the time we were dropped off at the terminal, until the time we boarded the ship was 20 minutes.

 

Ship Decor: Was nice to see alot of wood being used. The decor is very French with alot of Mardi Gras influence. The Promenade area is were everything is located. All of the lounges, the disco, the sushi bar, the coffeehouse, the casino, the shops, photo gallery, etc....This made it easy for us to find anything and everything.

 

The Suite: We stayed in 7306 midship. It is centrally located and close to the elevators/stairs. Mostly everything was within 2 decks from us. Great location. The suite was large with plenty of closet/storage space. The bathroom was large with a whirlpool bathtub. The only problem we had was that the balcony door would not shut tight, therefore we had a hissing wind sound throughout the entire cruise...a little annoying at first. One thing I didn't like was upon entering our cabin on the first day, I tried to put my caffeine free cokes in the fridge only to find it locked. Our stateroom attendant did not unlock it until we went to dinner at 8:00pm. Also, I didn't like the fact that only one sign and sail card could be used to unlock and lock the safe. Brian was the first to use his card on the safe, therefore when I tried to use my card, it wouldn't work. Then I'd reset the safe and use my card to lock it...then Brian couldn't use his card to unlock it....very frustrating. The balcony was large however I thought it was a little cheap for Carnival to use plastic furniture on a Cat.12 suite balcony.

 

The Staff and Crew: The ones we encountered were very friendly and always greeting us and smiling. This was totaly new for us on Carnival.

 

The Bartenders: After tipping a little extra(in the disco), I finally got my drinks the way I wanted them...strong. I was disappointed to see the bartenders at the aft pool bar cheat some passengers including myself. I ordered the drink of the day...the cost is $6.50 with the souvenir plastic Carnival glass. The cost was $5.?? in a regular glass. After my first foo foo drink in the souvenir glass, I ordered another one. The bartender took my glass and refilled it and still charged me the $6.50. I observed him doing this to other passengers as well. I had to ask him to give me another souvenir glass since I had paid for it. He sort of rolled his eyes up and gave me the glass....and this was the first day before sail away.

 

Monet Dining Room: This place looked like a strip joint, not a dining room. Our waiter was Ricardo from the Philipines and he was great, never missed anything. Our assistant waiter also never missed a beat. The food in the dining room was ok, nothing to write about except that the portions were small. We were seated at a table for 10. Our tablemates were nice people. A family of 5 from East Texas and a couple from Memphis. We skipped dinner on Tuesday and Thursday.

 

The Point Supper Club: Ok, everyone raves about this place, so we had to try it on Thursday, second formal night. The food was excellent. The service was excellent and the portions were ok. On the menu, it said large prawns with cocktail sauce. Well, the prawns were not large, half the size of my hand....about 3 inches long. I had the Veal chop and it was good but towards the bone, it wasn't cooked all the way....very little left to send it back. Brian had the Filet Mignon and it was huge. The dessert menu didn't look too good, so we paid the bill and left. Was it worth the $60 bill? You betcha....in a heartbeat. This could have easily been a $150 bill at Morton's or Ruth Chris's. The quality of the meats presented was tops. I highly recommend the Point Supper Club.

 

Cezanne Restaurant(buffet): Terrible!! Long lines and not enough beef choices. We ate there only 2 times during the entire week. I did like PC's Wok, offering oriental food everyday, as well as Paul's Deli offering made to order sandwiches.

 

Room Service: Choices were plentiful and the delivery time was incredible. Never had to wait more than 15 minutes for our food. The chicken fajita roll up was very tasting.

 

The Shows/Entertainment: We didn't see any of the shows but the adult comedy of Phat Cat was hilarious...and that is an understatement. He had everyone rolling on the floor, laughing.

 

The Casino: This is the largest I have seen on any ship. I won a total of $3,500 on the quarter and dollar slots....woohoo!!!

 

Henri's Disco: The decor is incredible, tv screens everywhere and a large dance floor. However, the club itself is not very large...the Viking Crown Lounge on the Rhapsody is much larger. It was usually midnight before the place started to get packed. Met some new friends on Monday night. Ironically, his name is Henry and her name is Kim.

 

Port of Calls:

 

Jamaica-We stayed at the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay. This is an all inclusive resort offering cruise ship passengers a $40 per person day pass with all inclusive rights. There was a restaurant, a grill, several bars...one being a swim up bar, several swimming pools, water sports, a nice beach and a beautiful open air lobby. We beached all day there and truly enjoyed our stay. Might consider flying to Mo'Bay and staying at the Sunset Beach Resort. One of the guards at the resort told me that the property in Ocho Rios is already open but they are still trying to finish some last minute projects. Sunset Beach Resort is located less than a 3 minute cab ride from the pier...you can see the ship from the resort.

 

Grand Cayman: Missed due to rough seas...the port turned all cruise ships away that day.

 

Cozumel: Tendering was not that bad...took about 10 minutes. We met up on Deck 9 with our new friends Henry and Kim and decided to go shopping with them. After shopping for about an hour, we decided to head over to Carlos and Charlies for some lunch. I drank more than I ate...it was a blast. The congo line with the 5 tequila shots did it for our friend Kim...none of us were feeling any pain after lunch. We made it back to the ship safely and continued the party in our suite.

 

The pool area was always crowded, so show up early if you want a lounger. I don't like the way the pool areas on Carnival ships are layed out.....gives you a crowded feeling, whether tons of people are there or not.

 

Overall, this was a pleasant cruise. Will we cruise on the Conquest again? If the price is right.

 

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. I have all of the capers from the cruise. I will be uploading my cruise pics to webshots this weekend, so stay on the look out.

 

Fausto

Where did you go instead of the caymans?

[LHP]

Where did you go instead of the caymans?

 

 

If I had to guess, it was probably just a day at sea.